The Real Worlds of Welfare Capitalism

There are various moral values, identified in chapter 2 above, which welfare regimes might be supposed to serve. Among them are:

• promoting efficiency;

• reducing poverty;

• promoting equality;

• promoting social integration and avoiding social exclusion;

• promoting social stability; and

• promoting autonomy.

In the chapters that follow, we identify some indicators within the panel data bearing on each of those social concerns. Those indicators then serve as standards against which we will measure the performance of the ‘best exemplars’ of each of the alternative types of welfare regimes.

In the main text of chapters 7 to 12, we confine ourselves to summary statements and graphic presentations of that information. Associated with each chapter, however, is a set of appendix tables where each of the indicators is defined more precisely and all of the data to which the text refers are set out in full.

In the nature of things, very few of the indicators that we will be using here directly tap what is morally of most concern to us. Most of these indicators are more or less indirect, bearing somewhat obliquely upon what really matters from a moral point of view. When we find an imperfect link between welfare regimes and the ends they are supposed to serve, it will therefore always be something of an open question whether the fault lies with the welfare regime or with the indicator.