Abstract
This chapter analyses in which ways diffusion based on interdependent policy learning explains expenditure on active labour market policies (ALMP) in the OECD countries. By applying error correction models using multiplicative spatial Prais-Winsten regressions for analyzing the diffusion of ALMPs in 22 OECD countries from 1991–2013, we find evidence of governments adapting labour market policy strategies that have proven successful, that is, perform well in increasing labour market participation in other countries. However, interdependent learning is conditional on the institutional framework: policy-makers rather learn from the experience of other countries in the same welfare regime. Even more importantly, the results point to the importance of the European Employment Strategy (EES) as an international coordination framework facilitating policy learning.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Armingeon, K. (2007). Active labour market policy, international organizations and domestic politics. Journal of European Public Policy, 14(6), 905–932.
Beck, N., & Katz, J. N. (2011). Modeling dynamics in time-series—Cross-section political economy data. Annual Review of Political Science, 14, 331–352.
Beramendi, P., Häusermann, S., Kitschelt, H., & Kriesi, H. (2015). The politics of advanced capitalism. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Bonoli, G. (2010). The political economy of active labor-market policy. Politics and Society, 38(4), 435–457.
Bonoli, G. (2013). The origins of active social policy: Labour market and childcare policies in a comparative perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Braun, D., & Gilardi, F. (2006). Taking ‘Galton’s problem’ seriously: Towards a theory of policy diffusion. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 18(3), 298–322.
Casey, B. (2004). The OECD jobs strategy and the European employment strategy: Two views of the labour market and the welfare state. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 10(3), 329–352.
Casey, B. (2009). Learning across borders: Labour market and social policies. International Social Security Review, 62(4), 3–20.
Casey, B., & Gold, M. (2005). Peer review of labour market programmes in the European Union: What can countries really learn from one another? Journal of European Public Policy, 12(1), 23–43.
Checkel, J. T. (2005). International institutions and socialization in Europe: Introduction and framework. International Organization, 59(4), 801–826.
Clasen, J., Clegg, D., & Goerne, A. (2016). Comparative social policy analysis and active labour market policy: Putting quality before quantity. Journal of Social Policy, 45(1), 21–38.
Commission of the European Communities. (2002). Taking stock of five years of the European employment strategy, COM (2002) 416. Brussels: CEC.
De Boef, S., & Keele, L. (2008). Taking time seriously. American Journal of Political Science, 52(1), 184–200.
de la Porte, C., & Jacobsson, K. (2012). Social investment or recommodification? Assessing the employment policies of the EU member states. In N. Morel, B. Palier, & J. Palme (Eds.), Towards a social investment welfare state? Ideas, policies and challenges (pp. 117–149). Bristol: Policy Press.
Dobbin, F., Simmons, B., & Garrett, G. (2007). The global diffusion of public policies: Social construction, coercion, competition, or learning? Annual Review of Sociology, 33(1), 449–472.
Dolowitz, D. P., & Marsh, D. (2000). Learning from abroad: The role of policy transfer in contemporary policy-making. Governance, 13(1), 5–24.
Dunlop, C. A. (2017). Pathologies of policy learning: What are they and how do they contribute to policy failure? Policy and Politics, 45(1), 19–37.
Elkins, Z., & Simmons, B. A. (2005). On waves, clusters, and diffusion: A conceptual framework. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 598(March), 33–51.
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Esping-Andersen, G. (1999). Social foundations of postindustrial economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ferrera, M. (1996). The ‘southern’ model of welfare in social Europe. Journal of European Social Policy, 6(1), 17–37.
Franzese, R. J., & Hays, J. C. (2004). Modeling international diffusion: Inferential benefits and methodological challenges, with an application to international tax competition (WZB-Discussion Paper, SP II 2004-12).
Franzese, R. J., & Hays, J. C. (2006). Strategic interaction among EU governments in active labor market policy-making: Subsidiarity and policy coordination under the European employment strategy. European Union Politics, 7(2), 167–189.
Franzese, R. J., & Hays, J. C. (2008). Empirical models of spatial interdependence. In J. M. BoxSteffensmeier, H. E. Brady, & D. Collier (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of political methodology (pp. 570–604). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gilardi, F. (2010). Who learns from what in policy diffusion processes? American Journal of Political Science, 54(3), 650–666.
Gilardi, F. (2013). Transnational diffusion: Norms, ideas, and policies. In W. Carlsnaes, T. Risse, & B. A. Simmons (Eds.), Handbook of international relations (pp. 453–477). London: Sage.
Gilardi, F. (2016). Four ways we can improve policy diffusion research. State Politics and Policy Quarterly, 16(1), 8–21.
Gilardi, F., Füglister, K., & Luyet, S. (2009). Learning from others: The diffusion of hospital financing reforms in OECD countries. Comparative Political Studies, 42(4), 549–573.
Graham, E. R., Shipan, C. R., & Volden, C. (2013). The diffusion of policy diffusion research in political science. British Journal of Political Science, 43(3), 673–701.
Hall, P. A. (1993). Policy paradigms, social learning, and the state: The case of economic policymaking in Britain. Comparative Politics, 3(25), 275–296.
Hays, J. C., Kachi, A., & Franzese, R. J. (2010). A spatial model incorporating dynamic, endogenous network interdependence: A political science application. Statistical Methodology, 7(3), 406–428.
Huber, E., & Stephens, J. D. (2001). Development and crisis of the welfare state: Parties and policies in global markets. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Iversen, T., & Cusack, T. R. (2000). The causes of welfare state expansion: Deindustrialization or globalization? World Politics, 52(3), 313–349.
Jahn, D. (2006). Globalization as ‘Galton’s problem’: The missing link in the analysis of diffusion patterns in welfare state development. International Organization, 60(2), 401–431.
Jahn, D. (2011a). Conceptualizing left and right in comparative politics: Towards a deductive approach. Party Politics, 17(6), 754–765.
Jahn, D. (2011b). The veto player approach in macro-comparative politics: Concepts and measurement. In T. König, G. Tsebelis, & M. Debus (Eds.), Reform processes and policy change (pp. 43–68). New York, NY: Springer.
Jahn, D., Düpont, N., Behm, T., & Oberst, C. with Rachuj, M. (2017). PIP—Parties, institutions and preferences: ASPM replication [Version 2017–02]. Greifswald: University of Greifswald.
Kluve, J. (2010). The effectiveness of European active labor market programs. Labour Economics, 17(6), 904–918.
Maggetti, M., & Gilardi, F. (2016). Problems (and solutions) in the measurement of policy diffusion mechanisms. Journal of Public Policy, 36(1), 87–107.
Martin, J. P. (2014). Activation and active labour market policies in OECD countries: Stylized facts and evidence on their effectiveness (IZA Policy Paper No. 84.) Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor.
Martin, J. P., & Grubb, D. (2001). What works and for whom: A review of OECD countries’ experiences with active labour market policies. Swedish Economic Policy Review, 8(2), 9–56.
Meseguer, C. (2004). What role for learning? The diffusion of privatization in OECD and Latin American countries. Journal of Public Policy, 24(3), 299–325.
Meseguer, C. (2005). Policy learning, policy diffusion, and the making of a new order. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 598(March), 67–82.
Meseguer, C. (2006). Rational learning and bounded learning in the diffusion of policy innovations. Rationality and Society, 18(1), 35–66.
Meseguer, C. (2009). Learning, policy making, and market reforms. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Morel, N., Palier, B., & Palme, J. (Eds.). (2012). Towards a social investment welfare state? Ideas, policies and challenges. Bristol: Policy Press.
Nelson, M. (2013). Making markets with active labor market policies: The influence of political parties, welfare state regimes, and economic change on spending on different types of policies. European Political Science Review, 5(2), 255–277.
Neumayer, E., & Plümper, T. (2012). Conditional spatial policy dependence: Theory and model specification. Comparative Political Studies, 45(7), 819–849.
Neumayer, E., & Plümper, T. (2016). W. Political Science Research and Methods, 4(1), 175–193.
OECD. (1994). The OECD jobs study: Evidence and explanations. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Pierson, P. (Ed.). (2001). The new politics of the welfare state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Podestà, F. (2006). Comparing time series cross-section model specifications: The case of welfare state development. Quality & Quantity, 40(4), 539–559.
Radaelli, C. M. (2004). The diffusion of regulatory impact analysis: Best practice or lesson-drawing? European Journal of Political Research, 43(5), 723–747.
Radaelli, C. M. (2008). Europeanization, policy learning, and new modes of governance. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, 10(3), 239–254.
Sabatier, P. A. (1988). An advocacy coalition framework of policy change and the role of policy-oriented learning therein. Policy Sciences, 21(2–3), 129–168.
Shipan, C. R., & Volden, C. (2008). The mechanisms of policy diffusion. American Journal of Political Science, 52(4), 840–857.
Shipan, C. R., & Volden, C. (2012). Policy diffusion: Seven lessons for scholars and practitioners. Public Administration Review, 72(6), 788–796.
Simmons, B. A., & Elkins, Z. (2004). The globalization of liberalization: Policy diffusion in the international political economy. American Political Science Review, 98(1), 171–189.
Swank, D. H. (2011). Activating workers? The political economy of active social policy in postindustrial democracies. In D. Brady (Ed.), Comparing European workers part B: Policies and institutions (pp. 9–51). Emerald: Bingley.
Tepe, M., & Vanhuysse, P. (2013). Parties, unions and activation strategies: The context-dependent politics of active labour market policy spending. Political Studies, 61(3), 480–504.
Tsebelis, G. (2002). Veto players: How political institutions work. Princeton University Press.
van Vliet, O., & Koster, F. (2011). Europeanization and the political economy of active labour market policies. European Union Politics, 12(2), 217–239.
Visser, J. (2009). Neither convergence nor frozen paths: Bounded learning, international diffusion of reforms, and the open method of coordination. In M. Heidenreich & J. Zeitlin (Eds.), Changing European employment and welfare regimes: The influence of the open method of coordination on national reforms (pp. 37–60). New York, NY: Routledge.
Vlandas, T. (2013). Mixing apples with oranges? Partisanship and active labour market policies in Europe. Journal of European Social Policy, 23(1), 3–20.
Volden, C. (2006). States as policy laboratories: Emulating success in children’s health insurance program. American Journal of Political Science, 50(2), 294–312.
Volden, C. (2016). Failures: Diffusion, learning, and policy abandonment. State Politics and Policy Quarterly, 16(1), 44–77.
Wasserfallen, F. (2014). Contextual variation in interdependent policy making: The case of tax competition. European Journal of Political Research, 53(4), 635–875.
Weyland, K. (2007). Bounded rationality and policy diffusion: Social sector reform in latin America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Helmdag, J., Kuitto, K. (2018). Interdependent Policy Learning: Contextual Diffusion of Active Labour Market Policies. In: Dunlop, C., Radaelli, C., Trein, P. (eds) Learning in Public Policy. International Series on Public Policy . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76210-4_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76210-4_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76209-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76210-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)