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From Worlds to Cases: Case Selection and ‘Other Worlds’ in the Welfare Modelling Business

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 December 2014

Ki-tae Kim
Ki-tae Kim*
Affiliation:
Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham E-mail: limpidkim@gmail.com
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Abstract

The case selection issue has long been neglected in cross-national welfare regime studies, despite its importance in securing validity and reliability. This article reviews thirty-three studies that produced their own welfare regime typology, and analyses their case selection practices. They can be divided into five groups in terms of their case sizes: from Esping-Andersen's (1990) original eighteen nations to ‘all’ nations. Three peculiar patterns can be observed in the approaches. First, more than two-thirds of studies still focus on the old set of eighteen nations, arguably ignoring emerging welfare states. Second, theoretical tension exists between ‘isolationists’ and ‘expansionists’ on the exportability of the welfare regime concept to wider cases. Lastly only a few studies have clarified and justified their case selections. It is concluded that the welfare modelling business needs to rectify the common practice of ignoring case selection issues.

Keywords

Case selectionwelfare regimewelfare modelling business‘other worlds’
Type
Themed Section on Twenty Five Years of the Welfare Modelling Business
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 309 - 321
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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