The expansion of unemployment insurance in the Global South, 1980-2019

This dissertation is the result of a data collection effort that maps the
development of unemployment insurance (UI) in the Global South between
1980 and 2019. Based on a novel dataset compiled for this study, it documents
reforms, coverage rates, and benefit generosity across 40 late-adopting
countries. The analysis identifies a clear trend of UI expansion over the
observed period. To explain this development, I examine the determinants of UI
expansion along three dimensions: policy enactment, practical implementation,
and benefit design. Across all analyses, democratization consistently emerges
as the main driver of expansion. Furthermore, economic conditions and
government ideology impact UI development under certain conditions. By
introducing new data and testing established theories in an understudied policy
domain, the study advances research on welfare state development in the Global
South beyond typical social policy schemes such as pension and health care.
This dissertation contributes to the research by (1) providing novel data on UI
generosity, (2) mapping and describing the development and expansion of UI in
40 Global South economies, (3) identifying determinants of UI expansion and
(4) integrating UI into the general research on welfare state expansion in the
Global South