The Political Economy of Developmental Welfare States in East Asia.

East Asia's welfare states were long regarded as developmental in the sense that social policies played an important role as an instrument to facilitate economic development rather than to protect citizens from social contingencies and poverty. However, since the early 1990s, some countries have started to change their social policies while some others not. For example, South Korea and Taiwan have been increasing their welfare expenditures while Hong Kong and Singapore have not imposed any fundamental changes. This contrast has become more apparent after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. What are the major determinants affecting the different courses of social welfare in these countries?First, this paper hypothesizes that the shift of the production regime structure causes changes in the nature of social policy. Because social policy has been used as an instrument for economic development in these countries, major changes in the developmental paradigm of social policy take place when their production regime is substantially reset. To test this hypothesis, I will examine the contrasting nature of the capital market-based financial system (Hong Kong and Singapore) and the credit-based financial system (Korea and Taiwan).However, the link between production regime and developmental welfare policy is not automatic. It depends on the intermediate political process. In this regard, this paper presents another hypothesis that the change in the veto structure embedded in domestic political institutions shapes social policy trajectories. It will be tested by examining whether public expenditures are significantly affected by the competition among veto players. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]