While welfare might be equated with well-being, within human geography it refers mostly to factors within the control of societies: environmental quality, security, and access to commodities and services. It therefore incorporates income, standard of living, housing, employment, and access to educational, health, and social services; see Sen’s welfare index (1976) Rev. Econ. Studs 43. Ezcurra et al. (2006) Tijdschrift 98, 4 find that, within the EU, regions with high welfare tend to have advanced services, high productivity, and good human capital. Low-welfare regions tend to higher unemployment, and a larger agricultural sector.

DeVerteuil (2007) AAAG 97, 1 thinks that ‘the current decline of the welfare state within a context of neoliberalism in most developed nations is a key factor in exacerbating the situation of those worst-off, thereby widening the socioeconomic gaps even further’.

Welfare capitalism is the provision of welfare by corporations aiming to foster loyalty among the workforce. S. Jacoby (1998) provides a comprehensive history of 20th-century welfare capitalism.

Welfare geography studies inequalities in social well-being and social justice, looking at the areal differentiation and spatial organization of human activity from the point of view of the welfare of the people involved. It focuses on those factors which affect the quality of human life: crime/lack of crime, poverty/wealth, housing/ homelessness, and the provision/lack of educational, health, leisure, and social services. The first line of enquiry examines inequality in the distribution of welfare indicators, which provides a base from which to evaluate the impact of past or proposed changes; see Falah (1999) Urb. Geog. 20, 5 on Israel’s Arab citizens. From this, the second aim is an attempt to explain these inequalities. Current explanations link inequality with uneven development as an inevitable consequence of capitalism; or with an uneven spatial pattern of service provision; see DeVerteuil (2001) PHG 24, 1 and I. M. Young (1990). The third aim is the formulation of measures to bring about a fairer distribution of resources and opportunities. Haylet (2001) TIBG 26, 1 argues for a welfare geography attuned to ‘the languages and practices through which dominant systems of social and economic distribution are constituted’.

Welfare variations in the EU