Full Description
In recent decades, and particularly since the financial crisis, continental Europe has seen an increasing gap between those workers who have well-protected, good-paying jobs with strong benefits and those who work lower-quality, nonstandard jobs, or who have no regular work at all. This situation would seem to call for increased spending on the social safety net, yet governments throughout the region have instead been turning to austerity. In the face of that reality, the options for helping disadvantaged workers are to extend coverage through re-allocating the benefits given to higher-level workers, maintain the benefits of the well-off as the number of outsiders continues to grow, or simply ignore the problem. This book asks why different nations have taken different tacks in handling-or not handling-this problem.
Contents
1. Struggling with Persistent Gaps Studying the Welfare State Methodology 2. A Tale of Two RMIs Contextualising the Cases Explaining Benefit Reform Politics and the RMIs Southern European Characteristics and Public Pressure 3. Public Attitudes toward the Unemployed in Continental, Southern Europe, and Beyond Extending the Comparison Examining Public Opinion 4. Southern European Characteristics in the Broader Context The Models Findings 5. Bismarck, Beveridge, and Making the Transition Contextualising the Cases Beveridge versus Bismarck Explaining Healthcare Reform Italian Advancements Staying the Course in France 6. Healthcare Reform and Public Opinion in Continental and Southern Europe Extending the Comparison Examining Public Opinion 7. Examining Healthcare Coverage across the OECD The Models Findings Conclusion 8. Rectifying Coverage Gaps, Bibliography, Appendix: A Brief Methodological Note.
