Welfare-capitalist regimes in the 21st century: still delivering distinctive policy outcomes, little evidence of convergence

We rank the four regime on their performance in relation to both their own and other regimes’ priorities. The historically social democratic Scandinavian regimes perform ‘best’ on their own priorities relating to poverty, income inequality and gender inequality. They also perform as well or better than liberal and corporatist regimes on those regimes’ priorities relating to personal autonomy, economic growth and rising living standards, and family income stability. Life satisfaction is higher and more equal in social democratic regimes than elsewhere. It has been claimed that Western welfare-capitalist regimes have been converging towards adopting liberal priorities in recent decades. We find that the four regimes continue to pursue distinctive priorities, and that the reforms they have carried out in recent times have been substantially guided by their priorities. Evidence of ‘path dependence’ outweighs evidence of convergence.