Does Economic Hardship Lead to Polarisation of Opinions towards the Welfare State?

Abstract

The main focus of this article is an analysis of whether the opinions of the best-off and worst-off diverge during an economic recession. According to previous studies, economic hardship affects the public's willingness to finance the welfare state but less is known about the kind of cleavages economic problems create between different categories of people. Because Finland suffered the deepest economic recession of the OECD countries during the 1990s it provides an excellent context for this kind of study. The willingness of the better-off to finance benefits important to worse-off people decreased during the research period. Recently many European countries have reformed their social policies to increase selectivism. However, results indicate that this kind of policy can create new, or strengthen existing, cleavages among the public.