International Journal of Education and Social Science (IJESS)

This paper examines attitudes toward government responsibility for public pensions and unemployment programs in six countries. Specifically, I re-test a welfare state regime theory to explain country-level differences, and I test two individual-level theories used to explain differences: self-interest and political ideology. I find that Esping-Andersen’s regime typology, first introduced in 1990, does seem to be a valid predictor of country-level differences on attitudes toward public pensions. The success of this typology is contrary to the literature that has tested this regime theory with attitudes previously. I also find that both self-interest and political ideology predict individual attitudes.