Public policy

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak

Algorithm

Biology

Virology

Economics

Computer science

Development economics

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Outbreak

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Social Welfare

Politics

Political science

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Welfare state

Political economy

Welfare

Public administration

Medicine

Pandemic

Social policy

Disease

State (computer science)

Pathology

Social Policy and Administration

Canada and the United States are often grouped together as liberal welfare‐state regimes, with broadly similar levels of social spending. Yet, as the COVID‐19 pandemic reveals, the two countries engage in highly divergent approaches to social policymaking during a massive public health emergency. Drawing on evidence from the first 5 months of the pandemic, this article compares social policy measures taken by the United States and Canadian governments in response to COVID‐19. In general, we show that Canadian responses were both more rapid and comprehensive than those of the United States. This variation, we argue, can be explained by analysing the divergent political institutions, pre‐existing policy legacies, and variations in cross‐partisan consensus, which have all shaped national decision‐making in the middle of the crisis.

Social policy responses to <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 in Canada and the United States: Explaining policy variations between two liberal welfare state regimes

Social policy responses to COVID‐19 in Canada and the United States: Explaining policy variations between two liberal welfare state regimes