Getting Tough on Unemployment Essays on the politics of unemployment benefit reform in affluent ...

74 Pages·2017·2.28 MB·English

Getting Tough on Unemployment
Essays on the politics of unemployment benefit reform in affluent democracies
Knotz, Carlo Michael
2016
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Knotz, C. M. (2016). Getting Tough on Unemployment: Essays on the politics of unemployment benefit reform in
affluent democracies. [Doctoral Thesis (compilation), Department of Political Science]. Lund University.
Total number of authors:
1
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and by tightening the penalties for non-compliance with these rules. This 090 gh
dissertation addresses several important gaps in the existing research on 3 O reform in affluent democracies
the politics of these `demanding’ reforms. It overcomes a key limitation of n
previous research, the lack of systematic comparative data, by drawing on U
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two novel datasets on demanding unemployment benefit reforms. Four essays e
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provide novel insights about the changes that have been introduced, about the
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determinants of voter attitudes, and about the roles of economic conditions lo
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and the type of government. The first paper shows that, while the unemployed m
are indeed under greater pressure to seek and accept work, this has not led to en
a complete erosion of claimant rights. Not only are many rules and provisions t
now formulated more precisely, making enforcement more predictable, but
some protective provisions have actually been strengthened. The second paper
shows that tighter sanctions are introduced in order to address the concerns
of voters about overspending on social protection in austere times. The third
paper shows that politically weak governments tend to compensate those who
are hurt by demanding reforms by expanding labor market training programs,
while this is not the case for governments who are in a stronger position. The
fourth and final paper shows that the attitudes of voters toward demanding
reforms driven by different considerations, depending on whether such reforms
are being introduced or not.
2
Faculty of Social Sciences 44
0
Department of Political Science 3
5
Lund Political Studies 183 7
7
ISBN 978-91-7753-044-2 91
8
ISSN 0460-0037 7
9

Getting Tough on Unemployment

Getting Tough on
Unemployment
Essays on the politics of unemployment benefit
reform in affluent democracies
byCarloMichaelKnotz
DOCTORALDISSERTATION
Thesisadvisors: ProfessorJohannesLindvall&ProfessorHannaBäck
Facultyopponent: ProfessorSiljaHäusermann,UniversityofZurich
Tobepresented,withthepermissionoftheFacultyofSocialSciencesofLundUniversity,forpubliccriticism
atEdenshörsalattheDepartmentofPoliticalScienceonFriday,the9thofDecember2016at10:00.
Organization Documentname
LUNDUNIVERSITY DOCTORALDISSERTATION
DepartmentofPoliticalScience Dateofdisputation
Box52 2016-12-09
SE–22100LUND Sponsoringorganization
Sweden
Author(s)
CarloMichaelKnotz
Titleandsubtitle
GettingToughonUnemployment:Essaysonthepoliticsofunemploymentbenefitreforminaffluentdemocracies
Abstract
TheadvanceddemocraciesofEurope, NorthAmerica, andAustralasiahavegottentoughonunemployment.
Sincethemid-tolate-1970s,theystartedtoputgreaterpressureontheunemployedbyreducingthetimefor
whichunemploymentbenefitswerepaid,byimposingstricterjob-searchrequirements,byextendingtherangeof
jobsconsideredsuitableforclaimants,andbytighteningthepenaltiesfornon-compliancewiththeserules.This
dissertationaddressesseveralimportantgapsintheexistingresearchonthepoliticsofthese‘demanding’reforms.
Itovercomesakeylimitationofpreviousresearch,thelackofsystematiccomparativedata,bydrawingontwo
noveldatasetsondemandingunemploymentbenefitreforms.Fouressaysprovidenovelinsightsaboutthechanges
thathavebeenintroduced,aboutthedeterminantsofvoterattitudes,andabouttherolesofeconomicconditions
andthetypeofgovernment.Thefirstpapershowsthat,whiletheunemployedareindeedundergreaterpressure
toseekandacceptwork,thishasnotledtoacompleteerosionofclaimantrights. Notonlyaremanyrulesand
provisionsnowformulatedmoreprecisely,makingenforcementmorepredictable,butsomeprotectiveprovisions
haveactuallybeenstrengthened.Thesecondpapershowsthattightersanctionsareintroducedinordertoaddress
theconcernsofvotersaboutoverspendingonsocialprotectioninausteretimes. Thethirdpapershowsthat
1
12 politicallyweakgovernmentstendtocompensatethosewhoarehurtbydemandingreformsbyexpandinglabor
4
1 markettrainingprograms,whilethisisnotthecaseforgovernmentswhoareinastrongerposition. Thefourth
6
SIS andfinalpapershowsthattheattitudesofvoterstowarddemandingreformsdrivenbydifferentconsiderations,
nl dependingonwhethersuchreformsarebeingintroducedornot.
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Keywords
Welfarestatereform,Unemploymentbenefits,Conditionality,Attitudes,Coalitions
Classificationsystemand/orindexterms(ifany)
Supplementarybibliographicalinformation Language
English
ISSNandkeytitle ISBN
issn:0460-0037;GettingToughonUnemployment 978-91-7753-044-2(print)
978-91-7753-045-9(pdf)
Recipient’snotes Numberofpages Price
234
Securityclassification
I,theundersigned,beingthecopyrightowneroftheabstractoftheabove-mentioneddissertation,herebygrantto
allreferencesourcesthepermissiontopublishanddisseminatetheabstractoftheabove-mentioneddissertation.
Signature Date 2016-10-31
Getting Tough on
Unemployment
Essays on the politics of unemployment benefit
reform in affluent democracies
byCarloMichaelKnotz
DOCTORALDISSERTATION
Thesisadvisors: ProfessorJohannesLindvall&ProfessorHannaBäck
Facultyopponent: ProfessorSiljaHäusermann,UniversityofZurich
Tobepresented,withthepermissionoftheFacultyofSocialSciencesofLundUniversity,forpubliccriticism
atEdenshörsalattheDepartmentofPoliticalScienceonFriday,the9thofDecember2016at10:00.
A doctoral thesis at a university in Sweden takes either the form of a single, cohesive re-
searchstudy(monograph)orasummaryofresearchpapers(compilationthesis),whichthe
doctoralstudenthaswrittenaloneortogetherwithoneorseveralotherauthor(s).
Inthelattercasethethesisconsistsoftwoparts. Anintroductorytextputstheresearchwork
intocontextandsummarizesthemainpointsofthepapers. Then,theresearchpublications
themselves are reproduced, together with a description of the individual contributions of
theauthors. Theresearchpapersmayeitherhavebeenalreadypublishedoraremanuscripts
atvariousstages(inpress,submitted,orindraft).
Fundinginformation: Igratefullyacknowledgehavingreceivedorbenefitedfromseveralresearch
grants. TheEuropeanResearchCouncilprovidedfundingformypositionasadoctoralstudentin
JohannesLindvall’s‘ReformCapacity’project(ERCstartinggrant284313). Creatingthedataseton
unemploymentbenefitconditionsandsanctionswouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthegenerous
supportfromtheCrafoordFoundation(Ref. No. 20130621). AgrantfromtheSvenandDagmar
SalénStiftelseallowedmetovisitNuffieldCollegeinOxford. Lastbutnotleast, theKarlStaaffs
FondprovidedmewithfundingtotraveltoCanberra,Australia.
© CarloMichaelKnotz2016
FacultyofSocialSciences,DepartmentofPoliticalScience
LundPoliticalStudies183
isbn: 978-91-7753-044-2(print)
isbn: 978-91-7753-045-9(pdf)
issn: 0460-0037
PrintedinSwedenbyMedia-Tryck,LundUniversity,Lund2016
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