Cover -- Half-title -- Series-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Tables and Figures -- Abbreviations -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Introduction -- Why Study the Age Orientation of Welfare States? -- Why Does Age Orientation Vary? Some Preliminary Evidence and Hypotheses -- Explaining Variation in Age Orientation: The Argument in Brief -- Two Watersheds of Welfare State Formation -- Italy and the Netherlands: Contrasting Case Studies -- 2 Measuring the Age of Welfare -- The State of the Art: Work on the Generational Effects of Welfare Policy to Date -- Measuring the Age Orientation of Social Policy -- The Age Orientation of Direct Social Expenditures -- Summarizing the Age Orientation of Direct Expenditures -- Refining the Measure: Taxes and the "Hidden Welfare State" -- Refining the Measure: Housing Policy Patterns and Outcomes -- Conclusion -- 3 Age and the Welfare State -- Classical Explanations for Variation in Welfare State Outcomes -- Modernization -- Gray Power -- Familialism -- Power Resources -- Institutions -- A Path-Dependent Institutionalist Explanation -- Citizenship-Based versus Occupational Programs -- The First Critical Juncture -- The Second Critical Juncture -- Programmatic versus Particularistic Political Competition -- Conclusion -- 4 Family Allowances -- Explanations for the Level of Spending on Family Allowances -- Partisan Effects on Family Allowance Spending -- Demographic Constituency Arguments -- An Alternative View: Program Structure and Political Competition Determine Family Allowance Spending -- Family Allowances in the Netherlands -- From the Beginnings to Universalism -- From Universalism to Entitlement -- Family Allowances in Italy -- General Historical Overview -- The Fascist Period -- The Golden Age of Italian Family Allowances: Postwar through 1964.

1964-82: Inattention and the "Sacking" of the Family Allowance Funds -- Post-1983: Structural Reform, or Old Wine in New Bottles? -- Conclusion -- 5 Benefits for the Unemployed -- Comparing Unemployment Benefits in Italy and the Netherlands -- Income Protection Programs for the Unemployed -- The Age Orientation of Unemployment Benefits -- Particularism, Universalism, and the Response to Partisan Competition -- Unemployment Insurance Benefits -- Coverage for Youth Unemployed -- Ideology, Strategy, and the Unemployed -- 6 Old-Age Pensions -- Pension Spending in Italy and the Netherlands -- Benefit Levels -- Number of Pensions -- Divergent Pension System Development in Italy and the Netherlands -- Floors, Ceilings, and Pillars: Determining the Level of Benefits -- The Effective Retirement Age: Determining the Number of Pensions -- Explaining Differences in Pension Spending: Competing Hypotheses -- Political Competition and Program Structure -- Conclusion -- 7 Conclusion -- Age Orientation, Poverty, and Inequality -- Program Structure, Political Competition, and the "Age" of Welfare -- Implications for the Study of Welfare State Politics -- Possibilities for Institutional Change -- References -- Selected Interviews -- Italy -- Netherlands -- Other Sources -- Index.