The impact of partisanship in the era of retrenchment : Insights from quantitative welfare state research




Faculty/Professorship: Public Policy  
Author(s): Bandau, Frank  ; Ahrens, Leo Jacob
Publisher Information: Bamberg : Otto-Friedrich-Universität
Year of publication: 2023
Pages: 34-47
Source/Other editions: Journal of European Social Policy, 30 (2020), 1, S. 34-47. - ISSN: 1461-7269
is version of: 10.1177/0958928719868446
Year of first publication: 2020
Language(s): English
Licence: German Act on Copyright 
URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:473-irb-587128
Abstract: 
Does government partisanship still matter in the era of welfare retrenchment? The comprehensive quantitative research on this question offers contradicting answers. Our meta-analysis demonstrates that the results of published empirical studies depend on a number of the studies’ characteristics. Focusing on studies on retrenchment-prone ‘old social policies’, we show that the single most important factor affecting the results on partisanship is the choice of the dependent variable. In general, studies using entitlements are four times more likely to find partisan effects than studies based on social spending. Furthermore, partisan effects are more pronounced in class-related programmes like unemployment benefits and sick pay than in lifecourse-related welfare programmes such as pensions. Finally, we show a clear decline of partisanship over time. Some recent studies, however, indicate that innovations in terms of operationalisation and measurement of the independent variable may bring new life to the debate on the persistence of partisanship.
GND Keywords: Sozialpolitik; Wohlfahrtsstaat; Parteipolitik
Keywords: Meta-study, new politics of the welfare state, old social policies, partisan effects, retrenchment, social spending, welfare generosity
DDC Classification: 320 Political Science  
RVK Classification: MF 9200   
Type: Article
URI: https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/58712
Release Date: 28. March 2023

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