Welfare states provide services and cash benefits. Concerning the latter, main programmes (expenditure levels/number of dependents) are retirement and unemployment benefits. Individual benefit levels mostly depend on prior earnings/contributions. Benefit levels and distributions affect relative poverty/income inequality, as well as other factors (labour supply, tax/contribution burdens, etc.). Several approaches explaining welfare state development co-exist, oftenly citizens' preferences link societal/economic developments and welfare policies (ch. 2). This work shows which factors affect citizens' preferences for levels and distributions of cash benefits, and how these preferences are turned into policies. Programmes are shortly depicted in ch. 3. Current and projected financing problems inherent to PAYG pension schemes are discussed, as well as three main goals unattainable simultaneously. For unemployment benefits, causes and the changing nature of (post-industrial) unemployment are shown. Benefits affect labour supply and wage-setting. Ch. 4 shows ideal-typical entitlement principles and 30 European countries' programmes. One aspect are theories of path dependence, partially being based on effects from policies on attitudes and vice versa, in the latter case causing institutional inertia due to attitude stability. Related to this, regime-specific reactions to crisis symptoms affect income inequality/relative poverty, fiscal burdens, and employment and unemployment rates, all of which affect citizens' attitudes (shown in ch. 7.1). Ch. 5 shows attitudes' relevance. Differences on the micro/regional/inter-country level necessarily leave citizens dissatisfied. The question if survey items in ESS4 concerning government responsibility are understood as concerning basic responsibility, or if answers reflect preferences for higher or lower benefits, is raised in ch. 6. Policies and macroeconomic factors determine attitudes (ch. 7.1). For some macro effects, links on the micro level can be shown in ch. 7.2. This chapter shows that views about justice, dependants as well as about policies' effects are relevant. These factors are affected by self-interest in a narrow sense, but far more relevant for citizens´ attitudes. Estimates of high standards of living of pensioners/unemployed reduce support for gov. responsibility. These estimates are unrelated to pension levels, but they are affected by long-term unemployment benefits. This also explains why support for unemployment benefits is unaffected by short-term benefit levels, whereas long-term benefit level has strongest negative effects on support for government responsibility. According to most figures, higher benefits for higher earners are supported primarily where benefits are positively earnings-related. With generous benefits for the long-term unemployed, welfare policies strongly reducing relative poverty are self-destructing. Country and region mean values are shown in ch. 8. Country values are strongly correlated to results from the 1990s, so that aggregated attitudes are stable. Support for government responsibility for the old is on the strong positive side, to a lesser degree this also applies to the unemployed. Intra-EU differences are small in both cases. Citizens prefer higher benefits for higher earners. This applies more to pensions than to unemployment benefits. Differences between countries are strong. Further, some countries display strong regional differences. Lastly, it can be seen that CEE citizens vastly differ in their preferences for gov responsibility. In Western Europe, party supporters' attitudes differ as expected from regime theory (ch.9). In Southern Europe this is only partially the case, in CEE not. Part of the explanation is that differences between party supporters are smaller in CEE. This is partially caused by welfare outlays being lower there (this pattern holds within non-CEE countries). Aggregated and partially distorted due to electoral rules and coalition making, voting decisions determine cabinet compositions. Ch. 10 shows how cabinet strength of three different ideologies in different time periods since 1945 affects policies. Within countries, cabinet predominance of certain ideologies is very stable between periods 1945-1974, 1975-1990 and 1991-2008, so that it cannot be ascertained which period is relevant for today's policies. Therefore, path dependence of programmes after initial set-up cannot be shown, but this stability may reflect path dependence mechanisms. Primarily for Western Europe it can be shown that economically left parties spend more, Christian democratic/religious parties slightly less and liberal/secular conservative parties markedly less on welfare. Christian democratic/religious parties introduce earnings-related benefits (and contributions), whereas both other party groups are more in favour of equal benefits (on different levels). In Western Europe, citizens' attitudes matter for policies.
