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date: 08 March 2021

Abstract and Keywords

This article focuses on the welfare state, which includes social protection, health, education and training, housing, and social services, but can also be conceived more broadly to include policies that affect earnings capacity and the structure of the labour market. It discusses the difficulties of capturing the impact of the welfare state on income inequality, given that one does not observe what the distribution would be in the absence of the welfare state or specific aspects of it. Theories of welfare state redistribution are reviewed, and the conventional categorization into welfare ‘regimes’ discussed. The empirical evidence about the extent and nature of redistribution by the welfare state is described, including noncash services as well as cash transfers, and the impact on poverty in particular is discussed. Economic inequality is also strongly affected by the political process, and vice versa.

Keywords: social protection, health, education, training, housing, social services, labour market, income inequality, welfare state redistribution

Gøsta Esping-Andersen

Gosta Esping-Andersen is Professor of Political and Social Sciences at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona). His research has centered on comparative social policy, labor markets, and on social inequality. He is author and co-author of numerous books, among which the most recent include Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies (Oxford University Press, 1999), Why Deregulate Labour Markets? (Oxford University Press, 2001) and Why We Need a New Welfare State (Oxford University Press, 2002). He has also worked extensively with international organizations, including the OECD, World Bank, and the UN, and governments, including the Portuguese and Belgian presidencies of the EU. Address is Department of Political and Social Science, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Plaça de la Mercè, 10–12, E-08002 Barcelona, Spain. Email: gosta.esping@upf.edu

John Myles

John Myles is Canada Research Chair and Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto and Senior Visiting Research Scholar at Statistics Canada. He has written widely on topics related to the politics of the welfare state, classes in contemporary capitalism, income inequality, and child and old-age poverty.

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