Bent Greve 
Choice 
Challenges and Perspectives for the European Welfare States

This book analyzes the impact of choice on welfare states in Europe
and asks whether the shift towards more choice will ultimately
benefit the users and providers of the welfare state, and have a
positive impact on society as a whole.

* Explores the recent focus on choice in many welfare states,
which has created a more market-orientated approach, changed users
to consumers, and increased emphasis on private providers

* Examines the impact of these recent reforms on equality, not
only from an economic perspective, but also in relation to gender,
education, age, and access to services

* Draws on examples from different European countries and sectors
of the welfare state, including the UK, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands, Scandinavia, and the Czech Republic

* Informed by theoretical and empirical approaches, and uses a
variety of methodologies

Table of Content

Editorial Introduction (Bent Greve, University of Roskilde,
Denmark).

1. Can Choice in Welfare States Be Equitable? (Bent Greve,
University of Roskilde, Denmark).

2. The Other Le Grand? Evaluating the ‘Other Invisible
Hand’in Welfare Services in England (Ian Greener,
University of Durham, UK and Martin Powell, University of
Birmingham, UK).

3. Exit, Voice and Quality in the English Education Sector
(Deborah Wilson, University of Bristol, UK).

4. When ‘Choice’ and ‘Choice’ Are not
the Same: Institutional Frameworks of Choice in the German Welfare
System (Florian Blank, Westfälische
Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany).

5. Choosing Welfare or Losing Social Citizenship?
Citizens’ Free Choice in Recent Italian Welfare State Reforms
(Paolo R. Graziano, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy).

6. The ‘Consumer Principle’ in the Care of Elderly
People: Free Choice and Actual Choice in the German Welfare State
(Melanie Eichler, University of Hamburg, Germany and
Birgit Pfau-Effinger, University of Hamburg, Germany).

7. A Comparative Discussion of the Gendered Implications of
Cash-for-Care Schemes: Markets, Independence and Social Citizenship
in Crisis? (Kirstein Rummery, University of Stirling,
Scotland).

8. Challenging Solidarity? An Analysis of Exit Options in Social
Policies (Menno Fenger, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The
Netherlands).

9. Freedom of Choice through the Promotion of Gender Equality
(Steven Saxonberg, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech
Republic).

Index.

About the author

Bent Greve is Professor of Welfare State Analysis at Roskilde University, Denmark. His research focuses on the welfare state, and social and labour market policy, often from a comparative perspective. He has published extensively on social and labour market policy, social security, tax expenditures, public sector expenditures and financing of the welfare state.