Welfare State and Production Regimes in the Era of Retrenchment

Abstract

This is the first of three chapters on the role of economic interests, and of systems for representing those interests, in the politics of welfare state reform. They explore the linkages between national welfare states and national economies, and examine the processes through which economic actors press their interests on policy makers. Huber and Stephens explore at length the linkages between different types of welfare states and different production regimes, and demonstrate that there are in fact quite different configurations within the universe of affluent democracies, with particular types of welfare states strongly associated with distinct systems of economic organization. Their analysis proceeds in three steps: first, a conceptualization is provided of welfare state and production regimes, with an analysis of their performance up to the 1980s; second, an analysis is made of pressures on these regimes and the resulting welfare state retrenchments since the 1980s; and third, an assessment is made of possible future paths to adaptation, recovery, and consolidation.