Do countries with serious inequality problems make a greater effort? Is equity a key element in social spending budget design? We have attempted to answer these, and other, questions throughout this article. The objective of this work is to analyze the economic and institutional factors...

Member States of the European Union are autonomous when it comes to the design of their social protection systems. However, they are committed by a recommendation accepted by the European Council addressing the convergence of social protection objectives and policies. Besides, convergence of...