This book examines the link between poverty on the one hand and labour market participation and the distributive capacity of welfare states on the other hand. It focuses on the working-age population and the evolutions in Europe during the 'good economic years' before the financial crisis. The book provides social research in an accessible way. It introduces the reader into the various concepts of measuring poverty and exclusion and discusses data limitations. Obviously, we are not the first to observe worrying trends in poverty or inequality. The
specific approach in this book may be summarized as follows. First, to gain a better understanding of the nexus of labour market participation, social redistribution and poverty, we focus on the distinction between work-poor and work-rich households. Second, we augment a traditional 'pre-post approach' of the impact of social transfers with regression analysis and policy indicators. Third, we refine the common method of measuring the redistributive effect of social expenditure, particularly for in-kind benefits . Fourth, we give due consideration to concepts and data. Most of the analyses are based on
the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), but when relevant and feasible, we include alternative surveys (in the case of Germany, SILC and SOEP data) and additional data, i.e. administrative expenditure data and indicators that inform directly on policy. Finally, we discuss our observations with reference to the employment-centred welfare reforms that were prominent in European countries since the mid-1990s, and link the analysis with a broader perspective on the socio-economic, demographic and paradigmatic evolutions in contemporary welfare states.
Contents Preface Introduction Bea Cantillon, and Frank Vandenbroucke 1 Mapping At-Risk-of-Poverty Rates, Household Employment and Social Spending Frank Vandenbroucke, and Ron Diris 2 The Evolution of Poverty in the European Union: Concepts, Measurement and Data Koen Decancq, Tim Goedemé, Karel Van den Bosch, and Josefine Vanhille 3 Individual Employment, Household Employment and Risk of Poverty in the EU. A Decomposition Analysis Vincent Corluy, and Frank Vandenbroucke 4 In-Work Poverty Ive Marx, and Brian Nolan 5 Social Redistribution, Poverty and the Adequacy of Social Protection in the EU Bea Cantillon, Natascha Van Mechelen, Olivier Pintelon, and Aaron Van den Heede 6 The Redistributive Capacity of Services in the EU Gerlinde Verbist, and Manos Matsaganis 7 Who Benefits from Investment Policies? The Case of Family Activation in European Countries Wim Van Lancker, and Joris Ghysels 8 The Reform Capacities of European welfare states Anton Hemerijck 9 Identifying the skeleton of the social investment state: defining and measuring patterns of social policy change on the basis of expenditure data Johan De Deken 10 Beyond Social Investment. Which Concepts and Values for Social Policy-Making in Europe? Bea Cantillon Epilogue. What we know, don't know and need to know Frank Vandenbroucke, and Bea Cantillon Appendix. The Evolution of Public Social Spending 1985-2009 Leen Meeusen and Annemie Nys References Index
Bea Cantillon is Professor of Social Policy at the Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp. Frank Vandenbroucke, PhD, is a professor at the KULeuven and the University of Antwerp, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy.
Reviews for Reconciling Work and Poverty Reduction: How Successful Are European Welfare States?
"""[This book] makes a significant contribution to understanding the complex relationship between poverty, work and social welfare."" --James Midgley, School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley"
