Welfare states in Central and Eastern Europe / Nicholas Barr -- After the crisis: the social contract and the middle class in East Asia / Nancy Birdsall and Stephan Haggard -- Is there a future for social policy in Latin America? / Miguel Székely and Ricardo Fuentes -- Welfare state policies in the Middle East and North Africa / Zafiris Tzannatos and Iqbal Kaur -- What drives social spending? 1780 to 2020 / Peter H. Lindert -- Conclusions / Ethan B. Kapstein.