Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - TEST

Pension Politics in Western Europe

Ellen M. Immergut
Summary
In this international cooperative project, carried out in cooperation with Karen Anderson and Isabelle Schulze, as well as Friedrich Breyer and a number of international pension experts (for details, see publications below), we investigated the political dynamics of pension politics in the 15 ‘old’ EU countries and Switzerland.  We found that neither veto points nor veto players theory adequately accounts for patterns of pension policy reform from 1980-2005.  Instead, in order to understand pension politics, veto points analysis must be radically revised to account better for the factor of political competition.

Funding
2001-2005.  "Political Economy of Social Policy Institutions: Subproject 2a Political Economy of Pension Politics" (Politische Ökonomie der sozialstaatlichen Institutionen: Teilbereich IIa: Politische Ökonomie der Rentenpolitik)," Project funded by the German National Science Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), Principal Investigator jointly with Prof. Dr. Friedrich Breyer, Department of Economics, University of  Konstanz.

Publications and Conference Papers
  • Immergut, Ellen M, Karen M Anderson, and Isabelle Schulze, eds, The Handbook of West European Pension Politics, (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2007).
  • Immergut, Ellen  M, Karen M Anderson, Heiko Giebler, Niklas Schrader, and Aiko Wagner, Political Competition and Pension Reform in Western Europe. Paper read at the European Consortium for Political Research General Conference, Pisa, 6-8 September, 2007.
  • Anderson, Karen M, and Ellen M Immergut. 2005. The Politics of Pension Reform in Western Europe. Paper read at Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, 31 August - 4 September, at Washington, D.C.