Expanding Welfare in an Age of Austerity

What is it about?

This book concentrates on the dilemma leftist parties and unions face when confronted with coverage gaps under austerity, as they choose between maintaining the benefit levels of insiders and extending coverage to outsiders. It does so by starting from two sets of French-Italian comparisons (complemented by over half a year of field research) and building to both quantitative and qualitative tests of generalisability. I conclude that the role of certain key institutional features has been underemphasised in the literature. These (typically Southern European) factors shape party stances and policy outcomes both directly – through creating organisational incentives – and indirectly – through conditioning public opinion.

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Why is it important?

Though it's easy to take it for granted, access to the welfare state has a profound impact on how we live our lives.