Are European social safety nets tight enough? Coverage and adequacy of Minimum Income schemes in 14 EU countries

International Journal of Social Welfare

Volumn 22, Issue 1, 2013, Pages 3-14

  Figari, Francesco ^a,c   Matsaganis, Manos ^b   Sutherland, Holly ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF INSUBRIA   (Italy)

^b ATHENS UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS   (Greece)

^c UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Adequacy; Coverage; European Union; Microsimulation; Minimum Income

Indexed keywords

EID: 84870528447     PISSN: 13696866     EISSN: 14682397     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2397.2012.00885.x     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. Adema, W. (2006). Social assistance policy development and the provision of a decent level of incomes in selected OECD countries. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 38. Paris: OECD.
2. Atkinson, A. B., & Marlier, E. (2010). Income and living conditions in Europe. Luxembourg: Eurostat.
3. Atkinson, A. B., Cantillon, B., Marlier, E., & Nolan, B. (2002). Social indicators: The EU and social inclusion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4. Avram, S. (2009). Social assistance in Central and East European countries: a trap or a springboard? Evidence From the 2005 and 2006 Waves of the EU-SILC. Paper presented at the 'Institutions, Behavior and the Escape from Persistent Poverty' Conference. Cornell University.
5. Bahle, T., Pfeifer, M., & Wendt, C. (2010). Social assistance. In F. G. Castles, S. Leibfried, J. Lewis, H. Obinger, & C. Pierson (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of welfare state (pp. 448-461). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6. Baldwin, P. (1990). The politics of social solidarity: Class bases of the European welfare state, 1875-1975. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
7. Barr, N. (2004). Economics of the welfare state (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
8. Bradshaw, J., & Mayhew, E. (2010). Understanding extreme poverty in the European Union. European Journal of Homelessness, 4, 171-186.
9. Caminada, K., Goudswaard, K., & van Vliet, O. (2010). Patterns of welfare state indicators in the EU: Is there convergence? Journal of Common Market Studies, 48(3), 529-556.
10. Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.
11. European Parliament. (2010). Role of minimum income in combating poverty and promoting an inclusive society in Europe. European Parliament resolution 2010/2039 (INI).
12. Ferrera, M. (Ed.). (2005). Welfare state reform in Southern Europe: Fighting poverty and social exclusion in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. London: Routledge.
13. Figari, F., Iacovou, M., Skew, A., & Sutherland, H. (2012). Approximations to the truth: Comparing survey and microsimulation approaches to measuring income for social indicators. Social Indicators Research, 105(3), 387-407.
14. Figari, F., Salvatori, A., & Sutherland, H. (2011). Economic downturn and stress testing European welfare systems. In H. Immervoll, A. Peichl, & K. Tatsiramos (Eds.), Who loses in the downturn? Economic crisis, employment and income distribution (pp. 257-286). Research in Labor Economics, 32. Bingley: Emerald.
15. Frazer, H., & Marlier, E. (2009). Minimum income schemes across EU member states: Synthesis report. EU Network of National Independent Experts on Social Inclusion. Brussels: European Commission.
16. Gilbert, N. (2004). Transformation of the welfare state: The silent surrender of public responsibility. New York: Oxford University Press.
17. Goedemé, T. (2011). How much confidence can we have in EU-SILC? Complex sample designs and the standard error of the Europe 2020 poverty indicators. Social Indicators Research. DOI 10.1007/s11205-011-9918-2.
18. Gough, I. (2001). Social assistance regimes: A cluster analysis. Journal of European Social Policy, 11(2), 165-170.
19. Gough, I., Bradshaw, J., Ditch, J., Eardley, T., & Whiteford, P. (1997). Social assistance in OECD countries. Journal of European Social Policy, 7(1), 17-43.
20. Guibentif, P., & Bouget, D. (1997). Minimum income policies in the European Union. Lisbon: European Commission, Ministério da Solidariedade e Segurança Social, União das Mutalidades portuguesas.
21. Hernanz, V., Malherbert, F., & Pellizzari, M. (2004). Take-up of welfare benefits in OECD countries: A review of the evidence. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 17. Paris: OECD.
22. Holsch, K., & Kraus, M. (2006). European schemes of social assistance: An empirical analysis of set-ups and distributive impacts. International Journal of Social Welfare, 15(1), 50-62.
23. Immervoll, H. (2012). Minimum-income benefits in OECD countries: Policy design, effectiveness and challenges. In D. J. Besharov & K. Couch (Eds.), Counting the poor: New thinking about European poverty measures and lessons for the United States (pp. 171-210). New York: Oxford University Press.
24. Johansson, F. (2007). Essays on measurement error and nonresponse. Economic Studies 103. Uppsala: Uppsala University.
25. Korpi, W., & Palme, J. (1998). The paradox of redistribution and the strategy of equality: Welfare state institutions, inequality and poverty in the western countries. American Sociological Review, 63(5), 661-687.
26. Lietz, C., & Mantovani, D. (2007). A short introduction to EUROMOD: An integrated European tax-benefit model. In O. Bargain (Ed.), Micro-simulation in action: Policy analysis in Europe using EUROMOD (pp. 1-26). Research in Labor Economics 25. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
27. Lietz, C., & Sutherland, H. (2005). Social indicators and other income statistics using EUROMOD: An assessment of the 2001 baseline and changes 1998-2001. EUROMOD Working Paper No. EM6/05. Colchester: University of Essex.
28. Lynn, P., Jäckle, A., Jenkins, S. P., & Sala, E. (2004). The impact of interviewing method on measurement error in panel survey measures of benefit receipt: Evidence from a validation study. ISER Working Paper 2004-28. Colchester: University of Essex.
29. Marlier, E., Atkinson, A. B., Cantillon, B., & Nolan, B. (2007). The EU and social inclusion: Facing the challenges. Bristol: The Policy Press.
30. Marshall, T. H. (1950). Citizenship and social class and other essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
31. Matsaganis, M., Ferrera, M., Capucha, L., & Moreno, L. (2003). Mending nets in the South: Anti-poverty policies in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Social Policy and Administration, 37(6), 639-655.
32. Meyer, B. D., Mok, W. K. C., & Sullivan, J. X. (2009). The under-reporting of transfers in household surveys: its nature and consequences. NBER Working Paper 1518. Massachusetts: National Bureau of Economic Research.
33. Nelson, K. (2004). Mechanisms of poverty alleviation: Anti-poverty effects of non-means-tested and means-tested benefits in five welfare states. Journal of European Social Policy, 14(4), 371-390.
34. Nelson, K. (2007). Universalism versus targeting: the vulnerability of social insurance and means-tested minimum income protection in 18 countries, 1990-2002. International Social Security Review, 60(1), 33-58.
35. Nelson, K. (2008). Is there a convergence on social policy in the European Union? Minimum income protection and European integration: Trends and levels of minimum benefits in comparative perspective, 1990-2005. International Journal of Health Services, 38(1), 103-124.
36. Nelson, K. (2010). Social assistance and minimum income benefits in old and new democracies. International Journal of Social Welfare, 19(4), 367-378.
37. Paulus, A., Čok, M., Figari, F., Hegedüs, P., Kump, N., Lelkes, O., Võrk, A. (2009). The effects of taxes and benefits on income distribution in the enlarged EU. In O. Lelkes & H. Sutherland (Eds.), An enlarged role for tax benefit models: Assessing policies in the enlarged European Union (pp. 65-90). Farnham: Asghate.
38. Pestieau, P. (2006). The welfare state in the European Union: Economic and social perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
39. Rat, C. (2009). The impact of minimum income guarantee schemes in Central and Eastern Europe. In A. Cerami & P. Vanhuysee (Eds.), Post-communist welfare pathways: Theorizing social policy transformations in CEE (pp. 164-180). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
40. Ringen, S. (1987). The possibility of politics: a study in the political economy of the welfare state. Oxford: Clarendon.
41. Schuknecht, L., & Tanzi, V. (2005). Reforming public expenditure in industrialised countries: Are there trade-offs? European Central Bank Working Paper Series No. 435. Frankfurt: European Central Bank.
42. Smeeding, T. (2002). The LIS/LES project: Overview and recent developments. Luxembourg Income Study Working Paper No. 294. Luxembourg: LIS.
43. Storms, B., & Van den Bosch, K. (2009). What income do families need for social participation at the minimum? A budget standard for Flanders? UA/Berichten, Antwerp, Herman Deleeck Centre For Social Policy.
44. Sutherland, H. (2007). EUROMOD: The tax-benefit microsimulation model for the European Union. In A. Gupta & A. Harding (Eds.), Modelling our future: Population ageing, health and aged care (pp. 483-488). International Symposia in Economic Theory and Econometrics 16. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
45. Van Mechelen, N., Marchal, S., Goedemé, T., Marx, I., & Cantillon, B. (2011). The CSB-Minimum Income Protection Indicators dataset (CSB-MIPI). CSB Working Paper 11/05. Antwerp: University of Antwerp.
46. Veit-Wilson, J. (1998). Setting adequacy standards: How governments define minimum incomes. Bristol: The Policy Press.