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Economic Equality and the Welfare State

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Abstract

Welfare states emerged in times of industrialization and globalization, since then withstood several economic downturns and financial crises, and adapted to profound societal changes. Today, the welfare state is heralded as an economic and social system superior to other forms of social organization in ensuring economic equality. Yet, poverty figures demonstrate that a substantial number of people are left behind while income inequality is rising within most welfare states. In this chapter we discuss how and to what extent welfare states achieve economic equality. We focus on similarities and differences across the world and review what type of welfare states achieve equality more than others. We conclude with a discussion of the major challenges that may jeopardize the achievement of economic equality in the future.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dimitri Gugushvili and François Levrau for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Sociological Research, University of Leuven, Louvain, Belgium

    Wim Van Lancker & Aaron Van den Heede

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  1. Wim Van Lancker
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  2. Aaron Van den Heede
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Correspondence to Wim Van Lancker .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    François Levrau

  2. University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Noel Clycq

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Van Lancker, W., Van den Heede, A. (2021). Economic Equality and the Welfare State. In: Levrau, F., Clycq, N. (eds) Equality . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54310-5_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54310-5_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-54309-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-54310-5

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