This paper looks into the role the tax-benefit system plays in mitigating the effects of widespread socio-economic risks in the context of individualization, welfare state transformation and recent austerity. We analyse the drivers behind the changing role of the risk-mitigating social policies...

In a comparative framework, the paper uses a recently observed shift away from cash transfers and towards the provision of rehabilitation services to identify barriers to welfare policy reform. The analysis relies on the assumption that some European welfare regimes have a similar initial...