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Welfare states as lifecycle redistribution machines

Age is more important than status in how social policies operate

European welfare states have evolved into sizable and resource-consuming institutions with a total social spending of around 28 percent of GDP and social policies affect every stage of citizens’ lives. But what do welfare states mostly do?
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Welfare states as lifecycle redistribution machines

Key Messages

  • In practice, European welfare states are neither primarily nor solely responsible for inequality reduction
  • They redistribute much more across age than across socio-economic status lines
  • Accordingly, welfare states should be viewed mostly as an institutional solution to the lifecycle consumption financing problem.

 

References

  1. Vanhuysse Pieter, Medgyesi Marton, & Gál Robert Ivan (2021). Welfare states as lifecycle redistribution machines: Decomposing the roles of age and socioeconomic status shows that European tax-and-benefit systems primarily redistribute across age groups. PLoS ONE 16(8): e0255760. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255760

Additional Information

Authors of Original Article

Source

Vanhuysse, P., Medgyesi, M. and Gál, R. (2021). Welfare states as lifecycle redistribution machines: Age is more important than status in how social policies operate. Population and Policy Brief 31, Berlin: Max Planck Society/Population Europe.