IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/intssr/v60y2007i1p33-58.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Universalism versus targeting: The vulnerability of social insurance and means‐tested minimum income protection in 18 countries, 1990‐2002

Author

Listed:
  • Kenneth Nelson

Abstract

The stagnation and retrenchment of social policies in recent decades raise considerable interest and concern in writings on the welfare state. This study examines differences in the development of means‐tested benefits and social insurance provisions. Questions relating to the measurement of policy retrenchment and the vulnerability of social benefits are addressed. Two conflicting hypotheses are discerned: one stating that the development of means‐tested benefits resembles that of social insurance; and another more recent one claiming that the evolution of means‐tested benefits follows a unique pattern. The empirical analyses are based on institutional data on the level of social benefits. It is shown that social insurance stands a better chance of surviving periods of retrenchment and that the greater vulnerability of means‐tested benefits is related to the organization of social insurance provisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth Nelson, 2007. "Universalism versus targeting: The vulnerability of social insurance and means‐tested minimum income protection in 18 countries, 1990‐2002," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 60(1), pages 33-58, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:intssr:v:60:y:2007:i:1:p:33-58
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-246X.2007.00259.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-246X.2007.00259.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-246X.2007.00259.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Naoki Akaeda, 2022. "The Consequences of Social Policy for Subjective Well-Being: A New Paradox?," LIS Working papers 846, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    2. Katherine Baird, 2014. "The US Safety Net in an Era of Middle Class Decline: Has it drifted from the poor?," LIS Working papers 617, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    3. Brady, David & Bostic, Amie, 2015. "Paradoxes of Social Policy: Welfare Transfers, Relative Poverty, and Redistribution Preferences," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 80(2), pages 268-298.
    4. Johan Fritzell & Jennie Bacchus-hertzman & O. Bäckman & I. Borg & T. Ferrarini & K. Nelson, 2010. "GINI Country Report: Growing Inequalities and their Impacts in Sweden," GINI Country Reports sweden, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:intssr:v:60:y:2007:i:1:p:33-58. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1865-1674 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.