Introduction

This chapter explores some of the attractions and difficulties associatedwith comparative approaches to social policy. By exploring the question ofwhether early retirement/early exit is a ‘good’ thing or not,and comparing trends and policies in a number of OECD countries, the chapterhighlights some recurring difficulties for comparative approaches.

• • The first of these is the problem of having an appropriatetheoretical model that will allow meaningful comparisons. The workof Esping-Andersen (1990) is used as the template here because itmarked a shift in comparative approaches to social policy that tooka more critical, less evolutionary, approach.

• • A second problem for comparative approaches is ensuring thatthe definitions and meanings of specific policies are consistentbetween countries and that these policies are measured in the sameway. In the case of retirement pensions it is plain that definitionsof both ‘retirement’ and ‘pensions’ canvary significantly between countries (apRoberts, 1994).

• • Perhaps the most difficult issue is selecting an appropriatemeasurement of comparison. Esping-Andersen measures the degree towhich benefits either reinforce labour market discipline or areprovided on the basis of need. It is in this context that the dataon early exit/early retirement is explored.

From this discussion three further points emerge:

• • First, it is possible to invert his welfare regime model bypointing out that workers in Australia and the UK exit paid work atan earlier age than Swedish workers. It may be a little mischievousto present the data in this way, but it serves to show how difficultit is to find a measure that is truly independent of theobservers’ own values.

• • Second, and more seriously, feminist critics of his workhave shown how Esping-Andersen’s measure is limited by itsfocus on paid labour and neglects the significance of unpaid workand informal welfare (Lewis, 1992).

• • Third, Esping-Andersen’s account overlooks thedifferent means by which welfare may be realised. Thus Castles(1997) points out that the decision to exit paid work can beinfluenced by a number of variables, housing costs for example, andthat there is a need to consider how welfare is addressed by variousand different means.