This paper investigates the relationships between single mothers' demographic and socio-economic circumstances and differences in their labour market attachment in Great Britain and West Germany. Single mothers' employment is a key issue in current policy debates in both countries, as well as in...

This article reflects on the important lecture "The Welfare State Over the Very Long Run", delivered by Paul Pierson, at the London School of Economics on 8 November 2010, on the occasion of the launch of Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State. Pierson's explanation for what he sees as the...