The EU integration process and the convergence of social protection benefits at national level

Abstract

The essential objective of this article is to measure and interpret the degree of convergence of social protection benefits in European Union member states as the process of European integration has progressed. In this sense, the article analyses the potential role of per capita income and of the socio‐demographic characteristics of the population as explanatory variables for the levels of social protection provision in European countries. The empirical study focuses on the period from 1985 to 1999, and investigates whether differences in welfare provision levels decreased as European integration progressed, in line with the convergence in economic and socio‐demographic variables between member states.

The Convergence of Welfare State Indicators in Europe: Evidence from Panel Data

“…However, most of these studies either focus on broad but easily available data of aggregated social expenditure applying advanced econometric techniques (see Alsasua et al 2007, Attia and Berenger 2007, Schmitt and Starke 2011, Kittel and Obinger 2003 or on certain social protection indicators like replacement rates. Articles using the latter concept usually desist from applying sophisticated econometric panel techniques but rely on simplistic measurements of disparity like the coefficient of variation (see Montanari et.…”

Welfare state values in the European Union, 2002–2008. A multilevel investigation of formal institutions and individual attitudes

“…To date, investigations of welfare state models within the EU have concentrated on the national level. For example, prior ESM research focuses on differences within the EU regarding social policies and labour market activation, whether or not there is welfare state convergence within the EU, and the extent to which the European Employment Strategy (EES) and the Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) have an impact on domestic institutions (Alsasua et al 2007;Bouget 2003;Greve 1996;Leibfried 2000;López-Santana 2006;Pollack 2005;Radaelli 2003;Rhodes 1995;Scharpf 1997;). In these national-level studies the tacit assumption is that national policies and institutions reflect the values underlying welfare state systems of EU countries.…”

Measuring is Believing! Improving Conventional Indicators of Welfare State Development

“…Similar tests have been conducted for different variables in earlier studies(Alsasua et al 2007;Basarrate 2003;Alsasua et al 2001;Boscá et al 1997;Lagares 1988). 9 Information gaps resulted in only the following countries being used, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal and the UK.…”

“…The standard of social protection is intuitively understood to be linked to the speed and effectiveness with which protection services deal with the various risk situations incurred by the citizens of a country as a result of events that fall under their area of authority, and the extent to which they manage to re-establish the quality of life that those citizens enjoyed prior to the appearance of the contingencies in question. Two of the most widely used standard of protection measures are social spending per capita and social spending per dependent (Alsasua et al 2001(Alsasua et al , 2007Castles 2004;Clayton and Pontusson 1998). Although they are better suited than welfare effort to measuring the degree of protection provided by institutions, they both have serious drawbacks.…”