European Social Model: No Convergence from the East

Journal of European Integration, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 115-135, 2010

29 Pages Posted: 18 Jan 2010 Last revised: 8 Jan 2015

See all articles by Juraj Draxler

Juraj Draxler

Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)

Olaf van Vliet

Leiden University - Leiden Law School; Leiden University - Department of Economics

Date Written: January 15, 2010

Abstract

Quantitative evidence based on social expenditure suggests that since Esping-Andersen’s seminal study on welfare regimes, there has been a certain general convergence towards a European Social Model (ESM). The data, controlled for cyclical and demographic effects, show that, in recent years, social expenditures of EU-15 member states have converged, whereas in the mature non-EU welfare states this has not been the case.

In this long-term quantitative view, a tentative suggestion would be that Europeanization might be prevailing over path dependence of distinct models. However, the data also show a certain deviation from the model - the post-communist new member states (NMS) form a distinct group. This is confirmed by a cluster analysis based on social benefit generosity. To provide a background to these findings and, especially, to highlight the avenues for further investigation, the paper also looks at the institutional arrangements in the NMS. In particular, it draws attention to pension systems as a particularly sizeable component of the welfare state to illustrate how far most of the post-communist EU members diverge in terms of the institutional arrangements of their welfare systems.

It seems, then, that while the ‘deepening’ of European integration in other policy areas has been accompanied by a convergence towards a ESM in the EU-15 countries, the ‘widening’ of the EU has meant, at the same time, that there is now a group of states within the EU that diverge significantly from the dominant model.

Keywords: Deepening and widening, EU integration, European Social Model, social policy, welfare regime, pensions

Suggested Citation

Draxler, Juraj and van Vliet, Olaf, European Social Model: No Convergence from the East (January 15, 2010). Journal of European Integration, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 115-135, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1538184

Juraj Draxler

Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) ( email )

1 Place du Congres
Brussels, 1000
Belgium

Olaf Van Vliet (Contact Author)

Leiden University - Leiden Law School ( email )

Steenschuur 25 PO Box 9520
Leiden, 2300 RA
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.law.leiden.edu/organisation/taxlawandeconomics/economics/staff/vliet.html

Leiden University - Department of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 9520
2300 RA Leiden, NL-2300RA
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.law.leiden.edu/organisation/taxlawandeconomics/economics/staff/vliet.html