Since its first publication in 1990, Esping-Andersen's typology of 'The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism' has loomed incomparably large over the area of comparative social politics. This paper uses the concept of stability, researching comprehensively whether the construct 'Three Worlds of...

For a long time conventional wisdom held that income inequality enhances investment and work incentives and thereby is good for economic growth. In the 1990s this view was turned on its head, as a number of empirical analyses found an association between inequality and slower growth across large...

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of trade unions' bargaining power on the outcome of bargaining negotiations. It is expected that higher bargaining power leads to better bargaining outcomes such as higher wages and fewer working hours. As bargaining power is a construct that...

The recent resurgence of income inequality in some of the core societies has spawned a wide-ranging debate as to the culprits. Progress in this debate has been complicated by the fact that many of the theories that have been developed to account for the inequality upswing imply radically...

This article analyzes the relationship between abortion and female education. It provides new empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa to show that more liberal abortion policies are associated with a higher female secondary school enrollment. It is assumed in the model that easier access to...

Numerous studies have shown that educational attainment and labour force status have a strong impact on the timing of family formation for both men and women. The effects of educational level, enrolment in an educational setting and employment seem to be different for men and women. The aim of...

This paper provides a theoretical and empirical investigation of the impact of social learning on modern contraceptive prevalence. A theory is developed where own or neighbors' experience increases the benefit from using modern contraceptives by reducing the uncertainty regarding contraceptive...

Recent studies on fertility in Europe indicate the changing cross-country correlation between fertility and key fertility-related indicators. Fertility now tends to be lowest in countries that are traditional, catholic and family oriented, while fertility is highest in countries with high...

Short-term variations in fertility and seasonal patterns of childbearing have been of interest to demographers for a long time. Presenting our detailed study of period fertility in Austria since 1984, we discuss the problems and advantages of constructing and analysing various period fertility...

Decisions to divorce could be affected by a number of characteristics of the local community. Community characteristics may be barriers to divorce (e.g. strong social control) or increase the attractiveness of divorcing (e.g. through access to a good remarriage market), but our knowledge of such...