IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/zeswps/022012.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Policy diffusion and social rights in advanced democracies 1960-2000

Author

Listed:
  • Schmitt, Carina
  • Obinger, Herbert

Abstract

For many years, comparative welfare state research has been afflicted with a sort of methodological nationalism in the sense that countries were treated as independent units. In line with the recent spatial turn in comparative public policy studies, this paper examines with regard to three welfare state programmes whether, in the postwar period, the provision of social rights in 18 Western democracies was shaped by benefit generosity in other countries. We show that diffusion is present but varies by programme and over time. Rather surprisingly, we find that policy diffusion was particularly relevant during the Golden Age.

Suggested Citation

  • Schmitt, Carina & Obinger, Herbert, 2012. "Policy diffusion and social rights in advanced democracies 1960-2000," Working papers of the ZeS 02/2012, University of Bremen, Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zeswps:022012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/59997/1/719798272.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Craig Volden, 2006. "States as Policy Laboratories: Emulating Success in the Children's Health Insurance Program," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(2), pages 294-312, April.
    2. Witold J. Henisz, 2002. "The institutional environment for infrastructure investment," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(2), pages 355-389.
    3. Lee, Chang Kil & Strang, David, 2006. "The International Diffusion of Public-Sector Downsizing: Network Emulation and Theory-Driven Learning," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(4), pages 883-909, October.
    4. Franzese, Robert J. & Hays, Jude C., 2007. "Spatial Econometric Models of Cross-Sectional Interdependence in Political Science Panel and Time-Series-Cross-Section Data," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 140-164, April.
    5. Anselin, Luc & Bera, Anil K. & Florax, Raymond & Yoon, Mann J., 1996. "Simple diagnostic tests for spatial dependence," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 77-104, February.
    6. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2000. "The viability of advanced welfare states in the international economy. Vulnerabilities and options," European Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 399-425, July.
    7. Hays, Jude, 2009. "Globalization and the New Politics of Embedded Liberalism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195369328.
    8. Simmons, Beth A. & Elkins, Zachary, 2004. "The Globalization of Liberalization: Policy Diffusion in the International Political Economy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 98(1), pages 171-189, February.
    9. Korpi, Walter & Palme, Joakim, 2003. "New Politics and Class Politics in the Context of Austerity and Globalization: Welfare State Regress in 18 Countries, 1975–95," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 97(3), pages 425-446, August.
    10. James P. Allan & Lyle Scruggs, 2004. "Political Partisanship and Welfare State Reform in Advanced Industrial Societies," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(3), pages 496-512, July.
    11. Matthias Greiff & Fabian Paetzel, 2012. "Reaching for the Stars: An Experimental Study of the Consumption Value of Social Approval," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201208, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    12. Fabrizio Gilardi, 2010. "Who Learns from What in Policy Diffusion Processes?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(3), pages 650-666, July.
    13. Knotz, Carlo Michael, 2012. "Measuring the 'new balance of rights and responsibilities' in labor market policy: A quantitative overview of activation strategies in 20 OECD countries," Working papers of the ZeS 06/2012, University of Bremen, Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS).
    14. Collier, David & Messick, Richard E., 1975. "Prerequisites Versus Diffusion: Testing Alternative Explanations of Social Security Adoption," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(4), pages 1299-1315, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Obinger, Herbert & Starke, Peter, 2014. "Welfare state transformation: Convergence and the rise of the supply side model," TranState Working Papers 180, University of Bremen, Collaborative Research Center 597: Transformations of the State.
    2. Fabrizio Gilardi, 2010. "Who Learns from What in Policy Diffusion Processes?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(3), pages 650-666, July.
    3. Baldwin, Elizabeth & Carley, Sanya & Nicholson-Crotty, Sean, 2019. "Why do countries emulate each others’ policies? A global study of renewable energy policy diffusion," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 29-45.
    4. Felix Strebel & Thomas Widmer, 2012. "Visibility and facticity in policy diffusion: going beyond the prevailing binarity," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 45(4), pages 385-398, December.
    5. Kemmerling, Achim, 2006. "Diffusion und Interaktion in der Arbeitsmarktpolitik? Positive und negative Ansteckungseffekte am Beispiel zweier Reformdiskussionen," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment SP I 2006-119, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    6. Marlene Kammerer & Chandreyee Namhata, 2018. "What drives the adoption of climate change mitigation policy? A dynamic network approach to policy diffusion," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 51(4), pages 477-513, December.
    7. Fink, Simon & Ruffing, Eva, 2020. "Learning in iterated consultation procedures – The example of the German electricity grid demand planning," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. Roman Senninger & Daniel Bischof, 2018. "Working in unison: Political parties and policy issue transfer in the multilevel space," European Union Politics, , vol. 19(1), pages 140-162, March.
    9. Brady, David & Lee, Hang Young, 2014. "The rise and fall of government spending in affluent democracies, 1971-2008," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 56-79.
    10. Peter Egger & Doina Radulescu & Nora Strecker, 2017. "On the spread of social protection systems," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(4), pages 550-574, August.
    11. Fernandez, Juan J., 2010. "Economic crises, high public pension spending and blame-avoidance strategies: Pension policy retrenchments in 14 social-insurance countries, 1981 - 2005," MPIfG Discussion Paper 10/9, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    12. Miriam Koning & Gerard Mertens & Peter Roosenboom, 2018. "Drivers of institutional change around the world: The case of IFRS," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(3), pages 249-271, April.
    13. Troeger, Vera, 2012. "De Facto Capital Mobility, Equality, and Tax Policy in Open Economies," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 84, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    14. Torben Heinze, 2011. "Mechanism-Based Thinking on Policy Diffusion. A Review of Current Approaches in Political Science," KFG Working Papers p0034, Free University Berlin.
    15. Dietmar Braun & Fabrizio Gilardi, 2006. "Taking ‘Galton's Problem’ Seriously," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 18(3), pages 298-322, July.
    16. Dan Goldhaber & Lesley Lavery & Roddy Theobald, 2014. "My End of the Bargain," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(4), pages 1274-1305, October.
    17. Simon Fink, 2013. "Policy Convergence with or without the European Union: The Interaction of Policy Success, EU Membership and Policy Convergence," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 631-648, July.
    18. Bruno Amable & Donatella Gatti & Jan Schumacher, 2006. "Welfare-State Retrenchment: The Partisan Effect Revisited," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 22(3), pages 426-444, Autumn.
    19. Tobias Böhmelt & Jürg Vollenweider, 2015. "Information flows and social capital through linkages: the effectiveness of the CLRTAP network," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 105-123, May.
    20. Giliberto Capano & Andrea Lippi, 2017. "How policy instruments are chosen: patterns of decision makers’ choices," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 50(2), pages 269-293, June.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:zeswps:022012. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zesbrde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.