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Business Power and Social Policy: Employers and the Formation of the American Welfare State

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  • JACOB S. HACKER
  • PAUL PIERSON

Abstract

A number of scholars have highlighted the role of employers in shaping the development of the welfare state. Yet the results of this research have often been ambiguous or disputed because of insufficient attention to theoretical, conceptual, and methodological problems in the study of political influence. This article considers three of these problems in turn: the failure to distinguish and investigate multiple mechanisms of exercising influence, the misspecification of preferences, and the inference of influence from ex post correlation between actor preferences and outcomes. We demonstrate the importance of each through a reexamination of the early development of the American welfare state. The striking feature we suggest is neither business dominance nor weakness but marked variation in influence over time and across institutional settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacob S. Hacker & Paul Pierson, 2002. "Business Power and Social Policy: Employers and the Formation of the American Welfare State," Politics & Society, , vol. 30(2), pages 277-325, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:polsoc:v:30:y:2002:i:2:p:277-325
    DOI: 10.1177/0032329202030002004
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    1. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6sio9gcc4m9nr96pqt3c5at95b is not listed on IDEAS
    2. repec:idq:ictduk:13735 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. José Carlos Marques, 2017. "Industry Business Associations: Self-Interested or Socially Conscious?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(4), pages 733-751, July.
    4. Kristina Babich & Daniel Béland, 2007. "Creating the Canada/Quebec Pension Plans: An Historical and Political Analysis," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 223, McMaster University.
    5. Paster, Thomas, 2015. "Bringing power back in: A review of the literature on the role of business in welfare state politics," MPIfG Discussion Paper 15/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Hager, Sandy Brian, 2016. "A Global Bond: Explaining the Safe-Haven Status of US Treasury Securities," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 1-24.
    7. Woll, Cornelia, 2015. "Politics in the interest of capital: A not-so-organized combat," MaxPo Discussion Paper Series 15/2, Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies (MaxPo).
    8. Ainsley Elbra & John Mikler, 2017. "Paying a ‘Fair Share’: Multinational Corporations’ Perspectives on Taxation," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8(2), pages 181-190, May.
    9. repec:zbw:bofitp:2018_007 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Marques II, Israel, 2018. "Firms and social policy preferences under weak institutions : Evidence from Russia," BOFIT Discussion Papers 7/2018, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    11. Thomas Paster, 2016. "Adaptation and Influence: The Schumpeterian Perspective on Business-Politics Relations," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 444, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    12. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6sio9gcc4m9nr96pqt3c5at95b is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Jonas Meckling, 2015. "Oppose, Support, or Hedge? Distributional Effects, Regulatory Pressure, and Business Strategy in Environmental Politics," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(2), pages 19-37, May.
    14. Hager, Sandy Brian, 2016. "Public Debt, Inequality and Power. The Making of a Modern Debt State," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157976, December.

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