Europeanization and the political economy of active labour market policies

Abstract: Previous studies show that reforms in labour market policies differ across countries. This may be partly owing to the impact of European integration on these policy reforms. Whereas most of these studies are qualitative case studies, the present study aims at explaining cross-national variation in expenditures on active labour market policies (ALMPs) quantitatively.

Relying on pooled time-series data, the study tests whether and how Europeanization influenced activation. The analyses lead to the conclusion that the European Employment Strategy (EES) has contributed to shifts from passive to active labour market policies. Using new indicators, we trace the impact of specific mechanisms of the EES, resulting in evidence for the influence of mutual learning through the peer review programme.