Welfare states are important societal institutions for tackling and preventing poverty. The focus of most international welfare state research is on comparisons of OECD countries; often coming with an implicit desire for understanding and learning different solutions to social problems. Titmuss...

This paper aims to describe and explain different welfare state responses to three major economic crises: the Oil Shocks of the 1970s, the worldwide recession of the 1990s and the current Financial Crisis. Policy developments in three small open economies – Sweden, the Netherlands and...

This paper maps and explains the reactions of four welfare states - Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden - to three global crisis situations - the oil shocks of the 1970s, the worldwide recession of the early 1990s, and the financial crisis from 2008 onwards. Two main conclusions...