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PurposeRevitalising the debate about how to operationalise and measure the extent of welfare states – the so-called dependent variable problem – recent research claims a close theoretical interaction between three different indicators: aggregated data on social expenditure, social rights and social benefit receipt. It is suggested that they all serve as an approximation of welfare state generosity as a dependent variable and help understand variation between as well as change of welfare states. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how these three indicators statistically relate to each other, using data on unemployment cash benefits.Design/methodology/approachTo this end, a time series cross-sectional analysis is carried out, covering 16 European countries for the period 2003–2011.FindingsResults confirm theoretical reflections on the link between the different indicators, whereby higher levels of social expenditure are positively associated with more generous social rights as well as higher levels of benefit receipt. Additionally, the study points to an ambivalent relation between benefit access and benefit levels within indicators as well as across them. This suggests competing policy choices in European welfare states, whereby more generous benefit access implies lower benefit levels and vice versa.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the existing dependent variable literature in a twofold way. First, the conceptual link between the three different indicators and the assumptions they are associated with are critically reviewed. Second, by providing a statistical analysis of the relation between the different indicators across 16 countries, the study goes beyond theoretical elaborations about their association as well as existing small-N or medium-N case time trend studies.

Global warming and some climate change policies pose additional social risks that necessitate novel responses from the welfare state. Eco-social policies have significant potential to address these challenges, but their wide-scale adoption will depend, among other factors, on public support. In the current article, we theorise how public opinion about eco-social policies is likely to be influenced by a set of contextual and individual-level factors, as well as the perceived welfare deservingness of the target groups. Alongside contributing to the emerging body of literature on eco-social policies, this theoretical framework could help policymakers to anticipate the social groups that will support or oppose eco-social policy agendas and how some of the contradictions could be reduced through policy design.

Trends in social protection schemes have been one of the main subjects in comparative welfare state research, not least since the financial crisis and the austerity measures that many European countries implemented in its aftermath. One of the key debates in literature is about how to measure the extent of public welfare provision as an indicator of welfare state change. Many quantitative researchers have used macro-level data on programmatic social expenditure or on the generosity of benefit rights, bringing forth major theories of welfare state retrenchment, system convergence, path dependency and paradigm changes in social policies. Recently, however, micro-level data on cash benefit receipt is seen as an alternative measure of welfare state change. Instead of gauging the cost reality of spending trends or the law reality of social rights reforms, this indicator is claimed to provide insight into changes of actual welfare receipt. This article studies benefit recipiency data from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, covering 14 European countries for the period 2003 to 2013. It investigates cross-national welfare state dynamics by analysing national receipt-based benefit access rates and transfer shares and how they relate to dynamics in the prevailing indicators. Results show how much the choice of the indicator for the dependent variable affects the results of descriptive accounts of welfare state change. In addition, findings indicate what could be called welfare state reform by stealth. In several countries, levels of unemployment benefits stay significantly behind the development of median household incomes. This observation applies particularly to countries that are believed to have generous welfare systems, and it has not been revealed by research based on disaggregated social spending data or social rights data.

Abstract
Basic income (BI) has lately re-emerged as a topic of debate, without having lost its explosiveness and contentiousness. Of particular interest in this debate is the labour supply effect of a BI, which holds significant implications for its societal desirability, economic sustainability and political feasibility. To shed light on this issue and facilitate more informed policy discussions, this article delves into six decades of research, encompassing negative income tax and BI experiments, lottery studies and unconditional cash transfers (UCTs). In an effort to advance existing knowledge, we not only review the labour supply outcomes of existing studies but also systematically examine their design features, implementation characteristics and analyses. Our examination reveals the presence of significant methodological shortcomings in much of the empirical research. Great caution is thus advised when making broader inferences about the impacts of a BI.

It is well documented that national parental leave policies encourage parents' employment. Research on parental leave, though, has generally failed to draw lessons on how leave policy affects the employment and economic well-being of single parents. We examine the extent to which parental leave policies support the employment of single mothers with children under six years old across twenty-seven European countries, showing that single mothers are more likely to work and to work longer hours if they are eligible for parental leave. For single mothers who were not working before childbirth, eligibility for generous leave benefits and longer parental leave are associated with better employment outcomes after childbirth. We argue that while parental leave sustains employment for working single mothers, it might also facilitate entry into employment for nonworking mothers.

In order to investigate and compare welfare states or specific welfare programmes, scientists, opinion‐makers and politicians rely on indicators. As many of the concepts or objects studied are somewhat abstract, these indicators can often only be approximations. In comparative welfare‐state research, scholars have suggested several approximating indicators to quantitatively measure and compare the generosity of public welfare provision, with a special focus on cash benefits. These indicators include social spending, social rights and benefit receipt. We present these indicators systematically, and critically discuss how suitable they are for comparing the generosity of parenting leave policies in developed welfare states. Subsequently, we illustrate how the operationalisation of leave generosity by means of different indicators can lead to different rankings, interpretations and qualifications of countries. Hence, indicator choices have to be considered carefully and suitably justified, depending on the actual research interest.

In order to investigate and compare welfare states or specific welfare programmes, scientists, opinion‐makers and politicians rely on indicators. As many of the concepts or objects studied are somewhat abstract, these indicators can often only be approximations. In comparative welfare‐state research, scholars have suggested several approximating indicators to quantitatively measure and compare the generosity of public welfare provision, with a special focus on cash benefits. These indicators include social spending, social rights and benefit receipt. We present these indicators systematically, and critically discuss how suitable they are for comparing the generosity of parenting leave policies in developed welfare states. Subsequently, we illustrate how the operationalisation of leave generosity by means of different indicators can lead to different rankings, interpretations and qualifications of countries. Hence, indicator choices have to be considered carefully and suitably justified, depending on the actual research interest.