ABSTRACT
Social expenditure is the outcome of two factors. First, social rights, such as eligibility and benefit levels of social security schemes, and the availability of public services naturally have an impact on social expenditure. Second, social expenditure is a function of demand. One important branch of research operationalizes the welfare state by its cost side and focuses on the variations of public or social expenditure, partly because of the easy access to data, and correlates welfare expenditure with demographic, economic, and political variables in the sample of advanced industrial countries. Quantitative research on the determinants of social expenditure has typically assumed that the same causes are effective in all major policy areas: in pension, family, and unemployment expenditures. There are several comparative statistics for social expenditure, using somewhat different definitions and producing somewhat different results. Social security expenditure has been recorded by net amounts, any charges, refunds, and other income from running of the social security system are excluded.
