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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The redistributive impact of 'old' and 'new' social spending | | Author(s) | Maria Vaalavuo |
| Journal title | Journal of Social Policy, vol 42, no 3, July 2013 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, July 2013 |
| Pages | pp 513-539 |
| Source | journals.cambridge.org./JSP |
| Keywords | Social welfare ; Public expenditure ; Socio-economic groups ; Usage [services] ; Comparison ; Denmark ; France ; Netherlands ; Slovenia ; Spain ; United Kingdom. |
| Annotation | The welfare state literature has recently identified a shift from the protection against traditional risks to social investment. In this new future-oriented and activation-based social policy, the focus is on the redistribution of opportunities instead of income. Even if vertical redistribution from the rich to poor may be only one rationale of social action, it should not be overlooked when directing social policy from insurance to investment. This article has two objectives: first, it investigates how real this shift to social investment is in macro-economic terms; and second, whether the increased focus on new social risks and social investment has possibly changed welfare states' commitment to redistribute from the rich to poor. The article compares the distribution of benefits from 'old' spending categories (such as retirement or unemployment) with those from 'new' ones (such as having care responsibilities). Analysing six European countries representing different welfare state regimes (Denmark, France, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom), no evidence is found that new social spending would mean necessarily renouncing egalitarian ambitions. In all countries, the distribution of new spending is more equal or pro-poor than the spending on old social risks. Different households benefit in distinct ways: older people benefiting the most from traditional spending (with the exception of elderly care that is categorised here as 'new' social spending), and families with children and single parents from new spending. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-130712204 A |
| Classmark | TY: WN8: T4: QLD: 48: 76K: 765: 76H: 7AZ: 76S: 8 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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