Michael Shalev

Limits and Alternatives to Multiple Regression in Comparative Research

The difficulties that MR poses for comparativists were anticipated 40 years ago in Sidney Verbas essay “Some Dilemmas of Comparative Research”, in which he called for a “disciplined configurative approach…based on general rules, but on complicated combinations of them” (Verba, 1967, p. 115). Charles Ragins (1987) book The Comparative Method eloquently spelled out the mismatch between MR and causal explanation in comparative research. At the most basic level, like most other methods of multivariate statistical analysis MR works by rendering the cases invisible, treating them simply as the source of a set of empirical observations on dependent and independent variables. However, even when scholars embrace the analytical purpose of generalizing about relationships between variables, as opposed to dwelling on specific differences between entities with proper names, the cases of interest in comparative political economy are limited in number and occupy a bounded universe.2 They are thus both knowable and manageable. Consequently, retaining named cases in the analysis is an efficient way of conveying information and letting readers evaluate it.3 Moreover, in practice most producers and consumers of comparative political economy are intrinsically interested in specific cases. Why not cater to this interest by keeping our cases visible?

How Welfare States Shape the Gender Pay Gap: A Theoretical and Comparative Analysis

We assess the impact of the welfare state on cross-national variation in the gender wage gap. Earnings inequality between men and women is conceptualized as resulting from their different locations in the class hierarchy, combined with the severity of wage differentials between and within classes. This decomposition contributes to identifying the relevant dimensions of welfare states and testing their impact on women’s relative earnings. Our empirical analysis is based on income and occupation-based indicators of class and utilizes microdata for 17 post-industrial societies. We find systematic differences between welfare regimes in the components of the gender gap. The evidence supports our claim that the state molds gender inequality in labor market attainments by influencing women’s class positions and regulating class inequality.

The privatization of social policy? : occupational welfare and the welfare state in America, Scandinavia and Japan

List of Contributors - List of Figures and Tables - Acknowledgements - Introduction M.Shalev - PART 1: THE UNITED STATES - Is America Exceptional? The Role of Occupational Welfare in the United States and the European Community M.Rein - From Welfare Capitalism to the Welfare State: Marion B. Folsom and the Social Security Act of 1935 - S.M.Jacoby - Labour Unions and the Privatization of Welfare: The Turning Point in the 1940s B.Stevens - Public Policy and the Rise of Private Pensions: The US Experience since 1930 F.Dobbin & T.Boychuk -Private Pensions, State Regulation and Income Security for Older Workers: The US Auto Industry J.Quadagno & M.Hardy - PART 2: SCANDINAVIA - Public and Occupational Pensions in the Nordic Countries E.Overbye - The Labour Movement, Social Policy and Occupational Welfare in Norway J.M.Hippe & A.W.Pedersen - The Development of Occupational Pensions in Finland and Sweden: Class Politics and Institutional Feedbacks O.Kangas & J.Palme - Danish Occupational Pensions in the 1980s: From Social Security to Political Economy F.von Nordheim Nielsen - PART 3: CANADA AND JAPAN - Between American Exceptionalism and Social Democracy: Public and Private Pensions in Canada G.M.Olsen & R.J.Brym - Occupational Welfare and the Japanese Experience T.Skinkawa & T.J.Pempel - Conclusion: Occupational Welfare in the Social Policy Nexus G.Esping-Andersen - References

Class Divisions among Women

By exploring how gender norms and material interests vary between women in different classes, this article highlights interactions between class and gender that mitigate against the mobilization of political support for activist family policies in the United States. Ironically, while educated women in professional and managerial jobs are ideologically most favorable toward the dual earner/dual carer model, it is not in their economic interest for the state to make it happen. Scandinavian-style interventions would impose costs on relatively privileged women in their role as child care consumers. There is also reason to believe that these interventions would indirectly undermine their labor market attainments.

Power and the Ascendance of New Economic Policy Ideas: Lessons from the 1980s Crisis in Israel

Recent explanations of transformations of macroeconomic policy under crisis conditions spotlight the intrinsic properties of ideas and the persuasiveness with which they are marketed. Bridging the divide between power and discourse approaches, this article reveals the causal role played by the power resources of expert ideational entrepreneurs, conditional on the political conjuncture in which they operate. The authors exploit a fortuitous natural experiment from the early 1980s, when the Israeli economy spiraled into hyperinflation. Two similar proposals for economic stabilization and reform were offered by different teams of economists, less than two years apart. While the government rejected the dollarization plan, its authorization of the stabilization plan inaugurated a new political-economic regime. This case, in which similar programs were advocated by different ideational entrepreneurs in a largely stable institutional and economic context, makes it possible to pinpoint why radically new ideas succeed or fail. Previously underutilized analytical tools are employed to conceptualize the power of idea carriers, at both the individual and the group level.

Working Class Mobilization and American Exceptionalism

a reflection of the distribution of power resources between the major collectivities or classes in a society. In the western democracies the major collectivities are, on the one hand, those who control the means of production, the bourgeoisie or the capitalist class, and on the other hand, those who are dependent on offering their labor power on the labor market, the wage earners. In most societies we do of course also find other collectivities or classes, the importance of which varies and partly depends on the level of industrialization of the society. These collectivities or classes have control over power resources of various kinds. Power resources are means or attributes whereby an actor or a collectivity can reward or punish other actors. In western societies the major power resources are, on the one hand, control over capital and the means of production and, on the other hand, labor power and occupational skills, or what economists often refer to as ’human capital’. The power distribution in a society depends primarily on the effectiveness of the power resources individually controlled by the citizens as well as on their possibilities to combine with other

The political economy of Israel's ‘social justice’ protests: a class and generational analysis

In the summer of 2011, similar to and partly inspired by Spains 15M (indignados) movement, Israel experienced an unprecedented wave of socio-economic protest featuring tent encampments and mass rallies. Headlined ‘the people demand social justice’, the protest was surprising since distributive conflicts and social policy issues are peripheral to Israeli politics, and Israel was not in the throes of an economic crisis. These were not anti-austerity protests, but reflected the eroding life chances of young adults. Specifically, liberalisation of Israels political economy – which contributed to a substantial rise in the living standards of the parental generation of the middle class and improved their life chances in the 1990s – is now impeding inter-generational class reproduction for their children. We document significant changes in home ownership, relative incomes, and the value of higher education and other assets that were previously the key to middle class incomes and lifestyles. The impact of neo-liberal policies is evident, for instance, in the declining scope and generosity of the public sectors role in employment and housing. At the subjective level, on the eve of the protests young adults with higher education were less optimistic about their economic prospects than other groups. Finally, even though the protests appeared to be broadly consensual and inclusive, a closer look reveals that its core supporters and activists were drawn from social and political sectors closely associated with the middle class.

The Welfare State as an Employer: An Unacknowledged Avenue of Opportunity for Palestinian Women in Israel

Research on welfare states tends to focus on their role in income distribution and the provision of services. However, functions like education, health, and social care also play a massive role as employers, dominating the public sector labor market. In a comparative analysis of developed economies including Israel, Mandel and Semyonov (2005) found that the public social services accounted for a high of 25 percent of total employment in Denmark and Sweden and a low of 7–8 percent in North America and Germany. By this measure, Israel ranked fourth out of 20 countries.

Rejoinder: Affirming Limits and Defending Alternatives to Multiple Regression

At first sight the reader may find it odd that I have grouped the commentaries by Esping-Andersen and Rubinson/Ragin together, given that while the former proposes revamping the use of MR in comparative research, the latter offers a radical alternative. Nevertheless, while suggesting different solutions, both largely agree with my diagnosis of the problems. Also, my principal response to both is that their practical proposals look promising, yet are difficult to judge. That would require, (a) a user-friendly guide to implementing the advocated techniques; and (b) side-by-side comparison of the results obtained by their favored methods, the conventional MR method, and my own suggestions. Let me hasten to add that given (a), I would be ready to undertake the work involved in generating (b).

Israel and Palestine: alternative perspectives on statehood

events held by Afghans relied on a neoliberal framework of humanitarian aid that was devoid of a critique of how a U.S.-led war in the region was responsible for the destruction in Afghanistan. After 9/11, Muslim charitable organizations were under attack by the government for their loose connections to terrorists, producing a chilling and silencing effect on the type of international charitable work Muslim organizations could participate in without being unfairly labelled as supporting terrorism. This complex narrative reveals how the U.S. government prevents Muslim Americans from providing aid to their country of origin unless it fits within a neoliberal and Western vision of how the country should be rebuilt. One of the major contributions of this book is the breadth of the analysis. Sunaina Maira’s knowledge of the research that has thus far been conducted on 9/11 and Muslims is impressive and comprehensive. But there were some questions I had about Muslim youth. For example, what were some of the ways gender plays a role in how Muslim youth participate in activism? Because men tend to be the targets of state surveillance more so than women, how did this influence the types of activism men and women took part in. But this is a small critique for a book that is a major contribution to studies on Muslim youth, surveillance and activism.