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Generating Legitimacy for Labor Market and Welfare State Reforms: The Role of Policy Advice in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden

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Author Info
Werner Eichhorst () (IZA Bonn)
Ole Wintermann () (Bertelsmann Foundation)

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Abstract

Policy advice can help political actors design and implement institutional reforms through the generation of political and substantial legitimacy. This article clarifies the institutional preconditions of effective supply and transfer of policy advice with particular respect to the field of labor market and social policy reform and to corporatist arrangements where academic think tanks and social partner bodies for policy advice exist side by side. It shows how policy advice is structured and to what it extent it could influence actual policy-making in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden over the last decade. Our main argument is that the structure of policy advice is essential for its effectiveness, with highly reputable and less contested expert committees and research institutes providing balanced policy-oriented advice are most influential and conducive to furthering labor market and welfare state reforms in corporatist settings. In combination with a shadow of hierarchy spent by government they can also facilitate social partner consensus. Hence, an appropriate supply of policy advice can help ensure sufficient legitimacy for institutional reforms and increase societal problem-solving capacities. If government is weak for institutional reasons and policy advice rather fragmented, challenged and less policy-oriented, like in the German case, policy advice can not realize its full potential.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1845.

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Length: 28 pages
Date of creation: Nov 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1845

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Related research
Keywords: policy advice; corporatism; labor market reforms; public policy;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H83 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Public Administration
J58 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Public Policy

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Calmfors, Lars & Forslund, Anders & Hemström, Maria, 2002. "Does active labour market policy work? Lessons from the Swedish experiences," Working Paper Series 2002:4, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2004. "Advising Policymakers Through the Media," IZA Discussion Papers 1001, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Butter, Frank A.G. den & Mosch, Robert H.J., 2001. "the Dutch miracle: institutions, networks and trust," Serie Research Memoranda 0018, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Adam Bennett & J. H. Green & Robert P. Hagemann & Ramana Ramaswamy & Desmond Lachman, 1995. "Challenges to the Swedish Welfare State," IMF Occasional Papers 130, International Monetary Fund.
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This page was last updated on 2009-12-14.

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