Is German domestic social policy politically controversial?

Abstract

This paper investigates empirically the influence of government ideology on social policy using German data. Examining the funding and the benefits of social security and public healthcare policy, my results suggest that policies implemented by governments dominated by left-and rightwing parties were similar over the 1951-2007 period. Leftwing governments, however, spent more in the 1970s and rightwing governments did so after German Reunification in 1990. Since policy convergence encourages new parties to enter the political arena, and party platforms on social policy matters are likely to undergo further changes in light of demographic change, the observed pattern may thus be a transitory phenomenon.

Incorporation of municipalities and population growth: A propensity score matching approach

“…The elections were held between 1964 and 1966. On ideology‐induced policy‐making in Germany see, for example, Potrafke (, , ).…”

The Allocation of German Aid: Self‐interest and Government Ideology

“…See Belke and Potrafke () on monetary policy in the OECD and Potrafke () for an analysis of education and cultural expenditures in West German states. Potrafke () reports mixed results regarding the impact of the German government's political orientation on social policy.…”

Evidence on the political principal-agent problem from voting on public finance for concert halls

“…22 The results in this paper are also revealing because policy platforms of the major political parties in Germany (SPD, CDU, FDP and Greens) have converged and the policies implemented by these parties have been very similar at the federal level (e.g., Potrafke 2012). By contrast, political ideology has been shown to influence German economic policy-making at the state and at the community level (e.g., Kauder and Potrafke 2013;Potrafke 2013).…”

“…Just as in Konstanz, resistance to the extension of the concert/congress hall was pronounced in electoral 9 I use this distinction because scholars have tested for ideology-induced effects on German economic policymaking by employing left-right dummy variables (e.g, Seitz 2000;Schneider 2010;Potrafke 2012). The reason is that all federal chancellors and state prime ministers have been members of one of these two major blocks, SPD and CDU (CSU in Bavaria) until 2011.…”