ABSTRACT The Great Depression was a turning point in the development of social programming in North America. This paper explores the politics of social policy expansion during the Great Depression in the United States and Canada through an analytical lens that combines the insights of historical institutionalism and the analysis of transnational processes. Thus, the paper focuses on the differences between these two cases as distinct entities as well as how they were shaped by, and influenced one another through, transnational processes. This combination of historical institutionalism and close attention to transnational processes adds insight to the existing scholarship on the politics of welfare state development that tends to prioritize one perspective over the other. Empirically, the paper compares these politics in two discrete social policy areas: old‐age pensions and unemployment insurance. The puzzle tackled is the following: why did the U.S. federal government create new programs in these areas during the 1930s, while Canada did not; and, simultaneously, how did these U.S. policy developments influence Canada during and beyond that decade alongside other transnational trends and processes? As argued, the distinct timing and pace of reform and the role of courts explain why Canada did not implement major public pension and unemployment programs during the Great Depression. This contrasts with the U.S., where the advent of the New Deal led to the creation of a federal pension program and a decentralized system of unemployment insurance. Over time, these policy innovations impacted welfare state development in Canada through transnational influence. Related Articles Béland, Daniel, Marchildon, Gregory P., Medrano, Anahely, Rocco, Philip. 2024. “Policy Feedback, Varieties of Federalism, and the Politics of Health‐Care Funding in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.” Politics & Policy 52(1): 51–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12575 . Luypaert, Anouk, and Peter Thijssen. 2024. “The Comparative Politics of Solidarity: Political Party Discourse across Three Welfare State Regimes.” Politics & Policy 52(5): 935–962. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12625 . Luccisano, Lucy, and Amy Romagnoli. 2007. “Comparing Public Social Provision and Citizenship in the United States, Canada, and Mexico: Are There Implications for a North American Space?” Politics & Policy 35(4): 716–751. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2007.00082.x .
Béland et al. (Thu,) studied this question.