Comparative Social Security: The Challenge of Evaluation

There has been dramatic global expansion in the national provision of social security programs throughout the twentieth century. This has provided very fertile ground for the comparative analysis of social security programs and systems over the last forty-five years. Most comparative studies, however, have, been content to describe and compare strategies, programs, institutions and values at the multinational or regional levels. There has been considerable reluctance either to engage in global studies or to embark on comparative-evaluative studies. This paper seeks to fill this gap by providing a framework for an evaluation methodology that permits the global ranking of social security systems and programs.