66710 - Political Economy Of Welfare Systems

Learning outcomes

The course is designed to explore the frontiers of interaction between politics and markets. At the end of the course, students will be able to understand the factors underlying cross national variation in economic performance and income inequality by investigating the ways in which the international economy affects state autonomy, the welfare state and the politics of income redistribution. Students will also be able to critically assess two questions: To what extent do differences in institutional settings shape fundamentally different models of democratic capitalism? What is the role of institutions, firms and labour unions in determining the different arrangements we find in capitalist countries?

Course contents

Political economy of welfare systems
2026-2027
This course examines cross-national evolution and variation in the political economy of welfare states in industrialized countries, and especially in Europe. The course is structured around three questions: How do we compare the political economy of welfare states? Why do welfare states models differ? To what extent do differences in coalition politics, institutional settings, and economic systems shape fundamentally different models of welfare states? The methodology is comparative and the focus is on theoretical models.

Course Procedure
The course is organized in lectures and ‘inverted’ classes, as detailed in the following program. Lectures introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. ‘Inverted’ classes are centered on in-depth discussions of class materials, suggested by students and lecturer, and exercises. In the inverted class, students will be divided into groups according to their preferences and will meet on alternate days. Students should carefully read the required material before the lecture; during the inverted classes, active participation through group presentations of existing scholarship, student-led projects and case studies will be expected.

Course Evaluation
Each student should read the 'required readings' for each class. ‘Further reading’ is intended to provide background introduction to the main readings. Every week the students’ group should hand in one question for discussion at least two days prior to the class.

Evaluation
Attending students (70% attendance)
Class participation 20% grade
Student presentation 25% grade
Written paper 55% grade. Deadline for written paper:15 January 2027
Paper: 7000 words in total including abstract, bibliography, tables and graphs. Each table counts 250 words; each graph counts 250 words. The empirical section of the paper will draw on the Luxembourg Income Study datasets.
Non attending students
Written paper of 10000 words on a topic discussed with the professor.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course the student will be able to:
• Compare the politics of welfare states
• Understand the challenges to the welfare state

Attending students will also be able to:
• Plan and write a research paper using the Luxembourg Income Study Datasets
Please note:
• This course participates to the Teaching Experimentation Project of Bologna University.
• Due to the teaching methods adopted in the IT laboratory, attendance of this course requires the prior participation of all students in Modules 1 and 2 of safety training in the places of study, in e-learning mode.
• The course tackles the following United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGS): 1, 4, 5,8,9,10.
• Students with DSA or temporary or permanent disabilities: It is recommended to contact the responsible University office in good time (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it): it will be their responsibility to propose any adaptations to the students concerned, which must however be submitted, with a 15-day notice, to the approval of the teacher, who will evaluate the opportunity also in relation to the educational objectives of the course.


Textbooks
Béland, D., Leibfried,S. Morgan,K.J., Obinger, H. and C.Pierson (eds.) 2022. The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, (OHWS) Oxford University Press, second edition (available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online).
Greve, B. (ed.) 2018. Routledge Handbook of the Welfare State, 2nd Edition
Pierson, C. Castles, F. and I.K.Naumann (eds.) 2014. The welfare state reader, Polity Press (and some chapters in 1st edition 2000).
Background reading
Garland, D. 2016. The Welfare State: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press.
Topics
Historical foundations of the welfare state
Question: Why did the welfare state develop in Western Europe?
Required reading
Briggs, A. 2014 Welfare State in Historical Perspective, in The Welfare State Reader, 2014 (originally published in European Journal of Sociology, Vol. 2, n. 2: 221-258, 1961 https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.unibo.it/stable/23987939).

Kuhnle, S. and A. Sander.2022.The Emergence of the Western Welfare State, in OHWS chapter 5
Further reading
Hemerijck, A. and S. Ronchi. 2022. Recent Developments. Social Investment Reform in the 21st Century, in OHWS chapter 7.
Nullmeier, F. and F.-X. Kaufmann.2022. Post-War Welfare State Development: The 'Golden Age', in OHWS chapter 6.

Scheve K, Serlin T. 2023. The German Trade Shock and the Rise of the Neo-Welfare State in Early Twentieth-Century Britain. American Political Science Review. 117, 2:557-574. doi:10.1017/S0003055422000673

Comparing the politics of welfare states models
Question: What explains welfare states divergence?
Required reading
Manow, P. 2022. Models of the Welfare State. OHWS.
Esping-Andersen, G. 2014 Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, in The Welfare State Reader.

Further reading
Arts, W. and Gelissen, J. 2010. Models of the Welfare State. In Castles, F.G. et al. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State. Oxford University Press, 569-583 (available on UNIBO online library-Oxford online).
Elkjær, M. and Iversen, T. 2023. The Democratic State and Redistribution: Whose Interests Are Served? American Political Science Review, 117(2), 391-406.
Mulè, R. 2016. The South European Welfare State in the New Millennium. Challenges, constraints and prospects for Europeanization, in World Economy and International Relations, 7, 25-36.


Gender and the welfare state
Question: Are welfare states gender neutral?
Required reading
Daly, M. 2022. Families, States, and Markets, in OHWS.
Mulè, R. and R. Rizza 2023. Gendering the political economy of labour market policies, Routledge, London, chapters 1, 2,3.
Orloff, A.S. and M. Laperriere. 2022. Gender, in OHWS.


Further reading
Daly, M. 2020. Gender inequality and welfare states in Europe, chp. 1 Edward Elgar

Del Boca, D., Oggero, N., Profeta, P. Rossi M.C. 2020. Women’s and men’s work, housework and childcare, before and during COVID-19. Review of Economic Household, Vol. 18, 1001–1017.

Dinale, D. 2024. The positive relationship between female employment and fertility rates: The role of family benefits expenditure and gender-role ideologies. Journal of European Social Policy, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/09589287241252008

Kowalewska, H. 2023. Gendered employment patterns: Women’s labour market outcomes across 24 countries. Journal of European Social Policy, 33(2), 151–168.

Mulè, R. and O. Dubrovina, 2019. Gendering the costs of the political economy transition in Russia, Interdisciplinary Political Studies Vol. 5, 2: 285-317.
Sainsbury, D. (ed). 1999. Gender and welfare state regimes, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Sass, K. and S. Kuhnle, 2023 The Gender Cleavage: Updating Rokkanian Theory for the Twenty-First Century, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 30, 1:188–210, https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxac003

Welfare state in Europe
Question: Is a European welfare state possible?
Required reading
Ferrera, M. 2024. Politics and Social Visions: Ideology, Conflict, and Solidarity in the EU Oxford, Oxford University Press. https://doi-org.ezproxy.unibo.it/10.1093/oso/9780198863304.001.0001 chapters 5 and 6
Hemerijck, A. and M.Matsaganis, 2024 Who's Afraid of the Welfare State Now? online edn, Oxford University Press. https://doi-org.ezproxy.unibo.it/10.1093/oso/9780198875468.001.0001 Chapter 8.

Miró, J., Kyriazi, A., Natili, M., and Ronchi, S. 2024. Buffering national welfare states in hard times: The politics of EU capacity-building in the social policy domain. Social Policy & Administration, 58, 2, 215–227. https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12979

Further reading
Kvist, J. and J. Saari. 2014. The Europeanization of Social Protection: Domestic Impacts and National Responses, in Welfare State Reader.
Pestieau, P. and M. Lefebvre. 2018. The Welfare State in Europe: Economic and Social Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Scharpf, F. 2010.The Asymmetry of European Integration, or why the EU cannot be a ‘social market economy’. Socio-Economic Review, 8, 211-250.

Schreurs, S. 2023. Scharpf revisited: European welfare governance through the lens of actor-centred institutionalism. Journal of European Public Policy, 31, 9, 2692–2718. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2023.2205887

Tober, T. 2022. European institutional integration, trade unions and income inequality, Socio-Economic Review, 20, 1:351–371.


Inverted classes
Suggested topics and readings- students should suggest other reading material
Comparing welfare states models I – case studies
The Nordic Countries, Kautto, M. and K. Kuitto in OHWS
Continental Western Europe, Palier, B. in OHWS
The South European Countries, Ferrera, M. in OHWS
The English-Speaking Countries, Castles, F. and C. Pierson in OHWS
(available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online).
Comparing welfare states models II -case studies
Cook, J.L. and Inglot, T. 2022. Central and Eastern European Countries in OHWS.
Adascalitei, D. 2017. From Austerity to Austerity: The Political Economy of Public Pension Reforms in Romania and Bulgaria. Social Policy & Administration, 51, 464–487.
Political, social, economic and technological challenges to the welfare state
Social Policy and Global Economic Crises
Béland, D, Cantillon, B, Hick, R, Moreira, 2021. Social policy in the face of a global pandemic: Policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis. Social Policy & Administration.; 55: 249– 260.

Hemerijck, A. and M.Matsaganis, 2024 Who's Afraid of the Welfare State Now? (Oxford, 2024; online edn, Oxford University Press. Chapter 4, https://doi-org.ezproxy.unibo.it/10.1093/oso/9780198875468.001.0001,

Starke, P., Kaasch, A., & Van Hooren, F. 2014. Political Parties and Social Policy Responses to Global Economic Crises: Constrained Partisanship in Mature Welfare States. Journal of Social Policy, 43, 2: 225-246.

Laprise, M.L., Wiedemann, A. 2025 How welfare and credit regimes shape economic policies during times of crisis: the case of Covid-19, Socio-Economic Review, https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwae075

Taylor-Gooby, P., Leruth, L. and H. Chung (eds.). 2017. After Austerity: Welfare State Transformation in Europe after the Great Recession, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Introduction (available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online).

Electoral politics
Abou-Chadi, T. and Immergut, E. M. 2018. Recalibrating social protection: electoral competition and the new partisan politics of the welfare state, European Journal of Political Research, 53, 2 : 269–287.

Green-Pedersen, C, and C. Jensen. 2019. Electoral competition and the welfare state, West European Politics, 42:4, 803-823.

Manow, P. Palier, B. and H. Schwander (eds.). 2018. Welfare Democracies and Party Politics. Explaining Electoral Dynamics in Times of Changing Welfare Capitalism, Oxford University Press. Conclusions (available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online).

Vlandas, T., and Halikiopoulou, D. 2022. Welfare state policies and far right party support: moderating ‘insecurity effects' among different social groups. West European Politics, 45,1: 24-49.

Migration
Afonso,A., E.Wolff, S.Negash, 2024 in Meardi, G (ed) The Political, Fiscal and Economic Effects of Immigration on Welfare States, Research Handbook on Migration and Employment, Edward Elgar
Magni, G. 2024. Boundaries of Solidarity: Immigrants, Economic Contributions, and Welfare Attitudes. American Journal of Political Science, 68: 72-92. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12707
Morgan, K. 2018. Varieties of Electoral Dilemmas: Partisan Jousting over Welfare States and Immigration in a Changing Europe, in Manow, P. Palier, B. and H. Schwander (ed.). Welfare Democracies and Party Politics. Explaining Electoral Dynamics in Times of Changing Welfare Capitalism, Oxford University Press (available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online).

Scarpa, S., Castles, S. and C-U. Schierup. 2022. Migration and Ethnic Minorities in OHWS (available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online).

Digitalization and the welfare state
Antonucci, L and B. Palier, 2026 Can the welfare state protect workers in the age of platform work? The new policy and politics of welfare in the digital economy, Competition and Change https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294261434288
Bennett, H. 2026. Navigating digital welfare: A multi‐level maze?. Social Policy & Administration, 60(1), 27-38

Busemeyer, M. R., Kemmerling, A., Van Kersbergen, K., & Marx, P. (eds.). 2022. Digitalization and the welfare state. Oxford University Press.

Safarov, N. 2024. Administrative Literacy in the Digital Welfare State: Migrants Navigating Access to Public Services in Finland. Social Policy and Society, 23(4), 908–921. doi:10.1017/S1474746422000719

Rules for presentations
Each student should present the topic in maximum 5 minutes. The presentation should end with one or two questions for discussion

Readings/Bibliography

Textbooks

Béland, D., Leibfried,S. Morgan,K.J., Obinger, H. and C.Pierson (eds.) 2022. The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, (OHWS) Oxford University Press, second edition (available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online). Greve, B. (ed.) 2018. Routledge Handbook of the Welfare State, 2nd Edition

Pierson, C. Castles, F. and I.K.Naumann (eds.) 2014. The welfare state reader, Polity Press (and some chapters in 1st edition 2000).

Background reading

Garland, D. 2016. The Welfare State: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press.

Topics

Historical foundations of the welfare state

Question: Why did the welfare state develop in Western Europe?

Required reading

Briggs, A. 2014 Welfare State in Historical Perspective, in The Welfare State Reader, 2014 (originally published in European Journal of Sociology, Vol. 2, n. 2: 221-258, 1961 https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.unibo.it/stable/23987939 ).

Kuhnle, S. and A. Sander.2022.The Emergence of the Western Welfare State, in OHWS chapter 5

Further reading

Hemerijck, A. and S. Ronchi. 2022. Recent Developments. Social Investment Reform in the 21st Century, in OHWS chapter 7.

Nullmeier, F. and F.-X. Kaufmann.2022. Post-War Welfare State Development: The 'Golden Age', in OHWS chapter 6.

Scheve K, Serlin T. 2023. The German Trade Shock and the Rise of the Neo-Welfare State in Early Twentieth-Century Britain. American Political Science Review. 117, 2:557-574. doi:10.1017/S0003055422000673

Comparing the politics of welfare states models

Question: What explains welfare states divergence?

Required reading

Manow, P. 2022. Models of the Welfare State. OHWS.

Esping-Andersen, G. 2014 Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, in The Welfare State Reader.

Further reading

Arts, W. and Gelissen, J. 2010. Models of the Welfare State. In Castles, F.G. et al. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State. Oxford University Press, 569-583 (available on UNIBO online library-Oxford online).

Elkjær, M. and Iversen, T. 2023. The Democratic State and Redistribution: Whose Interests Are Served? American Political Science Review, 117(2), 391-406.

Mulè, R. 2016. The South European Welfare State in the New Millennium. Challenges, constraints and prospects for Europeanization, in World Economy and International Relations, 7, 25-36.

Gender and the welfare state

Question: Are welfare states gender neutral?

Required reading

Daly, M. 2022. Families, States, and Markets, [https://www-oxfordhandbooks-com.ezproxy.unibo.it/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198828389.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780198828389-e-12?rskey=Wl2hEe&result=22] in OHWS.

Mulè, R. and R. Rizza 2023. Gendering the political economy of labour market policies, Routledge, London, chapters 1, 2,3.

Orloff, A.S. and M. Laperriere. 2022. Gender, in OHWS.

Further reading

Daly, M. 2020. Gender inequality and welfare states in Europe, chp. 1 Edward Elgar

Del Boca, D., Oggero, N., Profeta, P. Rossi M.C. 2020. Women’s and men’s work, housework and childcare, before and during COVID-19. Review of Economic Household, Vol. 18, 1001–1017.

Dinale, D. 2024. The positive relationship between female employment and fertility rates: The role of family benefits expenditure and gender-role ideologies. Journal of European Social Policy, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/09589287241252008

Kowalewska, H. 2023. Gendered employment patterns: Women’s labour market outcomes across 24 countries. Journal of European Social Policy, 33(2), 151–168.

Mulè, R. and O. Dubrovina, 2019. Gendering the costs of the political economy transition in Russia, Interdisciplinary Political Studies Vol. 5, 2: 285-317.

Sainsbury, D. (ed). 1999. Gender and welfare state regimes, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Sass, K. and S. Kuhnle, 2023 The Gender Cleavage: Updating Rokkanian Theory for the Twenty-First Century, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 30, 1:188–210, https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxac003

Welfare state in Europe

Question: Is a European welfare state possible?

Required reading

Ferrera, M. 2024. Politics and Social Visions: Ideology, Conflict, and Solidarity in the EU Oxford, Oxford University Press. https://doi-org.ezproxy.unibo.it/10.1093/oso/9780198863304.001.0001 chapters 5 and 6

Hemerijck, A. and M.Matsaganis, 2024 Who's Afraid of the Welfare State Now? online edn, Oxford University Press. https://doi-org.ezproxy.unibo.it/10.1093/oso/9780198875468.001.0001 Chapter 8 [https://doi-org.ezproxy.unibo.it/10.1093/oso/9780198875468.001.0001%20Chapter%208] .

Miró, J., Kyriazi, A., Natili, M., and Ronchi, S. 2024. Buffering national welfare states in hard times: The politics of EU capacity-building in the social policy domain. Social Policy & Administration, 58, 2, 215–227. https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12979

Further reading

Kvist, J. and J. Saari. 2014. The Europeanization of Social Protection: Domestic Impacts and National Responses, in Welfare State Reader.

Pestieau, P. and M. Lefebvre. 2018. The Welfare State in Europe: Economic and Social Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Scharpf, F. 2010.The Asymmetry of European Integration, or why the EU cannot be a ‘social market economy’. Socio-Economic Review, 8, 211-250.

Schreurs, S. 2023. Scharpf revisited: European welfare governance through the lens of actor-centred institutionalism. Journal of European Public Policy, 31, 9, 2692–2718. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2023.2205887

Tober, T. 2022. European institutional integration, trade unions and income inequality, Socio-Economic Review, 20, 1:351–371.

Inverted classes

Suggested topics and readings- students should suggest other reading material

Comparing welfare states models I – case studies

The Nordic Countries, Kautto, M. and K. Kuitto in OHWS

Continental Western Europe, Palier, B. in OHWS

The South European Countries, Ferrera, M. in OHWS

The English-Speaking Countries, Castles, F. and C. Pierson in OHWS

(available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online).

Comparing welfare states models II -case studies Cook, J.L. and Inglot, T. 2022. Central and Eastern European Countries in OHWS.

Adascalitei, D. 2017. From Austerity to Austerity: The Political Economy of Public Pension Reforms in Romania and Bulgaria. Social Policy & Administration, 51, 464– 487.

Political, social, economic and technological challenges to the welfare state Social Policy and Global Economic Crises

Béland, D, Cantillon, B, Hick, R, Moreira, 2021. Social policy in the face of a global pandemic: Policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis. Social Policy & Administration.; 55: 249– 260.

Hemerijck, A. and M.Matsaganis, 2024 Who's Afraid of the Welfare State Now? (Oxford, 2024; online edn, Oxford University Press. Chapter 4, https://doi-org.ezproxy.unibo.it/10.1093/oso/9780198875468.001.0001,

Starke, P., Kaasch, A., & Van Hooren, F. 2014. Political Parties and Social Policy Responses to Global Economic Crises: Constrained Partisanship in Mature Welfare States. Journal of Social Policy, 43, 2: 225-246.

Laprise, M.L., Wiedemann, A. 2025 How welfare and credit regimes shape economic policies during times of crisis: the case of Covid-19, Socio-Economic Review, https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwae075

Taylor-Gooby, P., Leruth, L. and H. Chung (eds.). 2017. After Austerity: Welfare State Transformation in Europe after the Great Recession, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Introduction (available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online).

Electoral politics

Abou-Chadi, T. and Immergut, E. M. 2018. Recalibrating social protection: electoral competition and the new partisan politics of the welfare state, European Journal of Political Research, 53, 2 : 269–287.

Green-Pedersen, C, and C. Jensen. 2019. Electoral competition and the welfare state, West European Politics, 42:4, 803-823.

Manow, P. Palier, B. and H. Schwander (eds.). 2018. Welfare Democracies and Party Politics. Explaining Electoral Dynamics in Times of Changing Welfare Capitalism [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/welfare-democracies-and-party-politics-9780198807971?q=manow%20palier%20schwander&lang=en&cc=fr], Oxford University Press. Conclusions (available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online).

Vlandas, T., and Halikiopoulou, D. 2022. Welfare state policies and far right party support: moderating ‘insecurity effects' among different social groups. West European Politics, 45,1: 24-49.

Migration

Afonso,A., E.Wolff, S.Negash, 2024 in Meardi, G (ed) The Political, Fiscal and Economic Effects of Immigration on Welfare States, Research Handbook on Migration and Employment, Edward Elgar

Magni, G. 2024. Boundaries of Solidarity: Immigrants, Economic Contributions, and Welfare Attitudes. American Journal of Political Science, 68: 72-92. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12707

Morgan, K. 2018. Varieties of Electoral Dilemmas: Partisan Jousting over Welfare States and Immigration in a Changing Europe, in Manow, P. Palier, B. and H. Schwander (ed.). Welfare Democracies and Party Politics. Explaining Electoral Dynamics in Times of Changing Welfare Capitalism [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/welfare-democracies-and-party-politics-9780198807971?q=manow%20palier%20schwander&lang=en&cc=fr], Oxford University Press (available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online).

Scarpa, S., Castles, S. and C-U. Schierup. 2022. Migration and Ethnic Minorities in OHWS (available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online).

Digitalization and the welfare state

Antonucci, L and B. Palier, 2026 Can the welfare state protect workers in the age of platform work? The new policy and politics of welfare in the digital economy, Competition and Change https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294261434288 Bennett, H. 2026. Navigating digital welfare: A multi‐level maze?. Social Policy & Administration, 60(1), 27-38

Busemeyer, M. R., Kemmerling, A., Van Kersbergen, K., & Marx, P. (eds.). 2022. Digitalization and the welfare state. Oxford University Press.

Safarov, N. 2024. Administrative Literacy in the Digital Welfare State: Migrants Navigating Access to Public Services in Finland. Social Policy and Society, 23(4), 908–921. doi:10.1017/S1474746422000719

Rules for presentations

Each student should present the topic in maximum 5 minutes. The presentation should end with one or two questions for discussion

Teaching methods

Course Procedure

The course is organized in lectures and ‘inverted’ classes, as detailed in the following program. Lectures introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. ‘Inverted’ classes are centered on in-depth discussions of class materials, suggested by students and lecturer, and exercises. In the inverted class, students will be divided into groups according to their preferences and will meet on alternate days. Students should carefully read the required material before the lecture; during the inverted classes, active participation through group presentations of existing scholarship, student-led projects and case studies will be expected.

Assessment methods

Attending students (70% attendance)
Class participation 20% grade
Student presentation 25% grade
Written paper 55% grade. Deadline for written paper:15 January 2027
Paper: 7000 words in total including abstract, bibliography, tables and graphs. Each table counts 250 words; each graph counts 250 words. The empirical section of the paper will draw on the Luxembourg Income Study datasets.
Non attending students
Written paper of 10000 words on a topic discussed with the professor.

Teaching tools

Slides, videos, enquiry learning and problem solving techniques.

Office hours

See the website of Rosa Mulè