Country-level comparisons of welfare state change measures : another facet of the dependent variable problem within the comparative analysis of the welfare state?
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Journal of European Social Policy
Publication Date
2-1-2007
Volume
17
Issue
1
First Page
5
Last Page
18
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Keywords
comparative social policy, dependent variable problem, welfare reform
Abstract
The introduction of innovative macro-measures has been one of the preferred means to account for identified limitations of traditional quantitative approaches in comparative analyses of the welfare state. However, these state-of-the-art indicators are not powerful enough to account for the nuanced politics of ‘welfare state change’ across mature welfare states as they produce inconsistent - and in several cases contrary - findings on the country level, which also appear to be at odds with the established notion of ‘regime dependence’ in the historical, case-study literature. Touching upon the limitations of the relevant indicators, we argue that they can at best be seen as crude approximations; this is the root cause for the above asymmetries. The ‘dependent variable problem’ within the comparative analysis of the welfare state is a problem of data and operational definitions as much as it is a problem of theoretical conceptualization. While the combination of nuanced quantitative and historical findings has become the norm in the broader literature, the article stresses the potential of disaggregated analyses of individual social policy domains within nations and its combination with detailed case-study analyses of social policy making.
DOI
10.1177/0958928707071875
Print ISSN
09589287
E-ISSN
14617269
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2007 SAGE Publications
Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Additional Information
This paper received the ESPA net/JESP Doctoral Researcher Prize 2007.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Kühner, S. (2007). Country-level comparisons of welfare state change measures: Another facet of the dependent variable problem within the comparative analysis of the welfare state? Journal of European Social Policy, 17(1), 5-18. doi: 10.1177/0958928707071875