ABSTRACT
One of the most important contributions of the business interest scholarship to studies of comparative social policy is the insight that employer opposition or support for welfare is not a given, but strongly dependent on the economic and political environment in which employers operate. Common explanations of business support for welfare provisions focus on the moral convictions of enlightened entrepreneurs, the need for skilled workers, or the possibility to avoid taxation by shifting corporate profits into benefit plans (cf. Sass 1997; Nijhof 2009). Business interest scholars have complicated these views by showing how factors, such as the degree of exposure to international markets or the reliance on generic or specific skills in the labor force, explain variation in not only business preferences within, but also across political economies (cf. Swenson 1991; Mares 2003). Moreover, these scholars have shown important variation over time, as employers responded to political challenges posed by labor unions and the state (Hacker and Pierson 2002; Paster 2013). Depending on contextual factors, employers can therefore act as protagonists, antagonists, or consenters towards social policy (Korpi 2006).
