Who's Afraid of the Welfare State Now?

Description

This book primarily explores the welfare-policy responses to the Great Recession, reform trajectories that swept across Europe over the last decade, with a final chapter that focuses on Covid-19 welfare management. The 2008 crash marked a critical stress test for European welfare states with dramatic repercussions, including a massive surge in unemployment, a widening in wage and income disparities, and rising poverty. Hikes in fiscal deficits and public debt, required to pre-empt an economic meltdown, forced policymakers to make painful cuts in welfare services to shore up public finances, thereby jeopardizing welfare support for vulnerable groups. The overall scope of welfare-policy responses is heterogeneous, disparate, and uneven. In some cases, the response to the Great Recession was accompanied by deep social conflicts, while in others unpopular crisis-management measures received broad consent from opposition parties, trade unions, and employer organizations. Alongside serious retrenchments, there have been assertive attempts to rebuild social programmes and institutions, to accommodate policy repertoires-not merely domestically but also at the EU level-to the new realities of the knowledge economy and an ageing society. Overall, the long 2010s showed that the future of work and welfare is in our hands: it is perfectly possible to shape this future in such a way as to provide inclusive social security, achieve high employment, advance and maintain human capabilities across the life-course, and fight poverty and inequality.

About the authors:

Anton Hemerijck is Professor of Political Science and Sociology in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute (EUI). He has previously held positions at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam and the London School of Economics and Political Science, and was Director of the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), the principal think tank in the Netherlands. More recently, he was a member of the European Commission High-Level Group on the Future of Social Protection and of the Welfare State in the EU (2021 - 2023). He is the author of Changing Welfare States (OUP, 2013) and editor of The Uses of Social Investment (OUP, 2017).

Manos Matsaganis is Professor of Public Finance at Polytechnic University of Milan. Prior to this, he worked at the Athens University of Economics and Business, in the Office of the Greek Prime Minister, and at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has been Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University and University of California Berkeley, and is currently Senior Researcher at the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) in Athens, and a member of the Scientific Committee of the Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation in Milan.

Reviews

"In a masterful account of how European welfare states responded to the Great Recession of 2009 and the Covid epidemic, this book provides an up-to-date assessment of the operation and performance of the European social model at both the national and European levels. It will be immensely useful to everyone interested in European social policy and the future of welfare states." - Peter A. Hall, Harvard University

"An indispensable book for both defenders and opponents of the welfare state. After reading it, no one will be able to argue empirically for the inevitability of the trade-off between social policy and efficiency. And no one can hide behind the difficulties of the moment. Delving into the still under-explored social policy developments from the Great Recession to the Covid crisis, the book offers a robust and wise set of proposals to advance the European social model, in a prose capturing the reader from beginning to end." - Elena Granaglia, Università Roma Tre

"This book offers readers a descriptively rich discussion of reforms in an impressive number of policy fields across numerous European welfare states. It also develops an original argument about the effects of the experiential legacy of the Great Recession on contemporary welfare states in Europe, making the book a must-read for scholars and policy makers alike." - Barbara Vis, Utrecht University

"Building on well-established economic arguments for a welfare state, the authors extend discussion in two important and very welcome ways: they analyse the performance of welfare states across European countries over the past 25 years, and - unusually - discuss not only their design in a static setting, but also the extent to which welfare states in different countries have (or have not) shown resilience in the face of shocks (notably in diverse responses to the Covid-19 pandemic), and in how they have adjusted to changes in the economic, social and demographic environment." - Nicholas Barr, Professor of Public Economics, London School of Economics

"In this richly detailed and sharply argued account, Hemerijck and Matsaganis demonstrate that there are grounds for optimism about the future of welfare states in Europe. Offering the most comprehensive account of social policy trends since the Great Recession, this book convincingly shows that welfare states remain essential for European economic prosperity and social well-being. No one should be afraid of the welfare state, and anyone interested in social policy - past, present, and future - should read this book." - Kimberly Morgan, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University

"In times of crises, this comprehensive analysis of welfare states in Europe sheds light on their capacity to buffer social risks and foster societal resilience." - Bernhard Ebbinghaus, Professor of Sociology, University of Mannheim

"Much contemporary work on European welfare states adopts a defensive posture, but not "Who's afraid of the welfare state". Hemerijck and Matsaganis offer a deeply researched and well written account of why the welfare state continues to be critical to the shaping of successful and inclusive societies. This book is essential reading for all scholars of political economy and social policy." - Jane Gingrich, Professor of Social Policy, University of Oxford

"This book provides a timely and much needed demonstration of the essential role that welfare states can play in advanced knowledge-based economies. Unfortunately, much debate is still grounded in obsolete conceptions of the relationship between social spending and economic competitiveness. The authors do a great job in dispelling myths about the welfare state being a burden, and show that with the right tools in place, social policies can actually promote economic growth, sustainability, and prosperity for all. This is an essential reading both for researchers and policy-makers." - Giuliano Bonoli, Professor of Social Policy, University of Lausanne

"The book provides an outstanding account of how European welfare states were able to withstand an unprecedented polycrisis and engage in an epochal recalibration towards capacitating social investments. Through a perfect mix of empirical analysis and interpretative reasoning, the authors sort out the factors which have underpinned the resilience of welfare institutions, highlighting the buffering role which the EU has gradually come to play in the social policy domain. Written in admirably clear and elegant prose, the book is an essential reading about a topic which remains at the centre of scientific, policy, and political debates all over Europe - and beyond." - Maurizio Ferrera, Professor of Political Science, University of Milan

Table of contents

1:The welfare state's resolve, Anton Hemerijck and Manos Matsaganis
2:Welfare performance over the long 2010s, Anton Hemerijck and Manos Matsaganis
3:Welfare performance over the long 2010s, Anton Hemerijck and Manos Matsaganis
4:Buffering the Great Recession and the eurozone crisis, Manos Matsaganis and Andrea Parma
5:Under the spell of austerity: welfare reform across Europe between 2008 and 2014, Ilze Plavgo and Anton Hemerijck
6:Fostering resilience: Welfare policy change across Europe between 2015 and 2019, Ilze Plavgo and Anton Hemerijck
7:The legacy of the eurozone crisis, Anton Hemerijck and Manos Matsaganis
8:Social Europe in a bind, no more?, Francesco Corti and Anton Hemerijck
9:Towards a social compass for inclusive and sustainable growth, Anton Hemerijck and Manos Matsaganis