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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.

This book examines innovative theoretical perspectives and novel labour market policy responses to Europe's changing work demands, employment careers and life courses. It presents creative ideas and recommendations for flexicurity policies at various levels and in different social and economic contexts. The driving factors determining the performance of dissimilar pathways in Europe are identified in regard to their impact on the flexibility/security nexus. Key issues in the current European policy debate are addressed, including how innovative policies are designed in the areas of working time, education, work-life balance, employment relations, retirement and migration, how they are put into practice and what determines their level of success. This volume is an authoritative overview of innovative labour market policies and research findings, with a strong thematic emphasis on life course, transitional labour market and flexicurity approaches. It encompasses a wide array of European countries and is written by a multidisciplinary group of established scholars. This book will be of great interest to researchers, academics and policy makers.

This book seeks to gain a better understanding of the paradoxical relationship between the alleged need of European labour markets to become more flexible and the way in which national policies pursue this aim without jeopardising existing high standards of income and employment security. Special interest is devoted to the way in which countries opt for different policy routes to cope with the aim of balancing flexibility and security goals in their respective labour market and social protection policies. The contributions in this book all try to unveil the particular changes or transitions occurring in the various labour markets, to learn about their medium and longer term effects and the role of institutions and policies to cushion the adverse consequences of these changes. By studying some'best practices'in Denmark, Canada and Australia they also draw some important lessons about the reasons why national policies might either fail or better cope with the challenges Europe face today. Flexibility and Employment Security in Europe is a study rich in data that will appeal to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in economics, sociology and political science and in particular students of the labour market, social policy and European studies. It will also prove invaluable to policymakers at regional, national and European level seeking a greater understanding of the complex issues surrounding, and the relationship between labour market flexibility and standards of income and employment security.

The Real Worlds of Welfare Capitalism traces how individuals fare over time in each of the three principal types of welfare state. Through a unique analysis of panel data from Germany, the Netherlands and the US, tracking individuals'socio-economic fate over fully ten years, Goodin, Headey, Muffels and Dirven explore issues of economic growth and efficiency, of poverty and inequality, of social integration and social autonomy. It is common to talk of the inevitability of tradeoffs between these goals. However, in this book the authors contend that the social democratic welfare regime, represented here by the Netherlands, equals or exceeds the performance of the corporatist German regime and the liberal US regime across all these social and economic objectives. They thus argue that, whatever one's priorities, the social democratic welfare regime is uniquely well-suited to realizing them.