The Political Economy of European Welfare Capitalism

'Every decade or so a book comes along that defines research in the comparative political economy of the advanced industrial states. If the 1990s belonged to Esping-Andersen and the 2000s to Hall and Soskice, the next decade belongs to Hay and Wincott. Combining historical synthesis, comparative analysis, and cutting-edge theory, they give us a refreshing and insightful account of the genesis, evolution, and transformation of European welfare states. Critically interrogating the impact of globalization, regionalization and competitiveness on these states, Hay and Wincott recast the evolution of European Welfare Capitalism as always and everywhere a political struggle over market imperatives.' - Mark Blyth, Brown University, USA 'This masterful and highly original reassessment demonstrates that more welfare state rather than less can go hand in hand with competitiveness; that European integration, not globalization, better explains welfare state transformation; and that different clusters of welfare capitalism are diverging further rather than converging. A 'must-read' for anyone who wants to understand not only what is wrong but also what is right about the European welfare state.' - Vivien Schmidt, Boston University, USA 'Un tour de force. Combining ambitious, rich and precise analysis with a wealth of effectively deployed empirical data, this is comparative political economy at its best. The concluding chapter on the impact of the current crisis on the evolution of European welfare states in particular is not to be missed.' - Patrick le Gales, Centre d'etudes europeennes, Sciences Po France and King's College London, UK