The newest, quadripartite typology of Western European welfare states needs some modifications nowadays. The Nordic and the Southern model have remained intact but the Continental and the Anglo-Saxon types have significantly converged (regardless of the economic crisis) that can be explained...

The present economic downturn has tried the Nordic and Continental states with extended welfare systems less than the Anglo-Saxon ones. This originates mainly in the automatic stabilisers which have been working with full blast with the effect of smaller decline in private consumption in the...