IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-03380958.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Growth Strategies and Welfare Reforms in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Sonja Avlijas

    (CEE - Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée (Sciences Po, CNRS) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Anke Hassel
  • Bruno Palier

    (CEE - Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée (Sciences Po, CNRS) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This chapter shows that welfare reforms are institutionally and politically linked to countries' growth strategies, i.e. the policies implemented by governments to boost growth and jobs creation since the 1980s. The chapter starts by identifying five growth strategies according to the engine of growth chosen and the type of welfare reform: export of dynamic services; export of high-quality manufacturing products; FDI-financed exports; domestic consumption driven by financialization; and domestic consumption driven by wages and welfare spending (which has transformed into "competitiveness through impoverishment" under pressure from the EU). We show that these five growth strategies can be associated with five types of welfare state reform: dualization of welfare, social investment, fiscal and social attractiveness, commodification of welfare, and social protectionism. The detailed account of the cases of the UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Baltic and Visegrád Eastern European countries, Italy and France underlines the actual connections between growth strategies and welfare reforms. The cases reveal that these strategies are not mutually exclusive and that more than one strategy might be pursued in a country. The chapter contributes to an understanding of how countries' growth regimes change, by identifying the transformative feedback effect that the implementation of growth strategies has on them. The chapter concludes on the politics of growth strategies and welfare state reforms and the respective roles of producer coalitions and electoral politics.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonja Avlijas & Anke Hassel & Bruno Palier, 2021. "Growth Strategies and Welfare Reforms in Europe," Post-Print hal-03380958, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03380958
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03380958
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-03380958/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clément Carbonnier & Nathalie Morel, 2018. "Entretien avec les auteurs du « Retour des domestiques »," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-02282465, HAL.
    2. Jacob S. Hacker & Paul Pierson, 2010. "Winner-Take-All Politics: Public Policy, Political Organization, and the Precipitous Rise of Top Incomes in the United States," Politics & Society, , vol. 38(2), pages 152-204, June.
    3. Aidan Regan & Samuel Brazys, 2018. "Celtic Phoenix or Leprechaun Economics? The Politics of an FDI-led Growth Model in Europe," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 223-238, March.
    4. Tom Krebs & Martin Scheffel, 2013. "Macroeconomic Evaluation of Labor Market Reform in Germany," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(4), pages 664-701, December.
    5. Joachim Ragnitz, 2009. "East Germany Today: Successes and Failures," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 7(04), pages 51-58, January.
    6. repec:ces:ifodic:v:7:y:2009:i:4:p:14567043 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Disney, Richard & Luo, Guannan, 2017. "The Right to Buy public housing in Britain: A welfare analysis," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 51-68.
    8. Ebbinghaus, Bernhard (ed.), 2011. "The Varieties of Pension Governance: Pension Privatization in Europe," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199586028.
    9. Joachim Ragnitz, 2009. "East Germany Today: Successes and Failures," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 7(4), pages 51-58, 01.
    10. Korpi, Walter & Palme, Joakim, 2003. "New Politics and Class Politics in the Context of Austerity and Globalization: Welfare State Regress in 18 Countries, 1975–95," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 97(3), pages 425-446, August.
    11. Bruno Palier & Kathleen Thelen, 2010. "Institutionalizing Dualism: Complementarities and Change in France and Germany," Politics & Society, , vol. 38(1), pages 119-148, March.
    12. Esping-Andersen, Gosta, 1999. "Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198742005.
    13. Mr. Tom Krebs & Mr. Martin Scheffel, 2013. "Macroeconomic Evaluation of Labor Market Reform in Germany," IMF Working Papers 2013/042, International Monetary Fund.
    14. Aidan Regan, 2012. "The Political Economy of Social Pacts in the EMU: Irish Liberal Market Corporatism in Crisis," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 465-491.
    15. Peter Bofinger, 2017. "Hartz IV: The Solution to the Unemployment Problems in the Eurozone?," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 52(6), pages 353-357, November.
    16. Tom Krebs & Martin Scheffel, 2013. "Macroeconomic Evaluation of Labor Market Reform in Germany," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(4), pages 664-701, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stieglitz, Moritz & Setzer, Ralph, 2022. "Firm-level employment, labour market reforms, and bank distress," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    2. Magnus Reif, 2020. "Macroeconomics, Nonlinearities, and the Business Cycle," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 87.
    3. Gadatsch, Niklas & Stähler, Nikolai & Weigert, Benjamin, 2016. "German labor market and fiscal reforms 1999–2008: Can they be blamed for intra-euro area imbalances?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 307-324.
    4. Seele, Stefanie & Burda, Michael, 2016. "No Role for the Hartz Reforms? Demand and Supply Factors in the German Labor Market, 1993-2014," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145650, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Ehrich, Malte & Munasib, Abdul & Roy, Devesh, 2018. "The Hartz reforms and the German labor force," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 284-300.
    6. Carrillo-Tudela, Carlos & Launov, Andrey & Robin, Jean-Marc, 2021. "The fall in german unemployment: A flow analysis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    7. Steffen Elstner & Lars P. Feld & Christoph M. Schmidt, 2018. "The German Productivity Paradox - Facts and Explanations," CESifo Working Paper Series 7231, CESifo.
    8. Krebs, Tom & Scheffel, Martin, 2016. "Structural Reform in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 9787, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Michael U. Krause & Thomas A. Lubik, 2014. "Modeling Labor Markets in Macroeconomics: Search and Matching," Working Paper 14-19, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
    10. Carlos Carrillo-Tudela & Hermann Gartner & Leo Kaas, 2023. "Recruitment Policies, Job-Filling Rates, and Matching Efficiency," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(6), pages 2413-2459.
    11. Hochmuth, Brigitte & Kohlbrecher, Britta & Merkl, Christian & Gartner, Hermann, 2021. "Hartz IV and the decline of German unemployment: A macroeconomic evaluation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    12. Hémous, David & Dechezleprêtre, Antoine & Olsen, Morten & Zanella, carlo, 2019. "Automating Labor: Evidence from Firm-level Patent Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 14249, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Gerard J. Van den Berg & Iris Kesternich & Gerrit Müller & Bettina Siflinger, 2019. "Reciprocity and the Interaction between the Unemployed and the Caseworker," CESifo Working Paper Series 7947, CESifo.
    14. Maximilian Joseph Blömer & Clemens Fuest & Andreas Peichl, 2019. "Raus aus der Niedrigeinkommensfalle(!) – Der ifo-Vorschlag zur Reform des Grundsicherungssystems," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 72(04), pages 34-43, February.
    15. Beissinger, Thomas & Chusseau, Nathalie & Hellier, Joël, 2015. "Offshoring and labour market reforms: Modelling the German experience," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 04-2015, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    16. Hamzeh Arabzadeh, 2016. "The political economy of twin deficits and wage setting centralization," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2016017, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    17. Tom Krebs & Martin Scheffel, 2016. "Labor Market Institutions and the Cost of Recessions," CESifo Working Paper Series 6262, CESifo.
    18. Launov, Andrey & Wälde, Klaus, 2016. "The employment effect of reforming a public employment agency," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 140-164.
    19. Woodcock, Simon D., 2023. "The determinants of displaced workers’ wages: Sorting, matching, selection, and the Hartz reforms," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 233(2), pages 568-595.
    20. Gehrke, Britta & Lechthaler, Wolfgang & Merkl, Christian, 2019. "The German labor market during the Great Recession: Shocks and institutions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 192-208.

    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:hal:journl:hal-03380958. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.