1. Social Policy in an Open Economy: The Application of Developed World Lessons to the Developing World.
- Author
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Aydin, Umut and Bakke, Kristin
- Subjects
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PUBLIC welfare , *GLOBALIZATION , *WORLD music , *PUBLIC spending - Abstract
What is the relationship between globalization and welfare policies? Over the last few decades, a growing body of research has investigated the links between an open economy and government spending. In the 1980s, the dominant view of the fate of social spending in an increasingly globalized economy was rather pessimistic. The "race to the bottom" hypothesis predicted that economic openness would pressure governments to cut public spending overall and, particularly, social spending. Contrary to this prediction, a number of studies of OECD countries have shown that economic openness encourages social spending. Increasing electoral pressures for compensation from the losers of globalization, the strength of left parties, labor unions and new welfare state constituencies (such as the retired), and the stickiness of welfare state institutions have all been proposed as explanations for why welfare states kept expanding or did not retrench in the face of pressures from globalization and deindustrialization (Esping-Andersen 1990, Korpi and Palme 2003, Pierson 1994,1996, Stephens, Huber and Ray 1999). To what extent are the arguments and findings of this research on the welfare state in developed countries applicable to the rest of the world? Our paper explores the effects of globalization on social spending in less developed countries. More specifically, we examine social policies in Turkey, Mexico and Poland. By breaking down social spending into its different components (education, health care, social security), we trace changes in various domestic groups' preferences on welfare spending, as well as their relative power and influence on policy processes in these three countries. These countries all underwent economic liberalization during the 1980s, but their social spending trajectories have varied both over time and from one another. An analysis of this variation allows us to explore the effects of increasing liberalization on different types of social spending. Few studies that have looked at the fate of social policies beyond the industrialized countries have found that economic openness has had a negative effect on social spending in developing countries (Rudra 2002, Wibbels and Arce 2003). Our paper contributes to this body of research by a rigorous analysis of a small number of cases, which allows us to explore the processes of welfare state transformation. Furthermore, we highlight whether and how the concepts, methods and arguments derived from the study of welfare state in industrialized countries can be applicable to less developed countries.References:Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Korpi, Walter and Joakim Palme. 2003. "New Politics and Class Politics in the Context of Austerity and Globalization: Welfare State Regress in 18 Countries, 1975-95," American Political Science Review 97(3): 425-445.Pierson, Paul. 1994. Dismantling the Welfare State? : Reagan, Thatcher, and the Politics of Retrenchment. New York: Cambridge University Press. Pierson, Paul. 1996b. "The New Politics of the Welfare State," World Politics 48: 143-79.Rudra, Nita. 2002. "Globalization and the Decline of the Welfare State in Less-Developed Countries." International Organization. 56: 411-45. Stephens, John, Evelyn Huber, and Leonard Ray. 1999 "The Welfare State in Hard Times,"In Continuity and Change in Contemporary Capitalism, eds. Peter Lange, Herbert Kitschelt, Gary Marks and John Stephens. Cambridge University Press.Wibbels, Erik and Moises Arce. 2003. "Globalization, Taxation, and Burden-Shifting in Latin America." International Organization 57: 111-36. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006