"Perceived efficacy of welfare services has never been studied among the variables that determine attitudes toward welfare state reform. Are citizens more prone to accept social expenditure cuts, tax cuts or privatization reforms in... more
"Perceived efficacy of welfare services has never been studied among the variables that determine attitudes toward welfare state reform. Are citizens more prone to accept social expenditure cuts, tax cuts or privatization reforms in welfare programmes when they perceive those programmes as ineffective? With the aim of answering this question, the Spanish case is explored using a 2005 survey carried out by the Spanish Centre for Sociological Research (CIS) and the Spanish National
Research Council (CSIC). The article analyses citizen attitudes toward four welfare policy areas: health, education, pensions and unemployment protection, and toward the reforms that could be made in them. The results question the usual contention of politicians and practitioners who often suggest that citizens who
perceive public services as ineffective would prefer lower public expenditure and taxes to purchase some welfare services in a more effective private sector."
