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Convergence in Policy Outcomes: Social Security Systems in Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Einar Overbye
Einar Overbye
Affiliation:
Political Scientist, Institute of Applied Social Research, Oslo
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Abstract

A central question in the welfare state debate has been whether or not social policies in industrialized countries converge. Originally linked to the logic of industrialism perspective, this idea has been criticized by researchers focusing on differences in timing and differences in the institutional set up of social security schemes across countries. Nonetheless, I argue that social security arrangements in European as well as Anglo-American countries may gradually become more similar. Using pension politics as the primary example, the article locates similar social and political mechanisms at work in different countries, pushing toward convergence in policy outcomes, despite persistent variation in institutional arrangements. In the final section of the article, I extract a model from the analysis, aimed at explaining political change while maintaining a connection between the micro and macro level of analysis.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , April 1994 , pp. 147 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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