The Social Welfare Policy Trade-Offs Between the Book-End Generations

• In Event: The Welfare State: Tracing Changes Over Time

Abstract

Much research has focused on the trade-off between specific social programs (Pierson 1994; Esping-Andersen 1996), like education and social welfare (Hega and Hokenmaier 2002). Still, little work examines the trade-offs among beneficiaries (but see Bradshaw and Finch 2003). Here, I argue that generally there is a trade-off between the book-end generations—older and younger beneficiaries—where greater social welfare provision toward the elderly results in fewer social welfare benefits for children and vice-versa. Yet, this relationship is complicated by social capital. Specifically, strong social networks help mitigate these generational divides and policy trade-offs, as posited by Hagestad (2008). In a society where there are stronger intergenerational relations—here conceptualized as social capital—there will be generous provision towards both social groups. Using data from the OECD, I test if there is a trade-off between the cash and services distributed to families and old age beneficiaries. I employ a recent methodological technique designed to better test the compositional trade-off between different expenditure categories (Lipsmeyer, Philips, and Whitten 2017; Funk and Philips 2019). Preliminary analyses suggest that spending on old age pensions has crowded out expenditures on children and family social welfare expenditures. However, the relationship is, in some ways, mitigated by social capital. Countries with higher levels of social capital do not experience the same trade-offs and instead invest robustly in both cohorts.

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Funk, Kendall., & Philips, Andrew Q. (2019). Representative budgeting: Women mayors and the composition of spending in local governments. Political Research Quarterly, 72(1), 19-33.

Hagestad, Gunhild O. "The book-ends: emerging perspectives on children and old people." Families, ageing and social policy. Intergenerational solidarity in European welfare states. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar (2008): 20-37.

Hega, Gunther, & Hokenmaier, Karl. (2002). The welfare state and education: a comparison of social and educational policy in advanced industrial societies. German Policy Studies, 2(1), 143-173.

Lipsmeyer, Christine S., Andrew Q. Philips, and Guy D Whitten. 2017. “The Effects of Immigration and Integration on European Budgetary Trade-Offs.” Journal of European Public Policy 24 (6): 912–30.

Pierson, Paul. (1994). Dismantling the welfare state?: Reagan, Thatcher and the politics of retrenchment. Cambridge University Press.

Author

• Markie McBrayer, University of Idaho