Welfare Reform on the Web (February 2010): Pensions - overseas

Welfare regimes for aging populations: no single path for reform

M.F. Aysan and R. Beaujot

Population and Development Review, vol. 35, 2009, p. 701-720

This article evaluates labour force participation of older persons and recent retirement policies in various welfare state regimes (Liberal, Social Democratic and Continental/Southern European). By comparing sets of OECD countries, the authors seek to determine the extent to which pension reform follows a path associated with a particular welfare regime. The analysis suggests that different welfare regimes have developed their own approaches to public pension reform. The Liberal welfare regime countries focus of cost containment and re-commodification; the Social Democratic countries on cost containment and recalibration; and the Continental and Southern European countries on cost containment, recalibration and re-commodification - each depending on their endogenous structures and conditions.