Substantial cross-national differences in poverty alleviation are well documented, but theextent to which different parts of the social transfer system account for this variation is still relatively unexamined. This study analyses the redistributive effects of specific social policy institutions...

Although highly-developed welfare states in the industrialized world spend a large share of their income on social security, poverty and social exclusion have not been eradicated. The persistence of income poverty in industrialized welfare states casts serious doubt on the effectiveness of...