Measuring the Past and Assessing Future Possibilities of Welfare State Dualization

01/10/2026 to 30/09/2029

The project explores why poverty and inequality are rising in many European welfare states, although social expenditure, benefit generosity and public support for the welfare state have remained largely stable since the 1980s. In two interconnected work packages, we develop institutional indicators for four groups of labor market outsiders in selected European countries and conduct a cross-national survey experiment on deservingness perceptions and public support for potential reforms under realistic constraints (limited information and tight budgets).