This panel contributes to recent debates in comparative political economy by investigating the interaction of consumer credit and welfare. Access to credit (i.e. for housing) has always been important for human welfare, but it has largely been neglected in both the welfare state and varieties of capitalism literatures. This panel addresses this gap by highlighting three issues: the politics of home ownership and mortgage financing, varieties of personal bankruptcy, and access to consumer credit. In so doing, the papers provide important insights in how different European countries are adjusting to the post-2008 world.

This panel consists of four papers. Two of the papers analyze country-level dynamics. Anderson and Kurzer analyze the variable success of recent Swedish and Dutch governments to reduce household debt and mortgage lending via legislation (Dutch governments succeeded, while Swedish governments failed).  Mertens and Wijburg analyze changes in the German real estate market, especially mortgage markets, tracing the impact of international financial integration on the German model of long-term housing financing. The next two papers take a more aggregate approach. Heuer analyzes personal bankruptcy laws in 15 EU members, identifying different clusters of bankruptcy policies. Case studies of England/Wales, France and Germany demonstrate how interests, ideas and institutions interact to produce these clusters. Jukabow also raises a European-wide question about how the access to credit may assist households in weathering downturns and austerity measures, thereby demonstrating how (temporary) personal indebtedness functions as an automatic stablizer in much the same way that welfare state programs do.