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The welfare state refers to a concept of a state that focuses on ensuring that a broad range of social rights is provided for all citizens by acting on the social mechanisms and consequences of the market economy. In such a state government plays a vital role in balancing social inequalities by providing or subsidizing social benefits and services. This activity is called social policy. Individual countries are characterized by different welfare state models, goals, values, and groups of beneficiaries. Such a state usually supports a recovery from the difficult situation of the population, which is not, itself, able to take care of their basic needs.

The welfare state refers to a concept of a state that focuses on ensuring that a broad range of social rights is provided for all citizens by acting on the social mechanisms and consequences of the market economy. In such a state government plays a vital role in balancing social inequalities by providing or subsidizing social benefits and services. This activity is called social policy. Individual countries are characterized by different welfare state models, goals, values, and groups of beneficiaries. Such a state usually supports a recovery from the difficult situation of the population, which is not, itself, able to take care of their basic needs.

The welfare state refers to a concept of a state that focuses on ensuring that a broad range of social rights is provided for all citizens by acting on the social mechanisms and consequences of the market economy. In such a state government plays a vital role in balancing social inequalities by providing or subsidizing social benefits and services. This activity is called social policy. Individual countries are characterized by different welfare state models, goals, values, and groups of beneficiaries. Such a state usually supports a recovery from the difficult situation of the population, which is not, itself, able to take care of their basic needs.

Social policy in East and West finds itself today in the middle of a fundamental transition. The former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the successor states to the former Soviet Union are attempting to create the institutions needed for a modern market economy and a modern democratic welfare state. At the same time, the mature welfare states of Europe are struggling to solve the contemporary financial crisis of their systems of social entitlements. Because of fundamental economic and demographic trends, these systems will become increasingly difficult to sustain over the coming decades. The contributors overwhelmingly agree that it would be mistaken policy to simply copy the institutions of Western welfare states to the Eastern economies in transition. Instead one can learn much from the experience gathered over the past half century in Western welfare states.

Abstract. The article draws upon the main results of the Report on Welfare State 2019 edited by the Author. The first part analyses occupational welfare which involves the following aspects: the historical context of the most comprehensive state-market relations in which it developed; the reasons and the economic and social effects of the spread of occupational welfare; the areas of intervention and the dimensions it has assumed in various countries and in Italy; the connections with the welfare state; the links with employer-trade union relationships, productivity trends, decentralized wage bargaining and wage trends; and the effects on inequalities in access to social goods and services. The following two sections examine the social and economic policies implemented in Europe and Italy, and the quantitative and qualitative dynamics of expenditure. In particular, we explore: trends and policies regarding: the labor market; demographic and migration trends; education and healthcare; social safety networks; inequalities; the policies aimed at reducing poverty; and the basic guaranteed citizens' income (reddito di cittadinanza) a measure recently introduced in Italy. Finally, the analysis focuses on the measures adopted by the Italian Government in relation to the pension system, as well as the forecasts, problems and recommendations concerning public and private systems.

The article draws upon the main results of the Report on Welfare State 2019 edited by the Author. The first part analyses occupational welfare which involves the following aspects: the historical context of the most comprehensive state-market relations in which it developed; the reasons and the economic and social effects of the spread of occupational welfare; the areas of intervention and the dimensions it has assumed in various countries and in Italy; the connections with the welfare state; the links with employer-trade union relationships, productivity trends, decentralized wage bargaining and wage trends; and the effects on inequalities in access to social goods and services. The following two sections examine the social and economic policies implemented in Europe and Italy, and the quantitative and qualitative dynamics of expenditure. In particular, we explore: trends and policies regarding: the labor market; demographic and migration trends; education and healthcare; social safety networks; inequalities; the policies aimed at reducing poverty; and the basic guaranteed citizens' income (reddito di cittadinanza) a measure recently introduced in Italy. Finally, the analysis focuses on the measures adopted by the Italian Government in relation to the pension system, as well as the forecasts, problems and recommendations concerning public and private systems.

The international and interdisciplinary contributors approach the subject on two levels. First, they test the applicability of mainstream frameworks to new areas in analyzing gender. Second, they highlight possible reconceptualizations and innovative frameworks designed to provide gender-based analyses.

This paper deals with economic incentives and welfare-state arrangements in OECD countries; it also offers some lessons for would-be welfare states. These arrangements differ, of course, among OECD countries. In particular, there is wide variation in the extent to which countries rely on four basic institutions - the state, the firm, the family and the market. Countries also differ in their reliance on (i) a common safety net, often in the form of flat-rate benefits tied to specific contingencies; (ii) means-tested benefits for low-income groups; and (iii) income protection, i.e., benefits that are tied to previous income. Another distinction between corporatist welfare states, where benefits are tied to labor contracts, and universal welfare states in which benefits are conditional on residence or citizenship. This distinction is blurred, however, by recent tendencies in corporatist welfare states to extend coverage to individuals who have very weak attachment to the labor market, and in universal welfare states to tie benefits to previous or contemporary work under the slogan "workfare" rather than "welfare".The degree of generosity of benefits is another important distinction. Of course, the lower the benefit levels, the stronger the incentives for citizens to opt for voluntary (market) solutions, in the form of private saving and private insurance arrangements.When considering incentive problems in connection with various types of welfare-state arrangements, this paper emphasizes what may be called "dynamic" issues, i.e., incentive effects that evolve over time. These also include endogenous changes in social norms among individuals and endogenous adjustments in political behavior. This approach also makes it necessary to broaden the analysis to fields outside conventionally defined "economic analysis".

This report collects and draws conclusions from research papers of Area 1. It summarises the results against the background of the existing literature, focusing in particular on the challenges arising on welfare states from globalisation, post-industrialisation, and demographic changes. The report also discusses problems of the political economy of policy reform and large-scale economic and social transitions.

This is a book chapter published in Bull, J. (ed.) British Theatre Companies: From Fringe to Mainstream 1965-1979. The final version can be found here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/british-theatre-companies-1965-1979-9781408175439/ ; This peer-reviewed essay on the work of Welfare State International (WSI) was commissioned by Professor John Bull (University of Reading) to carry out new primary research for a case-study published as part of a three-volume re-evaluation of alternative/experimental theatre companies, British Theatre Companies: from Fringe to Mainstream. The three-volume study brings together new scholarly research on key influential British theatre companies (for many of which there are few published sources) and is expected to become the essential resource in this field for other scholars and researchers. My chapter, based on extensive archive research and interviews with former participants, situates the company's forty years' history within the context of recent communitarian, collaborative and participative discourses, which have emerged as key critical debates since the 1990s. I was approached as an expert in the field and commissioned due to my standing and previous work on the company which includes various conference papers and published essays. Utilising primary source, public and private archive/papers (eg extensive WSI papers and John Fox/Sue Gill archive at Theatre Collection, University of Bristol, Arts Council archive papers etc) interviews and communications with WSI founders, members and participants, it builds on previous extensive research and curatorial projects on WSI, eg I curated a research-based retrospective exhibition in 2007 at MidPennine Gallery Burnley (supported by Henry Moore Foundation funds) and have presented material related to WSI in papers at various conferences, eg Portsmouth Visual Culture conference 2009 and College Art Association, Chicago 2010 and have published a book chapter on WSI, radical politics and New Age culture in a book on 1970s culture.