Bio: (1947-) Danish political scientist. Gøsta Esping-Andersen is best known for his comparative research on social security systems in welfare states. In his book Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (1990), Esping-Andersen introduces a typology of social security systems in Europe and North America. In this well-known study, he divides welfare states into three basic types: social democratic, liberal, and conservative. The typology was developed based on a study of data from eighteen European countries and the United States. The theoretical basis of the typology is the view that social protection can be achieved within three different spheres: the state social protection system; the market; or within the family. Using that logic states are divided according to which sphere is dominant.

Empirical data from different countries were used as a basis for determining the de-commodification of different types of social services in different countries. The author was less interested in the percentage that is allocated from the budget for social policy but focused on the data that show exactly what the money is spent on. Based on the data analysis, Esping-Andersen introduces a division into three types of social protection systems: conservative, which focuses mostly on the family, liberal, which favors the market, and social democratic, where the state has the largest role in providing social services. The conservative type includes France, Germany, and Italy; the social democratic system exists in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands; and the liberal system in Canada, Japan, and the United States.

Esping-Anderson's typology had many supporters, as well as many opponents, and served as a basis for much further empirical and theoretical research. The author himself changed his scheme in the book Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies (1999) but kept the triple typology, and only changed the names of the systems, so they are now called: residual, corporatist, and universal.

Main works

Social Class, Social Democracy and State Policy: Party Policy and Party Decomposition in Denmark and Sweden (1980); 

Political Power and Social Theory (1982); 

Politics Against Markets: The Social Democratic Road to Power (1985); 

The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (1990); 

Changing Classes Stratification and Mobility in Post-Industrial Societies (1993); 

Welfare States in Transition National Adaptations in Global Economies (1996);

Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies (1999);

Why We Need a New Welfare State (2002);

Family Formation and Family Dilemmas in Contemporary Europe (2007);

The Incomplete Revolution: Adapting to Women's New Roles (2009);

Families in the 21st Century (2016).