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Social citizenship rights and social insurance replacement rate validity: pitfalls and possibilities

2013; Routledge; Volume: 20; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13501763.2013.822907

1466-4429

Tommy Ferrarini, Kenneth Nelson, Walter Korpi, Joakim Palme,

Employment and Welfare Studies

Abstract The comparative analysis of welfare states has been greatly advanced by rights-based measurements of social provisions. Social insurance replacement rates have figured prominently here. Apparently, there is considerable confusion about the validity of replacement rates and their comparability across different datasets. The purpose of this study is to outline a refined institutional perspective in the comparative analysis of welfare states focusing on the character of social citizenship rights. We show that social insurance replacement rates from different datasets differ in their underlying theoretical framework for policy analysis and therefore capture different aspects of how welfare states secure the livelihood of citizens in periods of work incapacity. Analysing validity solely on the basis of replacement rate point estimates is therefore misleading. We show that the close focus on social citizenship rights and programmatic design in the Social Citizenship Indicator Programme (SCIP) carries great potential for causal welfare state analysis. Keywords: Comparative analysisComparative Welfare Entitlements Datasetsocial citizenshipSocial Citizenship Indicator Programmevalidity of social insurance replacement rateswelfare state retrenchment ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Laure Doctrinal, Stefan Englund, Daniel Fredriksson, Helena Höög, Hrvoje Kap, Florencia Rovira Torres, Sebastian Sirén and Katharina Wesolowski have provided valuable inputs to coding of policy indicators. Financial support comes from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (In10-0846:1). Notes In countries where state structures involve a high degree of federalism, decisions sometimes need to be made concerning the appropriate level of governance for codification of social citizenship rights. It should be noted that also CWED provides data on benefit coverage. Publication of datasets of this type are generally associated with certain time lags and as established by the International Sociological Association in 1997, should not be regarded as being in the public domain before data are checked for consistency and have been appropriately documented (Korpi and Palme 2003). The following formula for sickness and unemployment insurance net replacement rates is used: NR = [(a–c)/(b–c)] × 100; where NR = net replacement rate, a = net income from up to 26 weeks of only social insurance benefits and 26 weeks of earnings, b = net income from 52 weeks of earnings, and c = net income from 26 weeks of earnings. Where applicable, child benefits are deducted from each income component. CWED data were accessed on 15 September 2012. CWED uses an average production workers wage that is around 7 per cent higher than in SCIP for comparable years 1975 to 2000. Both CWED and SCIP have used alternative coding representing legislated minimum levels before court decisions, which is considerably lower than the values presented here.