Healthcare provision and attitudes towards redistribution. A regional analysis across Europe

This study examines the relationship between the welfare state, individual social class, and views on redistribution. It is hypothesised that the manifestation of the welfare state at the regional level, proxied by the number of beds in hospitals, may attenuate the differences in attitudes towards redistribution between people from different social classes. To address this research question, data from Eurostat is employed in conjunction with data from the European Social Survey on public support and welfare services at the regional level (NUTS 2), comprising data from 16 European countries from 2008 to 2018. The findings of this study demonstrate that in regions where there is a higher availability of beds in hospitals, there is a greater degree in variation in attitudes towards redistribution across different social classes. Conversely, in areas with fewer beds in hospitals, social classes tend to exhibit a convergence towards a high level of support for redistribution. This highlights the central role of welfare state dynamics at the meso-level in influencing the relationship between socio-economic characteristics and attitudes towards redistribution.