Kevin Farnsworth is Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Sheffield. His primary research interests concern power and politics, class struggle and public policy, and the political economy of welfare systems. His first book was entitled Corporate Power and Social Policy (2004), published by Policy Press.Zoë Irving is Lecturer in Comparative Social Policy at the University of Sheffield. Her current research interests focus primarily on social policies in small states and the changing patterns of men's employment. She has previously published in the areas of gender and employment, and social policy in small island states.

• Contemplating the implications of the economic crisis for social policy: confusion, contradictions, opportunities and risks ~ Kevin Farnsworth and Zoë Irving; Part one: Coming to terms with the crisis: Towards a new political economy of welfare: The political economy of welfare crisis~ Ian Gough; Economic crises and paradigm change ~ Michael Hill; Polanyi's revenge: re-embedding the market and the challenge for social policy after the crisis ~ Theo Papadopoulos; Social policy and the 'City division of welfare' ~ Adrian Sinfield; Part two: Managing the Crisis: Social Policy-Making in Changing Times: Global social policy responses to the economic crisis ~ Bob Deacon; Poverty, the crisis, and social policy responses~ Armando Barrientos; Crisis, uncertainty and 're-invention' in the making of social policy ~ Rob Hulme; Part three: Understanding and Managing National Crises: South Korea after the 1997 economic crisis: a 'paradigm shift'? ~ Eunna Lee; China's response to crisis: what role for social policy? ~ Sarah Cook and Wing Lam; Familism in turmoil: social policy and the politico-economic crisis in Greece ~ Theo Papadopoulos and Antonios Roumpakis; Tiptoeing through crisis? Re-evaluating the German social model in light of the global recession ~ John Hudson and Stefan Kühner; Boom to bust: globalisation, Ireland and the economic crisis ~ Mairéad Considine and Fiona Dukelow; Waving not drowning: Iceland, crisis and alternative social policy futures ~ Zoë Irving; Experiences from two financial crises in the Nordic welfare states: early 1990s and the current crisis ~ Pekka Kosonen; Economic crisis and social policy in the United States and Canada ~ Daniel Béland and Alex Waddan; The UK ~ Kevin Farnsworth; Responding to the challenges: some concluding remarks on welfare futures in changed circumstances ~ Kevin Farnsworth and Zoë Irving.

"The financial crash of 2008 is reshaping welfare systems, but in different and unexpected ways. This book provides a compelling guide." Andrew Gamble, University of Cambridge