How America Compares

203 Pages·2020·2.885 MB·English

by  Rodney Tiffen, Anika Gauja, Brendon O’Connor, Ross Gittins, David Smith

How America
Compares
Rodney Tiffen, Anika Gauja,
Brendon O’Connor, Ross Gittins,
David Smith
s
e
r
a
p
m
o
C
d
l
r
o
W
e
h
t
w
o
H
How the World Compares
Series Editor
Rodney Tiffen, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
HowtheWorldComparesprovidesanencylopaedicexaminationofsocialindicatorsfrom18
economically advanced, stable liberal democracies. It offers important points of reference for
political science researchers and students, and it presents a unique and accessible perspective
foranyoneinterestedincomparativepolitics.Innearlyallcountries,mostpubliccontroversies
and policy debates are conducted with a solely domestic focus, either ignoring international
experienceorusingitopportunisticallyandselectively.Peopleinmanycountrieshavebeliefs
about their own uniqueness – for better and worse – that are largely uninformed by deep
knowledgeofothercountries.HowtheWorldComparesprovidesamuch-neededbackdropto
such debates, bringing together reliable data on the most relevant social indicators and
comparing them across relevant countries. The core of these books offers data drawn from
internationalorganisations(especiallytheOECDbutalsofromsourcessuchasagenciesofthe
United Nations and World Bank) and analysis, concentrating on the 18 affluent democracies
that have the most in common. There is an examination of global distributions, as well as
emergingglobaltrendsbetweenthemajorpowersinkeyareassuchaspopulation,economics,
energy use, and so forth. Finally there is national data concentrating on the specified country
alone. The first countrytobe analysed istheUnites States.The bookscover asmany aspects
of social life as possible, from taxation to traffic accidents, homicide rates to health
expenditure,andinterestratestointernetusage.Thediscussionfocusesonchangesovertime
and comparisons between countries, looking at how the data relate to national debates about
policies, performance and prospects, especially if these have been conducted in a vacuum.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15592
Rodney Tiffen Anika Gauja
(cid:129) (cid:129)
Brendon O’Connor
(cid:129)
Ross Gittins David Smith
(cid:129)
How America Compares
123
Rodney Tiffen AnikaGauja
University of Sydney University of Sydney
Sydney,NSW,Australia Sydney,NSW,Australia
Brendon O’Connor RossGittins
University of Sydney SydneyMorning Herald
Sydney,NSW,Australia Sydney,NSW,Australia
DavidSmith
University of Sydney
Sydney,NSW,Australia
ISSN 2522-5340 ISSN 2522-5359 (electronic)
Howthe World Compares
ISBN978-981-13-9581-9 ISBN978-981-13-9582-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9582-6
©SpringerNatureSingaporePteLtd.2020
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialis
concerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting,reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic
adaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.
Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublicationdoesnot
imply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsand
regulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthisbookarebelieved
tobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernortheauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,
expressedorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeen
made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional
affiliations.
ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSingaporePteLtd.
Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:152BeachRoad,#21-01/04GatewayEast,Singapore189721,Singapore
Contents
1 People and Life Expectancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Global Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Population Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Urbanisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 The Ageing Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2 Government and Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 Constitutional History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 Heads of State and Heads of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 Federalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4 Legislative Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.5 Governments, Executives and Legislatures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.6 Electoral Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.7 Party Systems and Electoral Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.8 Political Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.9 The Judiciary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.10 Political Finance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.11 Electoral Integrity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.12 Corruption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.13 Assessing Democracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3 Economics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.1 Contemporary Economic Income and Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.2 Long-Term Economic Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.3 Inflation and Interest Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.4 Changing Economic Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.5 International Trade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.6 Globalising Economies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.7 Exchange Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.8 Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.9 Global Competitiveness and Economic Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.10 Human Development Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4 Work and Labour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.1 Labour Force Participation and the Ageing Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.2 Unemployment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.3 Part-Time Work and Working Hours. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.4 Underemployment, Unsatisfactory and Vulnerable Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.5 Trade Unions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.6 Industrial Disputes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
v
vi Contents
5 Government Taxes and Spending. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.1 Government Taxes and Spending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.2 Government Debt and Budget Balances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.3 Structure of Government Spending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
6 Health. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
6.1 Health Expenditure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
6.2 Financing Health Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
6.3 Healthcare Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.4 Healthcare Personnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
6.5 Gender and Mortality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.6 Mortality and Causes of Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
6.7 Cancer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.8 Non-medical Determinants of Health. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
7 Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
7.1 Educational Attainment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
7.2 Education Spending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
7.3 Maths, Science and Reading Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
7.4 Education and Equity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
7.5 Schools’ Resources and Learning Environments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
7.6 Primary Students’ Learning Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
7.7 Pre-primary Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
7.8 Adult Competencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
8 Inequality and Social Welfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
8.1 Income Inequality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
8.2 Wealth Inequality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
8.3 Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
8.4 Disability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
8.5 Poverty and the Ageing Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
8.6 Government Social Spending and Redistribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
8.7 Child Poverty and Social Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
9 Immigration and Refugees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
9.1 Immigration Flows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
9.2 Settlement of Immigrants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
9.3 Refugees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
9.4 Asylum Seekers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
10 Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
10.1 Women and Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
10.2 Gender and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
10.3 Glass Ceilings and Equity Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
10.4 Women in Public Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
10.5 Global Gender Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
11 International Relations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
11.1 Military Spending and Foreign Aid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
11.2 America’s International Standing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
11.3 Terrorism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
11.4 Globalisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
12 Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
12.1 Biodiversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
12.2 Global Warming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Contents vii
12.3 Greenhouse Gas Emissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
12.4 Energy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
12.5 Policies and Pollution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
12.6 Environmental Performance and Health. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
13 Science, Technology and the Digital Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
13.1 Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
13.2 Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
13.3 The Digital Revolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
13.4 Digital Divides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
13.5 Online and Automated Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
14 Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
14.1 Newspapers and Online News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
14.2 Television and Public Broadcasting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
14.3 Worlds of Journalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
14.4 Public Responses and Attitudes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
14.5 Press Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
14.6 Cinema and Cultural Industries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
15 Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
15.1 Marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
15.2 Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
15.3 Households . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
15.4 Mothers and Employment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
15.5 Family Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
15.6 Childcare and Early Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
15.7 Abortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
16 Lifestyles and Consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
16.1 Housing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
16.2 Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
16.3 Alcohol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
16.4 Eating and Drinking Habits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
16.5 Urban Mobility and Transport. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
16.6 Most Liveable Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
16.7 Happiness and Social Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
17 Crime and Social Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
17.1 Measuring Crime Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
17.2 Homicides and Firearms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
17.3 Law and Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
17.4 Imprisonment and Capital Punishment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
17.5 Suicide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
17.6 Motor Vehicle Deaths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
18 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
18.1 Religion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Introduction
America—the good, the bad and the average
Wearesurelyblessedtobecitizensofthegreatestnationonearth.
PresidentObama,DemocraticPartyConventionspeech2012
…ourprideandgratitudeintheUnitedStatesofAmerica,thegreatest,freestnationintheworld—the
last,besthopeofmanonEarth.
RonaldReagan,afarewellspeech,January1989
Leaders of all countries find ways to celebrate their patriotism. Perhaps Americans reach
greater heights of grandiloquence than most, but all countries nurture myths about their own
uniqueness. Political leaders often use superlatives as a rhetorical invocation, but these are
normallyanexpressionofemotionalattachmentratherthananattemptatseriouscomparison.
Much of America’s pride in its self-proclaimed exceptionalism grows out of its history,
beginning with the foundation of colonies believed to be inspired by divine providence, the
War of Independence, and the framing of what is the world’s oldest surviving democratic
constitution. For the next century or more, it was able to make favourable comparisons with
Europe. Its lack of aristocracy meant that social mobility was more possible. The frontier
society gave a sense of a land of opportunity, where both national economic growth and
personal advancement seemed achievable. The large migrations from Europe created a
dynamic society and a sense of people building new and better lives.
Of course, there is also a darker underside to this oft-repeated historical narrative of
exceptionalism.Butourconcern here ishowitaffects contemporaryunderstandings, whether
thecelebrationofarichheritagebecomesameansofavoidingtoday’schallengesandwhether
exceptionalist rhetoric is an obstacle to learning from others.
Patriotismcanbedeployedasameansofignoringunwelcomeevidence.In2012,whenthe
Affordable Care Act (sometimes called Obamacare) was under debate, Republican leaders
voicedtheiroppositionwithcomparativeclaims:JohnBoehnerthoughttheUnitedStateshas
‘thebesthealthcaredeliverysystemintheworld’,andhiscolleagueMitchMcConnellputitin
almost the same patriotic formula: the USA has the ‘finest healthcare system in the world’.
Unlike the general invocations of patriotism above, this is a claim that can be examined
empirically, even if the makers of the claim never do so.
Similarly,thecelebrationcaneasilyslideintoboastfulness.PresidentTrumptoldapolitical
rally in August 2018:
I want clean air. I want crystal clean water. And we’ve got it. We’ve got the cleanest country in the
planetrightnow.There’snobodycleanerthanus,andit’sgettingbetterandbetter.
Again, this is a comparative claim but one that shows scant regard for the available
comparativeevidence.ButwiththeadventofTrumpandtheideathatAmericahastorestore
its greatness, another narrative of patriotic victimhood has become more prominent. On
severaloccasions,TrumpclaimedthatAmericanswere‘thehighesttaxednationintheworld’.
ix
x Introduction
How America Compares makes comparison, and especially bounded comparison, its
central purpose. If we compare the United States with Uganda, the Ukraine or United Arab
Emirates, the differences are so overwhelming that few lessons can be learned. Rather in
boundedcomparison,wearecomparingtheUnitedStateswiththe17countrieswithwhichit
hasmostincommon.ThisofcoursedoesnotmeanthesecountriesareidenticalwithAmerica.
(It is a common fallacy for people to say two situations are not comparable when they mean
they are not identical.) Rather, it means that these 18 countries have sufficiently similar
political, economic and social characteristics to make comparison illuminating.
The selected countries have conquered—at least for the overwhelming majority of their
populations—the basic struggle for life, so that their average life expectancy is close to 80.
The bulk of their populations has access to good nutrition, safe drinking water and adequate
shelter. Allhaveclosetouniversalbasicliteracy. Allareamongthemostaffluentsocietiesin
the world. All have capitalist mixed economies, with a strong public sector. All have been
stableliberaldemocraciessinceatleastthelate1940s,withconstitutionallygoverned,largely
non-violent political competition and different parties alternating in power while central
institutions remain stable, and where the government is by some minimal standard repre-
sentative and publicly accountable. In addition, a further condition of minimum size was
imposed—that thecountries havepopulationsofatleastfour million.Thiscriterionexcluded
Iceland and Luxembourg, which otherwise would have been included.
The aim is to compare these countries on a wide range of social, economic and political
phenomena,toprovide asourcebook,wherean encyclopaedic range ofmeasures arebrought
together in one volume. President Trump’s claim that Americans are the most highly taxed
people in the world is easily disposed of. Similarly, measures of the cleanliness of air and
water can be fairly easily agreed. Many claims are more complicated: How do you measure
‘generosity’ or the ‘best’ health care? However, as this book shows, a range of comparative
indicators can anchor such discussions with evidence.
While the focus of comparison is often on the contrasts, just as illuminating are the
commonalities,particularlywhencountriessharelong-termtrends,suchastheageingsociety
and the changing roles of women. There is an industry of politicians, journalists and market
analystsdevotedtointensivelyreportingshort-termchangesandsometimesexaggeratingtheir
significance.Thereismuchlesspubliceffortdevotedtoanalysingthemediumandlongterm.
So whenever possible, we not only offer snapshot comparisons, but seek to trace common or
contrasting trajectories—whether all these countries are experiencing greater unemployment,
increased health spending, rising crime rates, etc.
Such a procedure allows us more perspective on the extent (and sometimes the limits)
ofthechangewehavealreadyexperienced.Morecautiouslyitgivesussome,althoughavery
imperfect, basis for considering future developments. The future is rarely a simple extrapo-
lationfromthepast,butchartingseculartrendsisonetoolforprojectingfuturescenarios,and
hence for planning, and making policy decisions to give societies a greater mastery of their
destiny.
Why compare? Comparison serves three major purposes. Firstly, it helps us to see our-
selvesmoreclearly.AsRudyardKiplingwroteacenturyago—albeitinasomewhatdifferent
spirit—what do they know of England, who only England know? In social science terms, it
allows us to delineate the individual case more precisely, to make explicit what might
otherwise have remained unexamined. What we imagine to be unique may be common to
manysocieties,whilewhatwetakeforgrantedasthenaturaloronlywayofdoingthingsmay
in fact be unusual or even unique.
Secondly,comparisonexpandsouruniverseofpossibilities.Itincreasesourknowledgethat
there are alternatives—alternative policies, different institutional arrangements, contrasting
culturalassumptions.Mostpolicydiscussionstakeplacewithinarestrictedframeofreference.
Domesticcontentiontends tofocus upon ourhopeless politicians, obstructivetradeunions or
rapacious corporations, looking only inward when looking outwards can suggest policy and
social alternatives beyond the framework within which domestic politicians are casting the