This slightly uneven but generally informative and enjoyable read sets out to challenge the conventional wisdom regarding the assumed crisis of European (and other) welfare states. In his concise but clearly argued introduction, Greve notes the persistence of pessimism regarding the long-term sustainability of the European Social Model and the potential for ‘eventual worldwide welfare’. It is a pessimism rooted in the real problems of globalisation, demographic change and population ageing, and the faltering political consensus around the need for universal social protection. Greve acknowledges these very real challenges but questions the theoretical and empirical foundations of the economic case for welfare retrenchment and the political agendas of individuals, governments and organisations such as the OECD. What follows are eight diverse chapters united by a common concern to refocus the debate on the interaction of economic, political and social dynamics that govern welfare development and change.

Cesaratto opens the main section of the book with a critical analysis of arguments for a shift towards fully funded pension provision in response to the ageing of the labour force. Acknowledging the pressure placed upon pay-as-you-go systems by ‘secular’ demographic change, Cesaratto nevertheless points to the disincentives associated mandatory fully funded arrangements that are likely to impact on voluntary (especially precautionary) saving. The familiar alternative responses to labour force ageing offered include more open migration policies and strategies to increase participation rates among women. Similar themes crop up in Greve's analytical chapter, which focuses on the implications of demographic change. The solution to rapidly increasing dependency ratios is again seen as being found in a renewed commitment to active labour market policies to encourage wider participation and up-skilling, along with (and partially contributing to economic growth in European welfare states. These early chapters provide a welcome response to the general weltschmerz that defines many theses on the future of the welfare state. Nevertheless, there may have also been merit in a more detailed examination of the consequences of on-going demographic and labour market changes, the need for future migration linked to these trends, and the potentially profound impacts on political and social cohesion.

Musgrave builds on Greve's support for the ‘active’ elements of the Lisbon Process in a mini-thought piece, arguing for wage subsidy employability programmes as a means of combating structural long-term unemployment. Musgrave notes that such employability policies need to be linked to lifelong learning provision. But there may have been value in an even stronger acknowledgement that substantial investment in human capital development as part of employability programmes is most likely to provide sustainable long-term benefits, by helping to up-skill European workforces in response to the challenges of globalisation. The first section, on ‘European Perspectives’, concludes with Till's timely critique of how poverty and social exclusion are conceptualised and analysed within EU institutions. Drawing on empirical data from Ireland and Austria, Till exposes how the European Commission's commitment to the use of employment indicators as a proxy for social inclusion and the absence of sub-regional data on poverty mask complex differences within and between areas.

The ‘International Perspectives’ section opens with Jespersen's methodological journey through how uncertainty is conceptualised in economic analyses of the welfare state. It combines a swift demolition job on neo-classical equilibrium models (and related critiques of ‘disruptive’ welfare interventions) with a powerful argument in favour of post-Keynesian narratives on how supply, demand and institutional factors interact to create an uncertain range of possible economic futures. Such narratives in turn require economists to develop a ‘more nuanced assessment’ of the value of the welfare state in reducing uncertainty and improving the functioning of the economic system. The attack on the assumptions of neo-classical economics is further developed by Galbraith in a tightly argued chapter on ‘Inequality and unemployment’. Galbraith exposes neo-classical economics’ attempts to ‘airbrush Keynesian economic activism’ in favour of solutions to unemployment grounded in flexible labour markets (i.e. a lack of employment protection and workplace rights) and welfare retrenchment.

As Zupi notes in his chapter, capital flow from foreign direct investment (FDI) is assumed to be critical to economic growth (and so welfare) in developing countries. Yet, for Zupi, the forces of globalisation – and policies promoting free trade agreements and measures to attract FDI – have done little to reduce inequalities within developing countries or between these countries and advanced economies. Zupi's frustration with the neo-liberal values that have informed welfare retrenchment in developing countries during the last two decades is mirrored in the concerns raised in Gallina's final chapter, charting the ‘economic disorder’ caused by the ‘failure of the Washington consensus’ that has provided the theoretical foundation for economic reform in both developing and developed economies. Two decades of labour process reforms that have increased inequality, retrenchment in social protection and reinforced trade asymmetries have undermined progress towards welfare in developing countries – ‘neo-classical economists’ claims that people are still poor, but better off than before, proved to be wrong’.

This is a ‘big idea’ book, and as a result some of the conceptualisations may seem a little too sweeping for scholars more used to micro-comparative social policy analysis. It lacks a genuinely consistent thread linking all of the sometimes diverse papers, and rather reads like a collection of scholarly discussions among colleagues sharing a general concern – to challenge conventional, neo-classical interpretations of the interaction between welfare, economy and society, and to advocate strategies that ‘restore the centrality of the concept of social justice in the economic debate’. Taken as such, the book offers an intellectual ‘selection box’ of interesting and provocative arguments – a welcome Christmas stocking filler for welfare economists with a critical mind.