This paper investigates whether there is a convergence in welfare state policies among the old EU member states. To identify such trends, we rely on pension and unemployment net replacement rates as well as on public social expenditures. Empirically, we use a sample of 14 economies (EU-15 excl....

The European Employment Strategy (EES) aims to promote convergence of domestic labour market policies by soft law instruments. Previous studies on the impact of the EES are mainly focused on active labour market policies. The present study aims at explaining cross national variation in national...

This paper investigates whether there is a convergence in welfare state policies among the old EU member states. To identify such trends, we rely on pension and unemployment net replacement rates as well as on public social expenditures. Empirically, we use a sample of 14 economies (EU-15 excl....

The European Employment Strategy (EES) aims to promote convergence of domestic labour market policies by soft law instruments. Previous studies on the impact of the EES are mainly focused on active labour market policies. The present study aims at explaining cross national variation in national...