Does Politics Matter: An Analysis of the Public Welfare Commitment in Advanced Democratic States

Castles, Frank; McKinlay, Robert D.

doi:10.1111/j.1475-6765.1979.tb01274.x

Cited by 139 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Overall, the 43 studies include a total of 693 parameter estimates (a mean of 16 and a median of 8 estimates per study). Castles & McKinlay (1979a) and Friedland & Sanders (1986) provided each one single estimate, and Castles (1982) contained 95 relevant estimates. Castles is the most prolific scholar in the literature as he is associated with six studies containing 183 parameter estimates, 26 percent of our sample.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Left–right party ideology and government policies: A meta–analysis

Imbeau¹,

Pétry²,

Ламари

2001

European J Political Res

203

143

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Abstract. This paper summarizes how the partisan influence literature assesses the relationship between the left-right party composition of government and policy outputs through a meta-analysis of 693 parameter estimates of the party-policy relationship published in 43 empirical studies. Based on a simplified 'combined tests' meta-analytic technique, we show that the average correlation between the party composition of government and policy outputs is not significantly different from zero. A mutivariate logistic regression analysis examines how support for partisan theory is affected by a subset of mediating factors that can be applied to all the estimates under review. The analysis demonstrates that there are clearly identifiable conditions under which the probability of support for partisan theory can be substantially increased. We conclude that further research is needed on institutional and socio-economic determinants of public policy.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Left–right party ideology and government policies: A meta–analysis

Imbeau¹,

Pétry²,

Ламари

2001

European J Political Res

203

143

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“…Social Democratic Parties backed by trade unions and opposed by bourgeois parties could implement welfare legislation. Thus, in the sense of the party-color of the government, politics matter (Castles & McKinlay 1979;Jackman 1986;Esping-Andersen & van Kersbergen 1992). Welfare-state variation has sometimes been explained simply by the power resources of the working class, that is its numerical strength, the strength of trade unions and the extent of social democratic government participation (Korpi 1989).…”

Section: Theories Of Welfare-state Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Politics of Justification : Party Competition and Welfare-State Retrenchment in Denmark and the Netherlands from 1982 to 1998

Green‐Pedersen¹

2002

171

156

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“…On the 'positive' impact of socialist strength on the expansion of government revenue, see Cameron 0978). On their 'positive' impact on welfare, see Castles and McKinlay (1979). Still, the positive effect of socialist strength on income equalization seems weaker than the negative effect on economic growth (Weede 1982).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democracy, creeping socialism, and ideological socialism in rent-seeking societies

Weede¹

1984

Public Choice

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Rent-seeking societies suffer from a serious distortion of incentives. Incentives to engage in distributional struggles, to seek contrived transfers are strong, but incentives to engage in productive work are too weak. Stagnation and some unemployment should be expected. Long lasting democracies within unchanged borders create a permissive environment for rentseeking. The provision of rents very much depends on government. The stronger the governmental involvement in the economy, the higher social security spending, the more rents the government is likely to generate. Therefore, creeping socialism understood as increased government control of the economy should reinforce the rent-seeking society and the corresponding negative effects on growth and employment. Whether such creeping socialism is backed by ideological socialism or not should make little difference for growth or employment. These ideas have been tested and partially supported by a 19 nation sample of industrial democracies, using data from the sixties and seventies. By and large, the rent-seeking approach is fairly successful in explaining national differences in economic growth rates, but receives ambiguous support or less for unemployment. Olson's (1982Olson's ( , 1983 proposition about the negative impact of long lasting democracy within unchanged borders on economic growth is much better supported than the growth-retarding effects of government revenues or social security spending are.

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Does Politics Matter: An Analysis of the Public Welfare Commitment in Advanced Democratic States

Cited by 139 publications

References 7 publications

Left–right party ideology and government policies: A meta–analysis

Left–right party ideology and government policies: A meta–analysis

The Politics of Justification : Party Competition and Welfare-State Retrenchment in Denmark and the Netherlands from 1982 to 1998

Democracy, creeping socialism, and ideological socialism in rent-seeking societies

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