Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T22:47:53.155Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From Worlds to Cases: Case Selection and ‘Other Worlds’ in the Welfare Modelling Business

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 December 2014

Ki-tae Kim
Ki-tae Kim*
Affiliation:
Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The case selection issue has long been neglected in cross-national welfare regime studies, despite its importance in securing validity and reliability. This article reviews thirty-three studies that produced their own welfare regime typology, and analyses their case selection practices. They can be divided into five groups in terms of their case sizes: from Esping-Andersen's (1990) original eighteen nations to ‘all’ nations. Three peculiar patterns can be observed in the approaches. First, more than two-thirds of studies still focus on the old set of eighteen nations, arguably ignoring emerging welfare states. Second, theoretical tension exists between ‘isolationists’ and ‘expansionists’ on the exportability of the welfare regime concept to wider cases. Lastly only a few studies have clarified and justified their case selections. It is concluded that the welfare modelling business needs to rectify the common practice of ignoring case selection issues.

Keywords

Case selectionwelfare regimewelfare modelling business‘other worlds’
Type
Themed Section on Twenty Five Years of the Welfare Modelling Business
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 309 - 321
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abrahamson, P. (1999) ‘The welfare modelling business’, Social Policy and Administration, 33, 4, 394–415.Google Scholar
Abu Sharkh, M. (2006) Worlds of Welfare Integration and Their Effect, Geneva: ILO/INTEGRATION.Google Scholar
Abu Sharkh, M. (2009) Global Welfare Mixes and Wellbeing: Cluster, Factor and Regression Analyses from 1990 to 2000, CDDRL Working Paper 94, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.Google Scholar
Abu Sharkh, M. and Gough, I. (2010) ‘Global welfare regimes: a cluster analysis’, Global Social Policy, 10, 1, 27–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aidukaite, J. (2004) The Emergence of the Post-Socialist Welfare State – The Case of the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Huddinge: Sodertorns hogskala.Google Scholar
Aidukaite, J. (2009) ‘Old welfare state theories and new welfare regimes in Eastern Europe: challenges and implications’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 42, 1, 23–39.Google Scholar
Arts, W. and Gelissen, J. (2002) ‘Three worlds of welfare capitalism or more? A state-of-the-art report’, Journal of European Social Policy, 12, 2, 137–58.Google Scholar
Arts, W. and Gelissen, J. (2010) ‘Models of the welfare state’, in Castles, F. G., Leibfried, S. and Lewis, J. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 569–83.Google Scholar
Bambra, C. (2004) ‘The worlds of welfare: illusory and gender blind?’, Social Policy and Society, 3, 3, 201–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bambra, C. (2005) ‘Cash versus services: and the decommodification of cash benefits and health care services’, Journal of Social Policy, 34, 2, 195–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bambra, C. (2006) ‘Research note: decommodification and the worlds of welfare revisited’, Journal of European Social Policy, 16, 1, 73–80.Google Scholar
Barrientos, A. (2009) ‘Labour markets and the (hyphenated) welfare regime in Latin America’, Economy and Society, 38, 1, 87–108.Google Scholar
Blatter, J. and Haverland, M. (2012) Designing Case Studies: Explanatory Approaches in Small-N Research, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Bohle, D. (2007) ‘The new great transformation: liberalization and social protection in Central Eastern Europe’, (Re)distribution of Uncertainty: Second ESRC Seminar, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, 2 November.Google Scholar
Bonoli, G. (1997) ‘Classifying welfare states: a two-dimension approach’, Journal of Social Policy, 26, 3, 351–72.Google Scholar
Borchost, A. (1994) ‘Welfare state regimes: women's interests and the EC’, in Sainsbury, D. (ed.), Gendering Welfare States, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Bryman, A. (2012) Social Research Methods, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Castles, F. G. and Mitchell, D. (1992) ‘Identifying welfare state regimes: the links between politics, instruments and outcomes’, Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration, 5, 1, 1–26.Google Scholar
Castles, F. G. and Obinger, H. (2008) ‘Worlds, families, regimes: country clusters in European and OECD area public policy’, West European Politics, 31, 1–2, 321–44.Google Scholar
Cerami, A. (2008) The Politics of Social Security Reforms in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, SSRN Scholarly Paper No. ID 1123584, Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network.Google Scholar
Deacon, B. (1993) ‘Developments in East European social policy’, in Jones, C. (ed.), New Perspectives on the Welfare State in Europe, London, New York: Routledge, pp. 205–42.Google Scholar
Ebbinghaus, B. (2005) ‘When less is more: selection problems in large-N and small-N cross-national comparisons’, International Sociology, 20, 2, 133–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebbinghaus, B. (2012) ‘Comparing welfare state regimes: are typologies an ideal or realistic strategy?’, European Social Policy Analysis Network: ESPAnet Conference, Edinburgh, 6–8 September.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (ed.) (1996) Welfare States in Transition: National Adaptations in Global Economies, London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1997) ‘Hybrid or unique? The Japanese welfare state between Europe and America’, Journal of European Social Policy, 7, 3, 179–89.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1999) Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenger, H. J. M. (2007) ‘Welfare regimes in Central and Eastern Europe: incorporating post-communist countries in a welfare regime typology’, Contemporary Issues and Ideas in Social Sciences, 3, 2, 1–30.Google Scholar
Ferragina, E. and Seeleib-Kaiser, M. (2011) ‘Thematic review: welfare regime debate: past, present, futures?’, Policy and Politics, 39, 4, 583–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferragina, E., Seeleib-Kaiser, M. and Tomlinson, M. (2012) ‘Unemployment protection and family policy at the turn of the 21st century: a dynamic approach to welfare regime theory’, Social Policy and Administration, 47, 7, 783–805.Google Scholar
Ferrera, M. (1996) ‘The “Southern Model” of welfare in social Europe’, Journal of European Social Policy, 6, 1, 17–37.Google Scholar
Franzoni, J. M. (2008) ‘Welfare regimes in Latin America: capturing constellations of markets, families, and policies’, Latin American Politics and Society, 50, 2, 67–100.Google Scholar
Gallie, D. and Paugam, S. (2000) Welfare Regimes and the Experience of Unemployment in Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gauthier, A. H. (2010) Comparative Family Policy Database, Version 3 [computer file]. Netherlands: Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.Google Scholar
Geddes, B. (1990) ‘How the cases you choose affect the answers you get: selection bias in comparative politics’, Political Analysis, 2, 1, 131–50.Google Scholar
Goodin, R. E. (2001) ‘Work and welfare: towards a post-productivist welfare regime’, British Journal of Political Science, 31, 1, 13–39.Google Scholar
Gough, I. (2013) ‘Social policy regimes in the developing world’, in Kennett, P. (ed.), A Handbook of Comparative Social Policy, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 205–42.Google Scholar
Gough, I. and Abu Sharkh, M. (2011) ‘Financing welfare regimes: mapping heterogeneous revenue structures’, International Journal of Social Welfare, 20, 3, 280–91.Google Scholar
Gough, I. and Wood, G. D. (2004) Insecurity and Welfare Regimes in Asia, Africa, and Latin America: Social Policy in Development Contexts, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gough, D., Oliver, S. and Thomas, J. (2012) An Introduction to Systematic Reviews, London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hay, C. and Wincott, D. (2012) The Political Economy of European Welfare Capitalism, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Huber, E., Ragin, C., Stephens, J. D., Brady, D. and Beckfield, J. (2004) Comparative Welfare States Data Set, Northwestern University, University of Carolina, Duke University and Indiana University.Google Scholar
Hudson, J. and Kühner, S. (2009) ‘Towards productive welfare? A comparative analysis of 23 OECD countries’, Journal of European Social Policy, 19, 1, 34–46.Google Scholar
Hudson, J. and Kühner, S. (2012) ‘Analyzing the productive and protective dimensions of welfare: looking beyond the OECD’, Social Policy and Administration, 46, 1, 35–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hug, S. (2003) ‘Selection bias in comparative research: the case of incomplete data sets’, Political Analysis, 11, 3, 255–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kangas, O. (1994) ‘The politics of social security: on regressions, qualitative comparisons and cluster analysis’, in Janoski, T. and Hicks, A. (eds.), The Comparative Political Economy of the Welfare State, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 346–64.Google Scholar
Kasza, G. J. (2002) ‘The illusion of welfare’, Journal of Social Policy, 31, 2, 271–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keryk, M. (2010) ‘“Caregivers with a heart needed”: the domestic care regime in Poland after 1989 and Ukrainian migrants’, Social Policy and Society, 9, 3, 431–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korpi, W., and Palme, J. (1998) ‘The paradox of redistribution and strategies of equality: welfare state institutions, inequality, and poverty in the Western countries’, American Sociological Review, 63, 5, 661–87.Google Scholar
Kwon, H.-J. (1997) ‘Beyond European welfare regimes: comparative perspectives on East Asian welfare systems’, Journal of Social Policy, 26, 4, 467–84.Google Scholar
Leibfried, S. (1992) ‘Towards a European welfare state’, in Ferge, Z. and Kolberg, J. E. (eds.), Social Policy in a Changing Europe, Frankfurt: Campus-Verlag, pp. 245–79.Google Scholar
Lelkes, O. (2000) ‘A great leap towards liberalism? The Hungarian welfare state’, International Journal of Social Welfare, 9, 2, 92–102.Google Scholar
Mills, M., van de Bunt, G. and de Bruijn, J. (2006) ‘Comparative research: persistent problems and promising solutions’, International Sociology, 21, 5, 619–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obinger, H. and Wagschal, U. (1998) ‘Drei Wohlfahrtsstaates?’, in Lessenich, S. and Ostner, I. (eds.), Welten des Wohlfahrtskapitalismus, Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, pp. 109–35.Google Scholar
Obinger, H. and Wagschal, U. (2001) ‘Families of nations and public policy’, West European Politics, 24, 1, 99–114.Google Scholar
OECD (2014) Social Expenditure – Aggregated Data, http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=SOCX_AGG [accessed 02.07.2014].Google Scholar
Pitruzello, S. (1999) Decommodification and the Worlds of Welfare Capitalism: A Cluster Analysis, Florence: European University Institute.Google Scholar
Powell, M. and Barrientos, A. (2004) ‘Welfare regimes and the welfare mix’, European Journal of Political Research, 43, 1, 83–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, M. and Kim, K. (2014) ‘The “Chameleon” Korean welfare regime’, Social Policy and Administration, 48, 6, 626–46.Google Scholar
Ragin, C. (1994) ‘A qualitative comparative analysis of pension systems’, in Janoksi, T. and Hicks, A. (eds.), The Comparative Political Economy of the Welfare State, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 320–45.Google Scholar
Robson, C. (2011) Real World Research: A Resource for Users of Social Research Methods in Applied Settings, Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rudra, N. (2007) ‘Welfare states in developing countries: unique or universal?’, Journal of Politics, 69, 2, 378–96.Google Scholar
Saint-Arnaud, S. and Bernard, P. (2003) ‘Convergence or resilience? A hierarchical cluster analysis of the welfare regimes in advanced countries’, Current Sociology, 51, 5, 499–527.Google Scholar
Saxonberg, S. and Sirovátka, T. (2009) ‘Neo-liberalism by decay? The evolution of the Czech welfare state’, Social Policy and Administration, 43, 2, 186–203.Google Scholar
Schröder, M. (2008) ‘Integrating welfare and production typologies: how refinements of the varieties of capitalism approach call for a combination of welfare typologies’, Journal of Social Policy, 38, 1, 19–43.Google Scholar
Scruggs, A. and Allan, J. (2006) ‘Welfare-state decommodification in 18 OECD countries: a replication and revision’, Journal of European Social Policy, 16, 1, 55–72.Google Scholar
Scruggs, L. and Allan, J. (2011) ‘Social stratification and welfare regimes for the twenty-first century: revisiting The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism’, World Politics, 60, 4, 642–64.Google Scholar
Scruggs, L., Detlef, J. and Kuitto, K. (2014) Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset 2. Version 2014–03, University of Connecticut and University of Greifswald.Google Scholar
Shalev, M. (1996) The Privatization of Social Policy? Occupational Welfare and the Welfare State in America, Scandinavia, and Japan, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Shalev, M. (2007) ‘Limits and alternatives to multiple regression in comparative research’, Comparative Social Research, 24, 261–308.Google Scholar
Siaroff, A. (1994) ‘Work, welfare and gender equality: a new typology’, in Sainsbury, D. (ed.), Gendering Welfare States, London: Sage, p. 82.Google Scholar
Soede, A. J. (2004) Unequal Welfare States: Distributive Consequences of Population Ageing in Six European countries (Vol. 1568), Den Haag: SCP, Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau.Google Scholar
Sotiropoulos, D. A., Neamtu, I. and Stoyanova, M. (2003) ‘The trajectory of post-communist welfare state development: the cases of Bulgaria and Romania’, Social Policy and Administration, 37, 6, 656–73.Google Scholar
Takegawa, S. (2009) ‘International circumstances as factors in building a welfare state: welfare regimes in Europe, Japan and Korea’, International Journal of Japanese Sociology, 18, 1, 79–96.Google Scholar
Talme, L. (2013) ‘Do capitalist welfare states still consist of the good, the bad and the ugly?’, unpublished thesis, Lund University, Sweden.Google Scholar
Vrooman, J. C. (2012) ‘Regimes and cultures of social security: comparing institutional models through nonlinear PCA’, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 53, 5–6, 444–77.Google Scholar
Walker, A. and Wong, C. (2013) ‘The ethnocentric construction of the welfare state’, in Kennett, P. (ed.), A Handbook of Comparative Social Policy, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Wilding, P. (2008) ‘Is the East Asian welfare model still productive?’, Journal of Asian Public Policy, 1, 1, 18–31.Google Scholar
Wood, G. and Gough, I. (2006) ‘A comparative welfare regime approach to global social policy’, World Development, 34, 10, 1696–712.Google Scholar
World Bank (2014) GDP per Capita Data Table, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?page=6 [accessed 01.07.2014].Google Scholar