66710 - Political Economy Of Welfare Systems

Learning outcomes

The course is designed to explore the frontiers of interaction between politics and markets. It addresses 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. The course is structured around two key 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

This course examines cross-national evolution and variation in 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 institutional settings, coalition politics and economic systems shape fundamentally different models of welfare states? The methodology is comparative and the focus is on theoretical models.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will be able to:

• Compare 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: In consideration of the teaching methods adopted in the IT laboratory, attendance of this course requires the prior participation of all students  to modules 1 and 2 safety training in places of study [https://elearning-sicurezza.unibo.it/]  in e-learning mode.

Readings/Bibliography

Textbooks

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

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

Further reading

Briggs, A. 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).

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

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

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. Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, in The Welfare State Reader, 2014.

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).

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.

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

Gender and the welfare state

Question: Are welfare states gender neutral?

Required reading

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

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.

Hook. J. and L. Ruppanner, 2022. Gendered Outcomes, in OHWS

Ellison N., Blomqvist P. and Fleckenstein T. 2022. Covid (in)equalities: labor market protection, health, and residential care in Germany, Sweden, and the UK, «Policy and Society», vol. 41, 2, pp. 247-259.

Daly, M. 2023. Theorizing the Relationship between Family, Gender, and the Welfare State, in Mary Daly et al. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Family Policy Over the Life Course: A Life-Course Perspective, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

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

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

Further reading

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

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

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

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

Welfare state in Europe

Question: Is a European welfare state possible?

Required reading

Schmidt, M. 2022. European and National Social Policy, OHWS.

Further reading

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

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

Lendvai, N. and P.Stubbs. 2015. Europeanization, Welfare and Variegated Austerity Capitalisms – Hungary and Croatia. Social Policy & Administration, 49, 445–465.

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

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

Inverted classes

Suggested topics and readings- students should suggest other reading material

Comparing welfare states models – 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.

Fenger, M. 2007. Welfare regimes in Central and Eastern Europe: Incorporating post-communist countries in a welfare regime typology. Contemporary Issues and Ideas in Social Sciences, 3, 2, 1-30.

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. A. Social policy in the face of a global pandemic: Policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis. Social Policy & Administration.; 55: 249– 260.

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.

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

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).

Bulfone, F., and A. Tassinari. 2021. Under pressure. Economic constraints, electoral politics and labour market reforms in Southern Europe in the decade of the Great Recession. European Journal of Political Research, 60, 3: 509-538.

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

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.

Schakel, W. B. Burgoon, A. Hakhverdian,. 2020. Real but Unequal Representation in Welfare State Reform, Politics and Society, 48, 1: 131-163.

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.

Wenzelburger, G., Jensen, C. Seonghui L. and C. Arndt. 2020. How governments strategically time welfare state reform legislation: empirical evidence from five European countries, West European Politics, Vol. 43, 6: 1285-1314.

Migration

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

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).

Sainsbury D. 2012. Welfare states and immigrant rights: the politics of inclusion and exclusion, Oxford, Oxford University Press (available on the UNIBO online library-Oxford online).

Digitalization and the welfare state

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

Climate change and Welfare State

Hirvilammi, T. et al. 2023. Social Policy in a Climate Emergency Context: Towards an Ecosocial Research Agenda. Journal of social Policy 52, 1-23.

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 (16 hours) introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. ‘Inverted’ classes (12 hours) 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: one group will do the inverted class A in classroom (12 hours) and another group will do the inverted class B online (12 hours) on alternate days. Lectures and inverted classes add up to 28 hours for each student. Students should carefully read the required material before the lecture; during the inverted classes, active participation through groups presentations of existing scholarship, student-led projects and case studies will be expected.

Assessment methods

Course Evaluation

Each student should read the 'required readings' for each class and seminar. ‘Further reading’ is intended to provide background introduction to the main readings. During the classes and seminars, every week students’ group should hand in one question for discussion.

Evaluation attending students:

Class participation 15% grade

Student presentation 20% grade

Written paper 65% grade. Deadline for written paper:15 January 2024

Paper: 5000 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.

Evaluation for non-attending students: Oral exam on the required readings and on Pierson,C. Castles, F. and I.K.Naumann (eds.) 2014. The welfare state reader, Polity

Teaching tools

Slides, videos, enquiry learning and problem solving techniques.

Office hours

See the website of Rosa Mulè