Measuring and Comparing Policies - Welfare state as (comparative) variable
3 important questions on Measuring and Comparing Policies - Welfare state as (comparative) variable
The Welfare State as a Variable
- Welfare state (policies) both dependent and independent variable:
- path dependency
- stratification consequences
- welfare state as an employer
- Three aspects of welfare state (policies) as dependent variable: onderzoeken welfare state change
- Conceptualisation
- Operationalisation
- Measurement
3. Measurement: Social Expenditure data
Up to 1990s: Total Social Expenditure
Problems:
Problems:
- “Expenditures are epiphenomenal to the theoretical substance of the welfare state” (Gøsta Esping-Andersen, 1990)
- not against all expenditure research, but expenditure research that did not take into consideration the institutional context (reflecting policy priorities)
- impact of political variables can be different depending upon the branch of the social security system (example: support for pensions versus support for unemployment benefits --> assignment 2)
- disaggregated analysis of expenditure (Francis Castles)
- until a decade quite difficult
Comparative Study of Welfare States
- Comparing a relative small group of nations
- Investigating the context of (social) policies
- Asses how policies function in different contexts
- Policy interest (e.g. family benefits, pensions) or politics interest (e.g. party politics, social movements) or interest in structural determination (e.g ageing of the population, post-industrialism)?
Three kinds of explanations:
- Explaining why a certain policy came to be adopted
- Explaining which policies work or have (un)intended effects effects
- Explaining how policies change the social and political landscape ( -->policy feedback loop)
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