Overview

Western Welfare Capitalisms in Good Times and Bad provides an insightful appraisal of policy priorities and outcomes in four Western regimes: the Anglo-American liberal regimes, Southern European ‘proto-corporatist’ regimes, the historically social democratic Scandinavian regimes, and Western European conservative-corporatist regimes. Challenging the assertion that Western regimes are converging towards a ‘lean and mean’ Anglo-American type of welfare regime, the authors demonstrate how policy priorities and outcomes in these four regimes remain distinctive. Chapters offer detailed analyses of a comprehensive set of policy outcomes including poverty, income and wealth inequality, gender inequality, personal autonomy, economic growth, economic security, and life satisfaction. The book ultimately finds that the historically social democratic Scandinavian regimes perform as well or better than other regimes in all policy domains, whilst continuing to prioritise their own egalitarian policy aims. This fascinating book will be essential reading for scholars of political science, sociology and economics, as well as policy makers seeking to fully understand the complex dimensions of Western capitalism. It will also be valuable to those interested in comparing the differing responses of Western governments to two major crises of the 21st century: the Global Financial Crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.

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9781035312290

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Reviews

'This book not only offers many statistical indicators that describe the social situations in the countries studied very well, but it also clarifies terms that often cause confusion. For example, it explains how the term liberal is used in different cultures.' -- Gert G. Wagner, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany 'This book provides a comprehensive, comparative analysis of recent welfare state policies and achievements. Drawing on national and international data, the authors examine welfare policies and outcomes before, during and after the financial and Covid crises. The findings are innovative, compelling and at times provocative, but always engaging and thought provoking. The book is essential reading for welfare state scholars, students and anyone interested in the recent socio-economic history of capitalist nations.' -- Peter Saunders, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

‘This book not only offers many statistical indicators that describe the social situations in the countries studied very well, but it also clarifies terms that often cause confusion. For example, it explains how the term “liberal” is used in different cultures.’ -- Gert G. Wagner, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany ‘This book provides a comprehensive, comparative analysis of recent welfare state policies and achievements. Drawing on national and international data, the authors examine welfare policies and outcomes before, during and after the financial and Covid crises. The findings are innovative, compelling and at times provocative, but always engaging and thought-provoking. The book is essential reading for welfare state scholars, students and anyone interested in the recent socio-economic history of capitalist nations.’ -- Peter Saunders, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Author Information

Bruce Headey, Principal Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, Australia, Ruud Muffels, Professor of Socio-Economics, Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Tranzo, Scientific Center for Care and Wellbeing, the Netherlands and John Quiggin, Professor of Economics, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia

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