The New Politics of the Welfare State

529 Pages·2001·3.44 MB·English

by  Paul Pierson

The New Politics of the Welfare State
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The New Politics of the Welfare State
Edited by
Paul Pierson
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Acknowledgements
ThisvolumegrowsoutoftwoconferencesheldattheCenterforEuropeanStudies,HarvardUniversity, inNovember
1997 and October 1998. The Center remains a wonderful home for this kind of collaborative work, and as usual
Charles Maier and Abby Collins were generous in backing this project from the outset. I am grateful to the Center's
Program for the Study of Germany and Europe for financial assistance. Lisa Eschenbach provided superb staff
support. I have also been fortunate in working with Oxford University Press, and owe thanks to Dominic Byatt and
Amanda Watkins for their enthusiasm and efficiency. Many members of the academic community in Cambridge and
beyond provided the project's participants with valuable feedback, both during our conferences and afterwards.
Acknowledgements for particular help are indicated in various chapters, but I wish to make special note of the
extensive and valuable comments I received from Keith Banting and Margaret Weir following the group's first
meeting. Miguel Glatzer and Andrew Karch provided important research assistance to me as I was initiating this
collaboration. Finally, I would like to thank the other contributors to this volume. Their professionalism, good
humour, and energy rendered the administrative tasks associated with editing tolerable and greatly magnified the
intellectual and personal rewards.
Cambridge, September 2000
Paul Pierson
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Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables x
Abbreviations xii
List of Contributors xiv
Introduction. Investigating the Welfare State at Century's End Paul Pierson 1
Part I.Sources of Pressure on the Contemporary Welfare State
1.Round Up the Usual Suspects! Globalization, Domestic Politics, and Welfare State Change Herman
Schwartz 17
2.The Dynamics of Welfare State Expansion: Trade Openness, De-industrialization, and Partisan
Politics Torben Iversen 45
3.Post-industrial Pressures on the Mature Welfare States Paul Pierson 80
Part II.Adjustment Dynamics: Economic Actors and Systems of Interest Intermediation
4.Welfare State and Production Regimes in the Era of Retrenchment Evelyne Huber and John
D. Stephens 107
5.Comparative Institutional Advantages of Welfare State Regimes and New Coalitions in Welfare
State Reforms Philip Manow 146
6.The Political Economy of Social Pacts: ‘Competitive Corporatism’ and European Welfare Reform
Martin Rhodes 165
viii CONTENTS
Part III.Adjustment Dynamics Parties, Elections, and Political Institutions
7.Political Institutions and Welfare State Restructuring: The Impact of Institutions on Social Policy
Change in Developed Democracies Duane Swank 197
8.Political Institutions, Veto Points, and the Process of Welfare State Adaptation Giuliano Bonoli 238
9.Partisan Competition and Welfare State Retrenchment: When Do Politicians Choose Unpopular Policies?
Herbert Kitschelt 265
Part IV.Comparing Policy Domains
10.The Comparative Political Economy of Pension Reform John Myles and Paul Pierson 305
11.Who Pays for Health Care Reform? Susan Giaimo 334
12.Labour Market Regimes under Threat? Sources of Continuity in Germany, Britain, and Sweden
Stewart Wood 368
Conclusion
13.Coping with Permanent Austerity: Welfare State Restructuring in Affluent Democracies Paul Pierson 410
References 457
Index 501
List of Figures
1.1. Cleavages over social protection 37
2.1. Average public spending and trade across 17 OECD countries, 1952–95 46
2.2. Trade openness and public spending in 16 OECD countries, 1960–93 (%) 49
2.3. Trade dependence and production volatility across 16 OECD countries 51
2.4. De-industrialization and change in welfare spending for 16 OECD countries, 1960–93 55
2.5. The labour market risk structure and the effects of exogenous shocks 56
2.6. Theoretical variables and their measurement 59
2.7. Earnings equality and private service sector expansion, 1970–92 70
2.8. The evolution of manufacturing employment as a percentage of the working age population in
Sweden and the United States, 1880–1995 74
2.9. Convergence towards the service economy, 1960–95 77
3.1. Manufacturing and service employment 1960–94 (% civilian employment, OECD average) 85
3.2. Public spending on pensions and health 1960–90 (% GDP, average for 20 OECD countries) 89
3.3. Debt/GDP and interest payments/GDP: G7 countries 1970–94 91
9.1. The trajectory of six countries through the opportunities for political-economic reforms 299
13.1. Welfare state clienteles as a percentage of the electorate, 1950–80 412
13.2. Identifying the viable space for policy reform 419