The Modern Welfare State A Comparative Look

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The Modern Welfare State A Comparative Look

• Continued
• Wednesday September 3

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Review

• Which of the following 3 Welfare State Ideal
  Types best fits the US welfare State?

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3 Different Welfare State Regimes

• 1. social democratic regime
• 2. conservative corporatist regime
• 3. liberal-type welfare regime

Identified by Espin-Andersen, see Amenta et. al.
Also http//www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introducti
on/socpolf.htmmodels
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• Van Voorhis. Rebecca A. Different Types of
  Welfare States? A Methodological Deconstruction
  of Comparative Research Journal of Sociology and
  Social Welfare, December, 2002, Volume XXIX,
  Number 4

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Mature and Immature Welfare States

• US
• Relatively modest social insurance programs
• very limited means-tested protections against
  hardship or destitution.
• EUROPE
• Extensive social insurance
• other publicly funded non-means tested benefits
  and services designed to reduce relative
  inequalities and assure economic security for all
  citizens (i.e., universalistic).
• Characteristic of the most advanced European
  social welfare legislation, notably in
  Scandinavia.

• Source Katz MSU

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US SWEDEN Liberal Type / Social Democratic

• Social security
• Extended ui and job retraining
• Health care for all
• Housing allowance
• Free education (includes college!)
• Family allowances
• Generous maternity leave
• Pensions for all
• Paid vacations
• Public child care
• Extensive recreation facilities

• Social security
• Unemployment insurance (ui)
• Medicare/Medicaid
• Public housing
• Education through h.s
• Limited maternity leave

• Source Katz MSU other Sources

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Luxemburg Income Study

• Abstract
• We assemble data from several different sources
  to examine the cross-national effects of
• inequality and trust on social expenditures. We
  find that the inequality between the middle
• classes and the poor (as measured by the 50/10
  percentile ratio) has a small, positive impact
  but
• inequality between the ends of the distribution
  and middle class (measured by the 90/50
• percentile ratio) has a large and negative impact
  on social spending .Different measures of trust
• are shown to have a large and positive impact on
  spending , implying that more cohesive,
• trusting societies are more willing to share
  economic resources with others not so fortunate.
  Our
• results therefore suggest that as the rich
  become more distant from the middle and lower
• classes, they find it easier to opt out of public
  programs and to buy substitutes in the private
• market. This implies that over time rising
  inequality will erode support for social
  institutions and
• social support that provides insurance against
  income loss, upward mobility and equal
• opportunity.
• http//www.lisproject.org/publications/liswps/350.
  pdf

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Working Paper No. 350 INCOME DISTRIBUTION
AND SOCIAL EXPENDITURES A CROSS-NATIONAL
PERSPECTIVE Jonathan Schwabish Timothy
Smeeding Lars Osberg Maxwell School of
Citizenship and Public Affairs Syracuse
University Syracuse, New York 13244-1020 May 2003
http//www.lisproject.org/publications/liswps/350.
pdf
http//www.lisproject.org/
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Countries that Spend More on Social Welfare (as
percent of GDP) Have Lower Child Poverty Rates
Cash and noncash social expenditures exclude
health, education, and social services, but
include all forms of cash benefits and near-cash
housing subsidies, active labor market program
subsidies, and other contingent cash and
near-cash benefits. Nonelderly benefits include
only those accruing to household heads under age
65.
Source Institute for Research on Poverty
(IRP), University of Wisconsin-Madison
Brookings Welfare Presentation 2002
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• The flipside of higher social spending, though is
  often higher taxes.

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Source Jansson 2001417
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How is the US Welfare State seen as Exceptional?

• relatively less generous and extensive WS
  benefits.
• fear of and resistance to taxes and government
• focus on individualism as opposed to structural
  perspectives
• history of racial prejudice
• insistence on free-market reliance, a reluctant
  welfare state
• Amenta et. al. ?

• Source Katz MSU and other sources