In this book, Peter Diamond analyzes social security as a particular example of optimal taxation theory. Assuming a world of incomplete markets and asymmetric information, he uses a variety of simple models to illuminate the economic forces that bear on specific social security policy issues. The focus is on the degree of progressivity desirable in social security and the design of incentives t…
An analysis of the welfare state from a political economy perspective that examines the effects of aging populations, migration, and globalization on industrialized economies.In The Decline of the Welfare State, Assaf Razin and Efraim Sadka use a political economy framework to analyze the effects of aging populations, migration, and globalization on the deteriorating system of financing welfare…
Victims' State is the first integrated account of how Imperial Austria and the successor Austrian Republic responded to the needs of citizen-soldiers and their families in the age of mass politics and the First World War. It shows that compulsory military service and war mobilization changed the mission of the Austrian state and citizens' understanding of what they were entitled to, thus showin…
This open access edited volume introduces the concept of causal mechanisms to explore new ways of explaining the global dynamics of social policy, and shows that a mechanism-based approach provides several advantages over established approaches for studying social policy. The introductory chapter outlines the mechanism-based approach, which stands out by modularisation and a clear focus on acto…