The Political Economy of Social Investment and Welfare Regimes in East Asia

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K13608
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 06010:Politics-related
• Research Institution: Osaka University (2021); Waseda University (2019-2020)
• Principal Investigator: Brazzill Marc 大阪大学, 国際公共政策研究科, 助教 (10823776)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 福祉政策 / 社会政策 / 東アジア / 福祉国家

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project sought to understand the political, social and economic origins of welfare policy choices in East Asian countries. Previous research into welfare in East Asia was focused on descriptive case studies of single countries. Although, some authors had explored either a ‘Confucian’ origin or a ‘developmental state’ explanation for welfare in East Asia, this project seeks to develop a broader theory based on socio-economic and political factors, similar to those widely accepted in discussions of European welfare states.

A growing area of research in political economy - and policy studies especially - has been the exploration of citizen attitudes towards policies and politics and their impact on the policy process. There was an opportunity with this project to explore the attitudes of East Asian citizens towards welfare, which has been lacking in the previous literature.

Free Research Field

政治学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

福祉政策と様々な社会経済的と政治的な原因の関係は検討した。欧米諸国に要因になる党派性は東アジアの国で福祉政策への支出に明確な関係はなかった。ただし、民主主義は福祉政策と関係があった。より民主主義が進んでいる国で、福祉政策への支出がより高い。

市民の福祉に関しての態度では、日本の有権者が明確にもっと社会福祉政策への投資を希望している。しかし、その投資の背景は重要である。同時に他の社会保障への支出が削減する場合、投資の支持は大幅に減る。