Esping-Andersen welfare state regime typology
The Esping-Andersen welfare state regime typology is a typology for different types of welfare states based on their size and goals. It has been used mainly for the analysis of European welfare states, and is generally better suited to the study of middle-income or high-income countries.
The three foci of the typology
The typology is about how the regime weighs three competing loci of decisionmaking:
- The market, i.e., private, largely consensual interaction between large numbers of people who may not especially care for one another as individuals.
- The family, i.e., small, generally cohabiting collections of people, typically with ties by blood or marriage, who have sinificant personal interests in one another.
- The state (the government), i.e., centralized decisionmaking bodies with coercive enforcement powers, generally elected by and in principle accountable to the people.
The three types
| Type | Example countries | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Liberal welfare state, or non-interventionist free market model | USA, and most countries in the Anglo-American legal tradition. | Market |
| Conservative (family-promoting) welfare state | Germany, Italy | Family |
| Social-democratic welfare state | Sweden | State (used to promote egalitarian values) |
| Mixed | France, Singapore, Hong Kong, UK | Mixed |
References
- The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism by Gøsta Esping-Andersen, Amazon, free introduction (the book does not appear to have an ISBN)More info