Politics, Class, and Growth in Social Security Effort: A Cross-National Analysis.

The article presents a study on a cross-national analysis of politics, class and growth in social security effort. Between 1965 and 1975 most nations experienced an historic expansion in the proportion of the national product spent on social security programs. Although there have been several studies of social security development in recent years, a number of important issues have not been given adequate attention. First, most previous studies have considered indicators associated with one or two of the theoretical perspectives considered in the present study, but few have attempted to be comprehensive. Second, most previous studies suggest that variation in social security spending is basically an issue for industrial nations, not for developing nations. Growth in social security expenditures is becoming an increasingly important issue for developing nations as well. Third, most studies to date have been based on cross-sectional data. The present study is the first to carry out a longitudinal analysis that includes developing nations.