This book finds its origins in my early 1990s work on the political economy of redistribution in the developed capitalist democracies. I have accumulated many debts since then and they ought now to be gratefully acknowledged. First, I wish to express my appreciation to the German Marshall Fund of the United States for providing a GMF Research Fellowship that made possible invaluable research, travel, and writing time during 1996 and 1997. In addition, the Marquette University Committee on Research provided generous financial support in the form of regular and summer faculty fellowships during 1996 and 1997. Second, I would like to thank the many individuals who provided helpful comments on my arguments and analyses. In particular, Keith Banting, Hans-Georg Betz, Markus Crepaz, Bernhard Ebbinghaus, John Freeman, Miriam Golden, Peter Hall, Torben Iversen, Desmond King, Anders Lindbom, Andrew Martin, Cathie Jo Martin, Kathleen McNamara, John Myles, Jonas Pontusson, Michael Shalev, and Sven Steinmo provided especially helpful suggestions and criticisms at one or more junctures (as have many other colleagues at the forums listed below). I am especially grateful to Francis Castles, Geoffrey Garrett, Paul Pierson, Dennis Quinn, John Stephens, and Michael Wallerstein for extensive discussions or written comments on material in the book. I have also learned a good deal about the political economy of advanced industrial societies by reading their work. Third, I wish to thank Lewis Bateman, Political Science Editor at Cambridge University Press, for sage advice and support of this manuscript, and to Cambridge's anonymous readers for very helpful comments on the first draft.