Welfare State Transformations and Inequality in OECD Countries

"This important volume bridges literatures on welfare-state transformations and on rising inequality in OECD countries. The volume breaks new ground by looking beyond income inequality, taking into account other forms of social and economic inequality. The editors and contributors explore how welfare-state responsiveness to market-generated inequality has changed over time, but also how institutional changes across a wide range of policy domains have themselves generated inequality. The volume strikes a sensible balance between cross-national diversity and OECD-wide trends. More importantly, it brings out the importance of looking at specific policy domains in order to understand how welfare-state transformations relate to rising inequality." (Jonas Pontusson, University of California, Berkeley, USA) "This outstanding volume examines the impact of welfare state transformations on the development of social inequality. Recent decades have witnessed a rise in market income inequality across post-industrial democracies that has only partially been offset by redistribution through the welfare state. The authors, all well known welfare state experts, examine the causes of this rise in market income inequality and the consequences of welfare state changes for the emerging patterns of inequality and redistribution in both the aggregate and in a number of specific policy areas. The volume is must reading for social scientists interested in the vitally important topics of the welfare state and inequality. " (John D. Stephens, Gehard E. Lenski, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology and Director of the Center for European Studies and European Union Center of Excellence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.) "This impressive volume brings together first-rate research on the welfare state's changing role in shaping economic, social and political inequality in OECD countries. The authors meticulously explore recent empirical trends and developments in all major social policy fields and convincingly show that the shift to supply-side social policies has increased inequality. The welfare state may not have become slimmer, but social policies have certainly become much less protective and less redistributive. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in social policies and their impact on inequality." (Kees van Kersbergen, Aarhus University, Denmark)

The authors argue that while the market has been the major cause of increasing net inequalities, the trend towards supply orientation in most social policy fields has further contributed to social inequality.This book analyzes how recent welfare state transformations across advanced democracies have shaped social and economic disparities. The authors observe a trend from a compensatory paradigm towards supply oriented social policy, and investigate how this phenomenon is linked to distributional outcomes. How – and how much – have changes in core social policy fields alleviated or strengthened different dimensions of inequality? The authors argue that while the market has been the major cause of increasing net inequalities, the trend towards supply orientation in most social policy fields has further contributed to social inequality. The authors work from sociological and political science perspectives, examining all of the main branches of the welfare state, from health, education and tax policy, to labour market, pension and migration policy.