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Retrenchment or Resilience? New Evidence on Relative Social Expenditure Trends

Author

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  • Jon Olaskoaga-Larrauri

    (Departamento de Organización de Empresas, Universidad del País Vasco, Bilbao, Spain)

  • Ricardo Aláez-Aller

    (Departamento de Economía, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Campus Arrosadia, 31006-Pamplona, Spain)

  • Pablo Díaz-de-Basurto

    (Departamento de Organización de Empresas, Universidad del País Vasco, Bilbao, Spain)

Abstract

Two opposing viewpoints can be found in recent literature on trends in welfare states. The first (efficiency thesis) envisages the retrenchment of the welfare state, while the second viewpoint (the ‘resilience theory’) holds that reforms and cutbacks in some parameters of social protection will be minor and will not jeopardise the essential nature of Western states. The present study makes sense in this context of hypotheses to be tested and it proposes an alternative to the measures currently available. The measure drawn up and used in this paper could be called the ‘synthetic relative standards of protection measure’ and is based in the aggregate social spending levels. Much of the evidence gathered in this research study is consistent with the resilience thesis. The impact of reforms is by no means as drastic as posited by the champions of the efficiency thesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Jon Olaskoaga-Larrauri & Ricardo Aláez-Aller & Pablo Díaz-de-Basurto, 2010. "Retrenchment or Resilience? New Evidence on Relative Social Expenditure Trends," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 28(5), pages 923-942, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:28:y:2010:i:5:p:923-942
    DOI: 10.1068/c0968
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. James P. Allan & Lyle Scruggs, 2004. "Political Partisanship and Welfare State Reform in Advanced Industrial Societies," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(3), pages 496-512, July.
    6. Swank,Duane, 2002. "Global Capital, Political Institutions, and Policy Change in Developed Welfare States," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521806688, September.
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