Conceptually, this panel seeks to convene work that moves beyond the conventionally used dependent variables and instead sheds light on dimensions of labor market policy that have so far received less attention. Examples are the generosity of social assistance (as opposed to unemployment insurance) schemes, the strictness of sanctions for the unemployed, or public support for particular active labor market programs.
We expect that existing theories of the politics of labor market and social policies may not be able to account for all the variation in these variables. The second aim of this panel is, therefore, to provide a forum to discuss new and refine existing theoretical explanations of the variation in labor market and social policies in post-industrial societies.
The panel includes papers looking at the cross-country comparative level as well as at the level of individual voters or parties and interest groups. We provide a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches, within and among the presented papers.
