Kenneth Nelson

• Professor
• Professor (Full) at Stockholm University

Decarbonization, environmental protection, and sustainable development are more topical than ever. Despite long-standing debates about the regressive profile of environmental taxes, the welfare state’s role in buffering adverse distributive impacts of climate policy is largely unexplored. We examine if social policy shields households from falling...

Housing benefits differ substantially across countries. In this paper, we apply power resource theory, developed primarily in relation to the emergence and subsequent expansion of social citizenship, to housing policy. The purpose is to analyse the political determinants of housing benefits, and particularly the role of left parties and the partisa...

The conceptualisation and measurement of benefit coverage is muddled with considerable confusion. In this forum contribution, we propose a new consolidated framework for the analysis of benefit coverage. Three sequential steps in measurement are suggested, involving the calculation of coverage rates, eligibility rates and take-up rates in social pr...

The Social Policy Indicators (SPIN) database provides the foundations for new comparative and longitudinal research on the causes behind, and the consequences of, welfare states and social citizenship rights. The SPIN database is oriented towards analyses of institutions as manifested in social policy legislation. To date, SPIN covers 40 countries,...

The purpose of this study is to outline a new approach to the comparative analysis of student finance systems based on social rights, an approach widely applied in other areas of social policy. It focuses on rights codified in national legislation and financed by central governments, and the collection of indicators measuring formal eligibility and...

In this study, we analyse the sharp rise in poverty among working-age singles and single parents in Sweden. In a dual-earner society like Sweden, we show that the return of mass unemployment in combination with the retreat of a generous and inclusive welfare state have substantially increased the poverty risks of single-adult households, who cannot...

The Swedish pension system received substantial international recognition when it was introduced in the mid-1990s. The earnings-related benefits, composed of the nonfinan- cial defined contribution (NDC) pension (inkomstpension) and the financial defined contribution (FDC) pension (premiepension), were left outside of the state budget, and establis...

While the financial sustainability of pension systems has been high on reform agendas, the adequacy of retirement incomes has only recently come into focus. This chapter analyses old-age poverty from a comparative and longitudinal perspective using repeated waves of cross-sectional micro-level income data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). We...

The Swedish welfare State has been subject to a substantial re-organization in recent decades, not always recognized in the international literature. Almost every area of social policy have changed, often in the downward direction and with potential far-reaching consequences for the social sustainability of the Swedish welfare State. In this resear...

Aim: The financial crisis that hit Europe in 2007-2008 and the corresponding austerity policies have generated concern about increasing health inequalities, although impacts have been less salient than initially expected. One explanation could be that health inequalities emerged first a few years into the crisis. This study investigates health tren...

This study investigates an old question that has re-emerged in social policymaking and in analyses of global social development: to what extent does targeting and size of social transfers matter for poverty? Using multilevel logistic regression and Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg (LIS) income data for 40 middle- and high-income countries,...

Aim: The purpose of this study is to discuss and empirically contrast different conceptualizations and operationalizations of social policies in analysing health and educational differences in health cross-nationally. Methods: Country-level institutional and expenditure data on unemployment benefit schemes and individual-level data from the EU-S...

Citizens in affluent countries face a great number of social and economic risks, from birth until the very end of their lives. Many of these risks are associated with specific phases of the human life cycle when the earnings potential of households decreases. How are these age-related poverty risks linked to the often “implicit” generational welfar...

During the past decades, family policies have often been expanded when other parts of the welfare state have been subject to retrenchment. However, research on affluent countries shows that these developments have been far from unilinear. Instead family policy diverged cross-nationally, both in content and scope. Consequences for child well-being h...

The causes of cross-national differences in population health are subject for intense discussion, often focusing on the role of structural economic factors. Although population health is widely believed to reflect the living conditions in society, surprisingly few comparative studies systematically assess policy impacts of anti-poverty programs. In...

The global financial crisis of 2008 is likely to have repercussions on public health in Europe, not least through escalating mass unemployment, fiscal austerity measures and inadequate social protection systems. The purpose of this study is to analyse the role of unemployment insurance for deteriorating self-rated health in the working age populati...

The comparative analysis of welfare states has been greatly advanced by rights-based measurements of social provisions. Social insurance replacement rates have figured prominently here. Apparently, there is considerable confusion about the validity of replacement rates and their comparability across different datasets. The purpose of this study is...

In this paper the hypotheses on differences among welfare state sectors with regard to decline and convergence are subject to comparative empirical tests focusing on healthcare. A diachronical cross-national analysis of healthcare services is performed, comparing developments with that of cash benefits. Contrary to previous claims we find that Euro...

The stagnation and decline of welfare states are prominent issues in comparative research, where structural pressures are assumed to limit the possibility to develop or even maintain social citizenship rights. The role of national politics for institutional change is negligible in this theoretical framework, and ultimately welfare states are believ...

In May 2009, the European Parliament called on the Commission and the Member States ‘to guarantee the right to a minimum income irrespective of individuals’ chances in the labour market’. In its Resolution, the Parliament made reference to an almost 20-year-old European Council Recommendation that recognized ‘the basic right of a person to sufficie...

Welfare states have been subject to a subtle and a sometimes-unrecognized transformation: the fiscalization of social benefits. This change of national policy is notable in the area of family policy, where various forms of child tax benefits have been introduced. The composition and level of child benefits varies therefore not only across countries...

Several countries in Latin America and East Asia are on the verge of making a transition from middle-income to high-income societies. It is doubtful whether economic growth alone is sufficient for accomplishing the final steps of this transition. One obstacle might be the general absence of effective mechanisms to allocate and redistribute parts of...

Health care systems differ substantially across countries in terms of service provision, which is of direct relevance for the quality and distribution of health care citizenship rights. Whereas the driving forces for the expansion and subsequent decline of social benefits have received great scholarly interest in comparative research, the determina...

Material deprivation is high on the political agenda in Europe and part of the agreed benchmarks in the EU social inclusion process. This study analyses the link between social assistance benefit levels and material deprivation in European countries. It is shown that the relationship between assistance and deprivation is negative, indicating that m...

Den parlamentariska socialförsäkringsutredningen ska enligt regeringens direktiv se över de allmänna försäkringarna vid sjukdom och arbetslöshet. Kommittén ska överväga förändringar som kan leda till mer hållbara sjuk- och arbetslöshetsförsäkringar. De förändringar som kan bli aktuella ska bidra till ökad sysselsättning och hållbara statsfinanser p...

This chapter compares trends in the means-tested minimum income schemes in the four Nordic countries with those in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK over two decades. The chapter challenges the conventional picture of Nordic minimum-income amounting to a small proportion of the overall income protection provided as being generous and able to alle...

During recent decades predictions of retrenchment and convergence of social policies have been legion, both in terms of expenditure and institutional set-up. Structural pressures such as trans-nationalization of capital, budgetary and financial restrictions in the European Union, negative demographic development and high unemployment levels are hel...

It has been suggested that income adequacy is an important condition for a fair work-test to apply. This article provides new evidence about the construction of just social minimums by analysing the relationship between social assistance, benefit adequacy, and labour market activation. Does social assistance provide benefits at levels necessary to...

Due to various structural pressures predictions of retrenchment and conformity of social policies have been legion, both in terms of expenditure and institutional set-up. Recent research has focused on changes in cash benefits. Comparative analyses of changes in services, the other pillar of social policy, have however so far been limited to a few...

Nelson K. Social assistance and minimum income benefits in old and new EU democracies Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 367–378 © 2009 The Author, Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. In this article, social assistance developments are analysed in a large number of European Union (EU) member...

Resumen El artículo esboza un marco conceptual y teórico con el fin de realizar un análisis comparativo optimizado de la protección social pública en los países en desarrollo, basándose en la investigación habitual del estudio de las democracias tradicionales del bienestar. Un elemento importante del enfoque institucional propuesto es la definición...

Résumé Nous présentons dans cet article un cadre conceptuel et théorique pour une analyse comparative améliorée de la protection sociale publique dans les pays en développement, sur la base des recherches déjà entreprises sur les systèmes sociaux établis de longue date dans les démocraties. Un élément important de l'approche institutionnelle propos...

Auszug Der Artikel umreißt einen konzeptuellen und theoretischen Rahmen für eine verbesserte vergleichende Analyse öffentlich bereitgestellten Sozialschutzes in Entwicklungsländern und stützt sich dabei auf die Forschungstradition der Analyse seit langem bestehender demokratischer Wohlfahrtsstaaten. Ein wichtiges Element des vorgeschlagenen institu...

Abstract The article outlines a conceptual and theoretical framework for improved comparative analysis of publicly provided social protection in developing countries, drawing on the research tradition of the study of longstanding welfare democracies. An important element of the proposed institutional approach is the establishment of comparable qual...

Minimum income protection and social assistance is the last-resort safety net of the welfare state, targeted to the most vulnerable groups in society. Poverty alleviation is thus one chief objective of such benefits. Whether this objective is fulfilled is continuously discussed and debated. This paper provide new evidence on this issue and offers a...

The market-enhancing regulations of the European Union (EU) place political and economic constraints on the Member States. This has been expected to induce convergence of social policies, generally in a downward direction. At the same time the notion of a European Social Model has been launched as a strategy to make marketization socially acceptabl...

This article draws attention to the Europeanization of social policy and the development of minimum income protection in a large number of welfare democracies. The empirical analyses are based on unique institutional and comparative data on benefit levels from the Social Assistance and Minimum Income Protection Interim Dataset. There is some eviden...

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In the Western countries poverty has increased along with the resurgence of low- income targeting and the increased conditionality of social assistance. This paper provides new evidence on the relationship between social minimums and income adequacy by examining the extent to which social benefits distribute income at levels necessary to escape pov...

Pressures from global market forces along with austerity and retrenchment have generated predictions of converging welfare state institutions. Th e purpose of this paper is to examine the development of social insurance programs among 18 of the economically most advanced democracies during 1980–2000. Have social insurance rights converged and have...

such accumulation based on what are termed basic, con- ditional and proximate factors. Lastly, we examine the extent to which multiple problems affected the individual only temporarily or persisted over time. The analyses are based on the Swedish Level of Living Surveys (LNU) for 1974, 1981, 1991 and 2000, and these will be used both as a series of...

Stagnation und Abbau sozialpolitischer Maβnahmen in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten erregten beträchtliches Interesse und Sorgen in der Fachliteratur über den Wohlfahrtsstaat. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht Unterschiede bei der Entwicklung von bedürftigkeitsabhängigen und Sozial-versicherungsleistungen. Es werden Fragen zur Messung des Rückzugs der...

Las publicaciones sobre el Estado providente han manifestado un interés y una inquietud considerables por el estancamiento y la contracción de las políticas sociales en las últimas décadas. En el presente estudio analizaremos las diferencias entre la evolución de las prestaciones con comprobación de recursos y la evolución de las disposiciones del...

La stagnation et l'austérité des politiques sociales de ces dernières décennies suscitent un fort regain d'intérêt et de préoccupation pour la littérature relative à l'Etat providence. La présente étude se penche sur les différences dans l'évolution des prestations sous condition de ressources et des prestations d'assurance sociale. Elle aborde les...

The stagnation and retrenchment of social policies in recent decades raise considerable interest and concern in writings on the welfare state. This study examines differences in the development of means-tested benefits and social insurance provisions. Questions relating to the measurement of policy retrenchment and the vulnerability of social benef...

I detta kapitel diskuteras ansamling av välfärdsproblem. Detta görs genom att visa exempel på samtidig förekomst av problem inom sju viktiga välfärdsområden. Resultaten visar att ungefär 10 procent av befolkningen år 2000 har en ansamling av problem, alltså två eller fler välfärdsproblem samtidigt. Ansamlingen i befolkningen minskade från mitten av...

Substantial cross-national differences in poverty alleviation are well documented. But the extent to which different parts of the social transfer system account for this variation is still relatively unexamined. This paper analyses the redistributive effects of specific social policy institutions in a comparative perspective. The main question is t...

Welfare state regimes vary in their strategies of redistribution. Some welfare states have extensive taxable social insurance schemes, while others rely more on non-taxable means-tested benefits. In order to assess the distributive effects of different programme types, it is necessary to analyse social insurance after taxes, something rarely practi...

Welfare state regimes vary in their redistribution strategies. Some welfare states have extensive taxable social insurance schemes, while others rely more on non-taxable means-tested benefits. In order to assess the distributive effects of different program types, it is necessary to analyse social insurance after taxes, something rarely practised i...

In this paper, we propose a theoretical model to study the effect of income insecurity of parents and offspring on the child's residential choice. Parents are partially altruistic toward their children and will provide financial help to an independent child when her income is low relative to the parents'. We find that children of more altruistic pa...

Social assistance and minimum income benefits are important indicators for assessing the very basic objective of social policy, namely to mitigate financial hardship and alleviate poverty. The Nordic countries have succeeded well from a comparative point of view in terms of poverty alleviation. However, last-resort safety-nets are changing. Scatter...

ABSTRACT This study evaluates institutional linkages betweendifferent types of social security programs ineighteen welfare states in the early 1990s. The purpose is to analyze the determinants of cross-national variations in the level of minimum income protection. Three hypotheses of an institutional relationship between social insurance and the ge...

This paper draws attention to low-income targeting and various programs explicitly designed to alleviate poverty in industrialized democracies. Three questions relevant for current social reform debate are addressed. First, the extent to which minimum income protection has suffered from the stagnation and decline of welfare states in recent decades...

Abstract will be provided by author.