Field of Research
Comparative Politics, Welfare States, Social Policy
Research Topic
East Asian Welfare States, Social Investment, Welfare Policy Attitudes
Overview of Research
My research is mostly related to social policy and welfare states. One area of research focuses on East Asian welfare states and seeks to identify the political and socio-economic determinants of their social policy choices, e.g. political partisanship, population demographics, median income levels. Of special interest is investigating what factors may lead governments to spend on social investment policies over traditional social security policies in East Asian welfare systems.
A second area of research focuses on voter attitudes towards social policies and equality. Existing research shows that increases in welfare generosity enjoy high-levels of popular support. However, it is possible that although voters support increases in spending on a specific welfare policy in a vacuum, when the spending increase is placed in a more complex and realistic context, support levels may drop. For example, a proposed increase in childcare spending may be popular with a large majority of voters; however, if the increase in spending requires an increase in voter tax burden or a decrease in old-age pension generosity, the level of support for a childcare spending increase may decline. Using public opinion surveys and experimental survey methods, the aim is to identify not only which voters are likely to support or oppose different social welfare policies, but also in which contexts and under what circumstances that support or opposition manifests.
Other areas of research interest include political partisanship, especially its potential conditioning impact on voter attitudes, and higher education policy, especially tuition fee and student financial aid policies.
Brazzill, Marc
Assistant Professor
Degree: Ph.D. in Political Science, Waseda University
brazzill@osipp.osaka-u.ac.jp
