Introduction -- Ethnic Heterogeneity -- The Welfare State -- Poverty and Inequality -- Ethnic Heterogeneity and the Welfare State -- Ethnic Heterogeneity and Poverty and Inequality -- Conclusion -- References -- Index.

Using data covering 1980 to 2005 across 17 high income countries, this book offers a thorough and systematic analysis of the relevance of population heterogeneity in determining variations in welfare state policies as well as inequality and poverty. Comparative analysis provides a new look into the ongoing drive for welfare state retrenchment amidst increasing heterogeneity across many countries and its impacts on inequality and poverty, and how population heterogeneity with regard to race and ethnicity, religion, and immigration is linked with causes and consequences of the welfare state. This book presents integrative analysis of how heterogeneity may feed into inequality and poverty directly, through low socioeconomic status of minorities, and indirectly, through impacts on the broader sociopolitical attitudes and politics, policy provisions, and practices of the welfare state. These direct and indirect roles will be examined in a comprehensive framework by incorporating both cross-national and temporal variations. Findings point to the central roles of immigration in determining welfare state policies and their impacts on inequality and poverty. Although other forms of heterogeneity are not as strongly related, their close affinity with immigration in these immigrant-receiving countries helps to put findings into a broader context. The presentation of descriptive data drawn from a number of fragmented sources will provide an important insight into the variations and their potential causes. This book will discuss the relevant concepts and contexts by drawing from the existing research base and from simple to more sophisticated analyses. Students, researchers, policymakers, and other readers interested in comparative welfare state will benefit from an integrative analysis presented in this reference book.