An empirical investigation into the middle-and higher-income bias in social spending and welfare state redistribution across 20 countries, 1985-2013

Welfare states that are effective in reducing poverty have high levels of social spending. Yet, changes in social spending cannot explain changes in poverty outcomes. Inequalities increased almost everywhere and so did levels of social spending, but in many countries social spending became less effective in keeping poverty at bay. So, then, why did social spending became less pro-poor in some countries but not in others? The central hypothesis of this research project is that changes in poverty outcomes across OECD countries can be explained by changes in the middle and higher income bias in social spending. It is expected that countries in which a larger share of social spending accrued to the middle and higher income groups, experienced a decrease in welfare state redistribution.

Keywords:social spending

Disciplines:Applied sociology, Policy and administration, Social psychology, Social stratification, Social theory and sociological methods, Sociology of life course, family and health, Other sociology and anthropology