Gosta Esping-Andersen

Pompeu Fabra University | UPF · Department of Political and Social Sciences

Childhood poverty increases the likelihood of adult poverty. However, past research offers conflicting accounts of cross-national variation in the strength of—and mechanisms underpinning—the intergenerational persistence of poverty. Here the authors investigate differences in intergenerational poverty in the United States, Australia, Denmark, Germa...

Research on intergenerational transmission of advantage highlights the enduring influence of parental socio-economic status on offspring’s social mobility. Besides parental background, individual skills and choices significantly shape adult socio-economic position. Our study stands out on two dimensions. One, it investigates the interplay between c...

Exposure to childhood poverty increases the likelihood of adult poverty. However, past research offers conflicting accounts of cross-national variation in the strength of the intergenerational persistence of poverty and the mechanisms through which it is channeled. This study investigates differences in intergenerational poverty in the United State...

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note...

Does intergenerational social mobility influence individuals' partner choices? If so, are the socially mobile more likely to partner with someone from their origin or destination class? Or do they, if torn between the socio-cultural milieu of their well-known origins and less familiar destination, engage in ‘mobility homogamy’, opting for similarly...

The ten countries with the fastest shrinking population are all located in Eastern Europe, with low fertility as one of the leading causes. In this article, we analyze the privatization of companies as a potential but so far neglected factor behind the postsocialist fertility decline. We argue that privatization is linked to lower fertility by cata...

Objective To examine the association between divorce and partners' allocation of paid and unpaid work, and change over a few key decades in both West Germany and the United States. Background Past research has indicated that partner similarity in time spent on both paid and unpaid work is associated with a higher risk of marital dissolution. We ex...

Objective: To examine the association between divorce and partners’ allocation of paid and unpaid work, and change over a few key decades in both West Germany and the United States. Background: Past research has indicated that partner similarity in time spent on both paid and unpaid work is associated with a higher risk of marital dissolution. We e...

Research on couple bargaining and housework allocation focuses almost exclusively on partners’ economic resources. In this study, we ask whether additional bargaining resources, namely physical appearance and social networks, may exert a distinct effect – that is, whether partners can mobilize multiple resources within their bargaining framework. A...

Comparing West Germany and the U.S., we analyze the association between equity—in terms of the relative gender division of paid and unpaid work hours—and the risk of marriage dissolution. Our aim is to identify under what conditions equity influences couple stability. We apply event-history analysis to marriage histories using data from the German...

Cohabitation has, in a number of countries, become a genuine alternative to marriage. Where this occurs, will we see a convergence in fertility behavior between the two partnership options? We address this question by comparing two societies, Norway and Spain, that contrast sharply not only in the evolution of cohabitation, but also in overall birt...

The recent PIACC data offer us the first ever opportunity to identify the relative salience of abilities versus social origin in comparative social mobility research. Sampling 21 countries, we identify the degree of meritocratic selection by estimating the relative influence of social origin versus individual cognitive and social skills. We pay par...

Parental time dedication in childhood, at least of certain kinds, has been observed to be positive for children's cognitive and emotional development. We examine two underexplored issues: a) the effect of time inputs in early childhood on later educational achievement (at age 17) and b) effect differences by parents’ level of education. We use data...

Comparing West Germany and the United States, we analyze the association between equity - in terms of the relative gender division of paid and unpaid work hours – and the risk of marriage dissolution. Our aim is to identify under what conditions equity influences couple stability. We apply event-history analysis to marriage histories using data fro...

BACKGROUND Lifelong singlehood is a comparatively rare demographic phenomenon, averaging about 5% across the European Union. However, levels of lifelong singlehood vary greatly between countries in Europe. What explains this variation? Our main thesis is that it reflects the prevailing norms regarding gender roles. We hypothesize that in societies...

This comparative analysis of Scandinavian social democracies argues that the fate of socialist parties is decided, to a significant degree, by their own policies and reforms_not solely by the changes in social structure emphasized in previous studies. Combining quantitative analysis and historical case studies to demonstrate the electoral effects o...

Research on children's participation in housework is scarce and mainly descriptive. Drawing on theories of gender role socialization, the authors identify how children's contributions are influenced by how their parents allocate domestic tasks. Using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel, which include annual information on time dedicated to hou...

In this study we use time-diary data from Denmark, Spain, and the United Kingdom to analyze how fathers’ child care differs across countries with distinct gender norms, family policies, and maternal employment rates. We pay particular attention to the role of mothers’ paid work time in influencing paternal child care. Results show that Danish fathe...

This study explores whether the diffusion of gender-equitable attitudes towards female employment is associated with fertility. We argue that any positive effect on fertility requires not only high levels of gender-equitable attitudes overall, but also attitude convergence between men and women. We analyse 27 countries using data from the World Val...

This book serves as a sequel to two distinguished volumes on capitalism: Continuity and Change in Contemporary Capitalism (Cambridge, 1999) and Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism (1985). Both volumes took stock of major economic challenges advanced industrial democracies faced, as well as the ways political and economic elites dealt with...

Quantitative cross-national comparisons usually are based on smaller N's. This implies that theory needs to be stronger and that counterfactuals need to be made explicit. Bayesian estimation is, in this situation, an attractive possibility. Because dependent variables are often categorical or limited, it is often preferable to use nonlinear models,...

The author reviews the three dominant questions within the comparative welfare state literature: one, how does one explain policy variations across countries and time? In particular, what has been the relative importance of political power, industrial modernization, and other historical factors? Two, are welfare states sustainable in an era of heig...

Two dominant theories within family research foresee a long-term decline in marriage, fertility, and partner stability. They also assume that this “less-family” scenario will be spearheaded by higher-educated strata. Trends in the latter half of the twentieth century seemed to provide ample support for both predictions. However, recent signs of cha...

The essay argues that the multiple signs of a steady erosion of the family represent not a long-term linear trend, but rather a transition phase. The key driver behind both the decline and the subsequent resurgence lies in the revolution of women's roles. Applying a multiple equilibrium framework, I hypothesize that falling marriage rates, greater...

This study examines the conditions under which welfare state policies contribute to an equalization of the opportunity structure, focusing in particular on Scandinavia. Using data on inter-generational mobility and educational attainment, I find a clear equalizing effect in Scanidnavia that does not obtain elsewhere. The effect, however, is assymet...

We address the issue of men's lagged adaptation to the ongoing revolution of women's roles. This article proposes a multiple equilibrium approach and shows how modes of couple specialization cluster around qualitatively distinct logics. We identify a traditional, egalitarian, and 'unstable' equilibrium. Theory posits that stable equilibria rest on...

We address the issue of men’s lagged adaptation to the ongoing revolution of women’s roles. This article proposes a multiple equilibrium approach and shows how modes of couple specialization cluster around qualitatively distinct logics. We identify a traditional, egalitarian, and ‘unstable’ equilibrium. Theory posits that stable equilibria rest on...

A major puzzle of our times is the lack of any serious progress in equal opportunities, despite so much effort invested in the pursuit thereof. Tofully understand why, we need to identify more precisely the mechanisms at work. What is now well understood is that educational reforms, no matter how progressive and egalitarian in design, are instituti...

It remains unclear whether social mobility is increasing in the advanced nations. The answer may depend on mobility patterns within very recent birth cohorts. We use the inter-generational module in the 2005 EU-SILC which allows us to include more recent cohorts. Comparing across two Nordic and three Continental European countries, we estimate inte...

Child care and early education policies may not only raise average achievement but may also be of special benefit for less advantaged children, in particular if programs are high quality. We test whether high quality child care is equalizing using rich longitudinal data from two comparison countries, Denmark and the United States. In Denmark, we fi...

This article focuses on the welfare state, which includes social protection, health, education and training, housing, and social services, but can also be conceived more broadly to include policies that affect earnings capacity and the structure of the labour market. It discusses the difficulties of capturing the impact of the welfare state on inco...

Familialism is increasingly becoming counter-productive because women have redefined their life course and children have become rare. Policies should be redefined as people that most need services are often those that least can afford these. Failure to support families may affect both the quantity and quality of children. If motherhood remains inco...

A Long Goodbye to Bismarck? is the first study to provide an exhaustive comparative account of all welfare reforms in continental Europe during the past three decades, covering Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland.

Child poverty is firmly on the policy agenda in many OECD countries. One of the main issues in the debate is the appropriate balance between the so-called “benefits strategy” (increasing the adequacy of benefits for low-income families with children) and the so-called “work strategy” (promoting policies to increase employment among poor families)....

We study the interplay of preferences and market productivities on parenting, and show the preferences, when identified, provide a better explanation of caring decisions than has, so far, been demonstrated in the literature. We qualify the standard finding the parental education in a key determinant of care by showing important interaction effects...

Le très long débat sur la nature et les causes de l'état providence n'a pas apporté de réponses définitives à l'une ou l'autre de ces questions. Cet article a trois buts: 1/ réintégrer le débat dans la tradition intellectuelle de l'économie politique pour mieux faire ressortir les principaux problèmes théoriques; 2/ spécifier les caractéristiques p...

We introduce a new hybrid approach to joint estimation of Value at Risk (VaR) and Expected Shortfall (ES) for high quantiles of return distributions. We investigate the relative performance of VaR and ES models using daily returns for sixteen stock market indices (eight from developed and eight from emerging markets) prior to and during the 2008 fi...

Pour beaucoup aujourd’hui, les dépenses de l’État-providence (retraites, assurance-maladie…) sont un coût qu’il s’agit sinon de réduire, en tout cas de contenir. Et si elles devenaient un investissement ? Un investissement dans l’avenir, non seulement pour protéger les individus contre les aléas de la vie, mais pour les aider à rester maîtres de le...

The United States invests too little in most children's opportunities. Spending more would pay off handsomely.

We examine the degree to which women's fertility decisions depend on greater gender symmetry in child care. We analyse second births and focus particularly on the importance of fatherly care for women with a strong career orientation. Exploiting the European Community Household Panel, we use event-history techniques and compare Denmark and Spain, t...

In this paper we analyse the direct relationship between the cost of labour and employment in diverse service industries. In contrast to most existing studies, we assume that the tertiary sector is highly differentiated h terms of reactions to both supply and demand factors. The study suggests that we must reasses the relevance of demand factors, b...

Michael Shalev has turned his attention, once again, to the bad methodological habits that social scientists – like myself – often adopt. As always, he presents us with thoughtful, rigorous, and penetrating criticism, but also with a generous dose of constructive prescription. His target is the widespread use of regression techniques in cross-natio...

Most explanations of rising income inequality stress technology and labor market change. Here, the author focuses on marriage behavior and women’s employment. The evidence suggests that assortative mating tends to heighten inequalities when it is accompanied by couple similarities in labor supply and earnings capacity. An equalizing effect of women...

Parents who have children and invest well in their future create, all at once, private and collective welfare. The increasingly large gap between the desired number of children and actual fertility must be interpreted as a welfare failure for families but also as a major problem for our economy and society. If, additionally, we invest too little in...

From both a quantity and quality perspective, children occupy centre-stage in any welfare equilibrium. Very low fertility does not correspond to citizens’ desires and will, in the long haul, have dire societal consequences. Insufficient investment in the quality of our children will adversely affect their life chances as adults and will also harm o...

This study examines parental time investment in their children, distinguishing between developmental and non-developmental care. Our analyses centre on three influential determinants: educational background, marital homogamy, and spouses' relative bargaining power. We find that the emphasis on quality care time is correlated with parents' education...

Abstract Experimenting with a novel form of scientific journal publishing, GGstasta Esping-Andersen answers questions asked by Jens Alber concerning his thesis that European welfare states are in need of thorough reform. As to Esping-Andersen, social policies need to adapt to three structural transformations which imperil the viability of present w...

Este artículo quiere ser una reflexión sobre el modelo social europeo y sus retos en los próximos años. Plantea la necesidad de sustituir el enfoque estándar y miope actual sobre el Estado del bienestar por el de un régimen de bienestar sustentado en tres piedras angulares: la familia, el mercado y la administración. En el artículo se identifican t...

New Risks, New Welfare: The Transformation of the European Welfare State. Edited by Peter Taylor-Gooby. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 264p. $115.00 cloth, $35.00 paper. The comparative welfare state literature has taken some important turns in the past decades, moving first from a focus on the causes of its growth to studies of retrenchm...

The way we measure social welfare has changed very little over the past century. First, we still rely primarily on cross-sectional headcounts - snapshots of, say, the number poor, unemployed, or lone mothers in any given year. These may signal the magnitude of a problem but for policy-making they are of limited value. We need indicators that better...

This essay deals with two fundamental issues in the analysis of social change and the distribution of new social risks: a) the necessity to conceptualise and therefore to measure social welfare in a way that is appropriate to the constellation of social risks and inequalities typical of post-industrial societies, and b) the influence of the gender...

This essay deals with two fundamental issues in the analysis of social change and the distribution of new social risks: a) the necessity to conceptualise and therefore to measure social welfare in a way that is appropriate to the constellation of social risks and inequalities typical of post-industrial societies, and b) the influence of the gender...

Two core features of the new economy conspire to raise ever higher the human capital requisites for life-chances. First, and almost by definition, knowledge-intensive economies push up the skills premium. The returns to education are rising, and the less skilled are falling behind in the earnings distribution. Gone are the days when a semi-skilled...

Children occupy centre-stage in any new welfare equilibrium. Failure to support families may produce either of two undesirable scenarios. We shall see a society without children if motherhood remains incompatible with work. A new family policy needs to recognize that children are a collective asset and that the cost of having children is rising. Th...

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Ideology and myth do not die easily, and certainly not at the hands of social scientists. Even with decades of systematic and cumulative social scientific evidence to the contrary, in many public policy circles it is still widely believed that North Americans and Europeans live in the land of equal opportunities. Yet the evidence, including the cha...

El modelo familiar ha sufrido una transformación radical en las últimas décadas. La incorporación de la mujer al mercado laboral, el descenso de la natalidad y las crecientes dificultades económicas que afronta la familia media apuntan la necesidad de buscar soluciones que garanticen la supervivencia del Estado del Bienestar en el futuro.

This review examines the comparative, empirical literature that concerns the impact of social democracy on welfare state development and on economic performance. The theoretical basis of this research lies in reformist social democratic ideology which, in turn, is given substantial empirical confirmation in the sense that the balance of political p...

Feminist writings often argue that the welfare state, like the society that underpins it, is patriarchical, and that a major overhaul of policy is necessary in the quest for gender equality. This is possibly a valid claim, if not for all welfare states, then at least for some. The very same objective would, nevertheless, appear additionally persuas...

In response to Hicks and Kenworthy's article, I agree that it is probably analytically futile to connect political parties causally to welfare state outcomes—at least if we must rely exclusively on recent data on welfare state attributes. Since political parties and welfare states are part of the same endogenous process there is, however, strong in...

Most of the debate on ageing has centred on how to ensure long-term financial sustainability. Much suggests that we have allowed ourselves to get too bogged down in demographic and actuarial arithmetic at the expense of grander visions of a good, just and productive society in which, as it happens, ageing looms large. This paper is meant to stimula...

This paper confronts inter-generational social inheritance models from economics and sociology. In both discplines there is a broad consensus that social inheritance remains as strong today as ever and, yet, there are some indications that a few countries may have succeeded in diminishing the parental effect on opportunities. Our chief aim is to id...

Leading scholars in the field examine the highly topical issue of the future of the welfare state in Europe. They argue that welfare states need to adjust, and examine which kind of welfare architecture will further Europe's stated goal of maximum social inclusion and justice. The volume concentrates on four principal social‐policy domains: the age...

Leading scholars in the field examine the highly topical issue of the future of the welfare state in Europe. They argue that welfare states need to adjust, and examine which kind of welfare architecture will further Europe's stated goal of maximum social inclusion and justice. The volume concentrates on four principal social‐policy domains: the age...

Leading scholars in the field examine the highly topical issue of the future of the welfare state in Europe. They argue that welfare states need to adjust, and examine which kind of welfare architecture will further Europe's stated goal of maximum social inclusion and justice. The volume concentrates on four principal social‐policy domains: the age...

The deteriorating trend in the incomes of families with young children is of increasing concern to both academics and politicians. Since the well-being of the elderly has improved concomitantly, many see an emerging generational clash. We argue that this zero-sum distributional trade-off view is largely premised on an overly static analysis and pre...

Quantitative cross-national comparisons usually are based on smaller N's. This implies that theory needs to be stronger and that counterfactuals need to be made explicit. Bayesian estimation is, in this situation, an attractive possibility. Because dependent variables are often categorical or limited, it is often preferable to use nonlinear models,...

The Golden Age of postwar capitalism has been eclipsed, and with it seemingly also the possibility of harmonizing equality and welfare with efficiency and jobs. Most analyses believe the the emerging postindustrial society is overdetermined by massive, convergent forces, such as tertiarization, new technologies, or globalization, all conspiring to...

Welfare and Employment in a United Europe takes a nuanced approach to the issues. Unusual for an edited volume, it consists of two long studies—each written by a group of economists working in four different countries of the European Union—followed by commentary. Over the last twenty years, fifteen Western European nations have removed most barrier...

In The Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies (Oxford University Press, 1999) Gøsta Esping-Andersen presents a classic example of an empirically grounded historically materialist analysis of welfare capitalism, in the tradition of Polanyi, Marshall and others. He argues that its architecture needs to be re-thought because of the changing na...