Explaining the Determinants of Public Support for Cuts in Unemployment Benefits Spending across OECD Countries

Abstract

This article analyses comparative data for the last half of the 1990s to investigate the determinants of individual and cross-national variation in public support for cuts in unemployment benefits spending. The authors consider public opinion on unemployment benefits retrenchment as a product not only of individual-level characteristics but also of national-level features. With few exceptions, the latter features have been limited by previous studies to the institutional characteristics of welfare policies across countries operationalized in a superficial way: i.e. the type of welfare regime. This article proposes a more detailed operationalization of the institutional characteristics of welfare policies by considering cross-country variations in the generosity of unemployment protection. The authors also take into account a structural characteristic of the polities considered here: i.e. the seriousness of the unemployment problem. Even if the results are tentative, the authors believe they open the 'black box of welfare types' that until very recently has been the predominant explanation when accounting for aggregated variation in public opinion on welfare states. keywords: comparative public attitudes ✦ public support for welfare state retrenchment ✦ social policies

Attitudes towards redistributive spending in an era of demographic ageing: the rival pressures from age and income in 14 OECD countries

“…In each instance, however, the single greatest effect is exercised by the sociodemographic variables (gender or age), followed by education' (Kitschelt and Rehm, 2006: 74). Older people are neither more nor less sympathetic to healthcare spending, but more likely to support unemployment benefits (mirroring the findings in Fraile and Ferrer, 2005) and less willing to spend tax money on education. However, using a similar study design, Armingeon (2006) finds that subjective class remains the most important variable for attitudes towards what he terms the 'traditional welfare state'.…”

Welfare program organization and legitimacy. A comparison of eleven OECD countries

“…At the micro-level, different studies established that attitudes to the WS have two general determinants: "self-interest" and "ideology" (Svallfors, 1997(Svallfors, , 2000Forma, 1999;Andre Heien, 2001;Lipsmeyer Nordstrom, 2003;Fraile Ferrer, 2004). Self-interest refers to the economic interest an individual has in the existence of welfare programs.…”

Determinantes de la satisfacción de los españoles con las prestaciones y servicios públicos: un enfoque de sociología tributaria con microdatos

“…Así, y de un lado, los sujetos son más benevolentes en sus valoraciones si el individuo comparte la adscripción ideológica del gobierno de turno (Blekesaune y Quadagno, 2003;Fraile y Ferrer, 2005). De otro lado, la confianza en las instituciones polí-ticas, los periodos de crisis o la percepción sobre la extensión de la corrupción -esta última negativamente-modulan la satisfacción (respectivamente, Morgeson, 2012;Calzada y Del Pino, 2013;y Montalvo, 2009). leonel cerno, césar pérez lópez y eduardo sanz arcega lo incrementan.…”

“…Al margen de trabajos que, desde la Investigación de mercados, analizan la satisfacción de los ciudadanos con servicios públicos concretos en los que se contrasta la bondad de la TDE o la bondad de diversos modelos de calidad (a modo de ilustración y respectivamente, González-Valentín et al, 2005;Bigné, Moliner y Sánchez, 2003), la línea de investigación más prolífica en el análisis del conjunto de la acción pública se debe a la Ciencia política. La cual, sin acoger los desarrollos de la TDE, ha tratado de relacionar la satisfacción y/o la eficacia de las políticas públicas con las actitudes de los españoles hacia el estado de bienestar (ilustrativamente, Fraile y Ferrer, 2005, o Calzada y del Pino, 2008). A modo de ejemplo, estas últimas autoras analizan, sin incluir variables explicativas adicionales, la relación entre eficacia de las políticas y disposición a pagar impuestos.…”