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Previous quantitative research regarding the long expansionary era of public pension generosity has relied mainly on aggregate expenditure data, which capture many pension policy dimensions. Yet, the overall level of national pension generosity may differ from the generosity of each important dimension. To improve our understanding of public pension reforms that increase generosity levels, this study examines the introduction of automatic indexation clauses between 1945 and 2000. The paper tests predictions of welfare policy development and policy diffusion theories. Using event history methods, we argue that the inflation rate and the incumbency of Christian democratic parties are the main determinants of these policy reforms. Countries with higher inflation rates and more entrenched Christian democratic parties are more likely to link pensions in payment or past wages considered for initial calculation purposes to an economic index. This suggests that political parties differ in their support for each measure that improves pension generosity depending on its expected redistributive impact.

After decades of recurrent improvements in the generosity of public pension programs, since the early 1980s many pension reforms aimed to decelerate pension spending growth and strengthen the finances of these programs by retrenching the duration and/or value of pension entitlements. To understand this historical reversal in public pension provision, this article examines the forces affecting the enactment of contemporary pension retrenchments in 19 OECD countries. Based on a synthetic review of the pension policy literature, it identifies 90 pension retrenchments passed in these countries between 1981 and 2004. A growing literature on pension policy reform suggests that these policy events occur only when policy-makers can devise mechanisms to reduce their political blame. Building on this research, this article argues that the strategic consideration of economic and electoral cycles constitute two blame-avoidance strategies. First, by passing a pension retrenchment early in the electoral cycle, policy-makers can expect to face less electoral retaliation. Second, due to uncertainty in demographic projections, the demographic transition constitutes a weak discursive strategy to legitimate pension retrenchments. For this reason, population aging only affects the likelihood of reform by increasing the impact of economic crises. The article presents results from conditional frailty models for recurrent and sequential events that support this argument.

Many studies show that supranational governance structures (SGS)—understood as international organizations or international treaties—contribute to the global diffusion of public policies. However, we still have a limited understanding of which properties of SGS hasten the number of policy adoptions. To advance this literature, we argue that SGS making legally binding and univocal claims are more likely to act as diffusion accelerators. We demonstrate the suitability of this argument through a case study of the global diffusion of mifepristone approvals, a single‐purpose medicine to terminate pregnancies that has revolutionized abortion services. The analysis supports our expectation. Links to the EU and the Maputo Protocol—the only two considered SGS that make binding claims with clear implications for this policy field—hasten mifepristone approvals. By contrast, ratification of four other treaties—that do not make binding and univocal claims—and exposure to World Health Organization guidelines on medical abortion does not hasten these approvals.

AbstractFemale representation in political decision-making positions is now a salient issue in public discussions throughout Europe. Understanding public attitudes towards a more balanced gender distribution in politics remains limited, however. Using a 2017 Eurobarometer, we focus on cross-national differences in public support for increased female participation in politics to address this limitation. Building on the policy feedbacks literature, we stress the role of gender quotas. We argue that quotas – as legislative devices usually adopted through elite-driven initiatives – stimulate support for stronger female representation. Ensuing debates on quotas raise individual awareness about the underrepresentation of women – informational effect – and, once adopted, give a clear signal that persistent gender imbalance is a social problem to be redressed – normative effect. Our empirical analysis supports this argument. Citizens in countries with gender quotas display stronger support for increased female participation in politics.

The process of policy diffusion is gaining increasing attention among social scientists. Following world society theory, a burgeoning literature reports a positive relationship between national linkages to global cultural norms and the diffusion of public policies. However, previous analyses do not simultaneously control for time-varying domestic cultural orientations. In order to conduct a stricter test of this theory, this article examines the wave of same-sex union (SSU) laws in Europe. While in the mid-1980s, no European country provided explicit recognition to gay and lesbian couples, by 2009, 16 European countries had legalized these unions. Using event history models, the article tests predictions of the world society theory and Inglehart's domestic-cultural theory. Results provide strong support for the world society and domestic-cultural theories. Countries with a higher level of value secularization and stronger links to the global cultural order are more likely to introduce legal protections for SSUs.

Increasingly, research on attitudes towards the European project focuses on transnational practices. This article furthers the transnational approach by offering the first systematic analysis of how domestic transnationalism – i.e. transnational practices conducted in the home country – influences the formation of pro-European sentiments. We argue that domestic transnational activities foster recognition of common, transnational interests and identities that support the European integration project. Using a 2013 Eurobarometer, we show the distinct need to pay attention to domestic transnationalism. Individuals engaging in more domestic transnational activities display more pro-European sentiments in four of our five dependent variables. Moreover, the effect of domestic transnationalism is particularly intense among less-educated citizens.

AbstractA burgeoning empirical literature on attitudes towards Europe shows that highly educated individuals are more likely to hold pro‐European dispositions than non‐highly educated individuals. The literature provides structural and cultural accounts for this relationship. The structural account highlights that formal education contributes to earning higher incomes and attaining an upper‐class occupation, which are conducive to pro‐European dispositions. The cultural account instead highlights that formal education instils universalist and non‐traditionalist values in individuals, which are conducive to pro‐European dispositions. This is the first article to assess the relative predictive power of these two approaches. Using structural equation models, Rounds 8–10 of the European Social Survey and three indicators of pro‐European dispositions, this article examines whether socio‐economic location measured by income and upper‐class occupation or commitment to human values measured by universalism and traditionalism mediates this association. All in all, the structural approach receives stronger support than the cultural one.

AbstractThis article provides the first cross‐national assessment of Latina immigrant fertility trends. Specifically, we compare Ecuadorian women in Spain (EiS) to Mexican women in the United States (MiUS). We focus on these two groups because they (1) have similar socio‐economic profiles and (2) are the largest Latina subgroups in their respective host countries. We show that since 2001, the fertility rate of EiS has declined substantially more than the fertility rate of MiUS has. Drawing on census and administrative data in both countries, we assess four factors that might explain this difference: economic cycles, linguistic affinity, labor market participation, and education. We argue that labor market and education factors can best help to explain Latina fertility patterns. We conclude by discussing the findings with regard to contemporary arguments about Latino culture and immigrant fertility, and by describing the study's policy implications.

In recent decades, income inequality has soared in the United States, but few studies utilize experimental methodologies to assess whether having reliable information on income concentration affects the formation of redistribution attitudes. We advance this emerging literature through an analysis of information on the income owned by the top 1% of the income distribution – a group that is socio-politically meaningful and axial to the recent rise of inequality. The empirical evidence draws on a novel split-sample survey experiment ( N = 4,000). The results indicate that having the real value of income concentration does not have an average, significant effect on redistribution attitudes. Neither does it moderate the positive association between prior perceptions of concentration and these attitudes. However, the analysis suggests that intense cognitive effort is related to preference revision. This is because, information reduces pro-redistribution attitudes among extreme overestimators who process the information more intensely.