scholarly journals Precarious Work, Unemployment Benefit Generosity and Universal Basic Income Preferences: A Multilevel Study on 21 European Countries

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
YOUNG-KYU SHIN ◽  
TEEMU KEMPPAINEN ◽  
KATI KUITTO
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Models ◽  
Temporary Employment ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Precarious Work ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Institutional Determinants ◽  
The Individual

Abstract The idea of universal basic income (UBI) has been attracting increasing attention globally over recent years. However, research on the individual and institutional determinants of UBI support is scarce. The present study attempts to fills this gap by analysing workers’ attitudes towards UBI schemes in 21 European welfare states and focusing on the roles of precarious work (i.e. part-time work, temporary employment, low-skilled service employment, and solo self-employment) and unemployment benefit generosity (i.e. net replacement rate, payment duration, and qualifying period). We estimate fixed and random effects logistic models by merging country-level institutional data with the European Social Survey Round 8 data collected in 2016. The findings show that temporary employment is associated with positive attitudes towards UBI schemes, whereas other types of precarious work do not have significant influences. In addition, the results reveal that the more generous a country’s unemployment benefits, the less likely are workers in that country to support UBI schemes.

scholarly journals The Politics of the Basic Income Guarantee: Analysing Individual Support in Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Vlandas
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Central Eastern Europe ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Individual Support ◽  
Confounding Variables ◽  
Low Incomes ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Welfare State Regimes

Abstract This article analyses individual level support for a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) using the European Social Survey. At the country level, support is highest in South and Central Eastern Europe, but variation does not otherwise seem to follow established differences between varieties of capitalisms or welfare state regimes. At the individual level, findings are broadly in line with the expectations of the political economy literature. Left-leaning individuals facing high labour market risk and/or on low incomes are more supportive of a BIG, whereas current union members are less likely to support a BIG, consistent with the insider-outsider literature. However, when controlling for confounding variables, union membership is not statistically significant, suggesting that it is not membership per se, but the characteristics of unionised workers that make them less supportive. In many countries, a coalition between centrist and left-leaning individuals therefore seems most promising, but its political feasibility depends on whether enough union members are favourable to a BIG and on the level of opposition from high income and/or conservative parts of the electorate.

scholarly journals Social Investment, Redistribution or Basic Income? Exploring the Association Between Automation Risk and Welfare State Attitudes in Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
MARIUS R. BUSEMEYER ◽  
ALEXANDER H. J. SAHM
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Investment Policies ◽  
Using Data

Abstract Rapid technological change – the digitalization and automation of work – is challenging contemporary welfare states. Most of the existing research, however, focuses on its effect on labor market outcomes, such as employment or wage levels. In contrast, this paper studies the implications of technological change for welfare state attitudes and preferences. Compared to previous work on this topic, this paper adopts a much broader perspective regarding different kinds of social policy. Using data from the European Social Survey, we find that individual automation risk is positively associated with support for redistribution, but negatively with support for social investment policies (partly depending on the specific measure of automation risk that is used), while there is no statistically significant association with support for basic income. We also find a moderating effect of the overall size of the welfare state on the micro-level association between risk and preferences.

scholarly journals New social risk groups, industrial relations regimes and union membership

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 242-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young-Kyu Shin ◽  
Tuomas Ylä-Anttila
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Logistic Models ◽  
Single Parents ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Social Risk ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Country Level

The literature on new social risk (NSR) groups, such as single parents and temporary workers, has argued that they are less likely to join trade unions than other employees. It has been suggested that this is due to the unions’ incapacity or unwillingness to promote policies that mediate NSRs. We argue that there are differences in unionization between different NSR groups, and that country-level institutional structures, operationalized here as industrial relations (IR) regimes, have effects on how likely NSR groups are to unionize. Our multilevel logistic models using European Social Survey (ESS) data produce three main results: (1) family policy-related NSR groups (single parents, female employees with children and female caregivers) are more – not less – unionized than the average worker; (2) precarious workers (low-skilled service employees, temporary employees and part-timers) are, indeed, less unionized than average but (3) this result concerns mostly the liberal and transitional IR regimes.

scholarly journals Conflictive preferences towards social investments and transfers in mature welfare states: The cases of unemployment benefits and childcare provision

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius R. Busemeyer ◽  
Erik Neimanns
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Public Provision ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Policy Fields ◽  
The Unemployed

This article explores potential cleavages and conflicts between political support coalitions of social investment versus classical social transfer policies. To that extent, we analyse international survey data from the European Social Survey (ESS) for 21 European countries. Our central finding is that different welfare state beneficiary groups perceive and react negatively to increased government involvement in policy fields from which they do not benefit themselves: single parents are more likely to oppose government support for the unemployed when long-term replacement rates in the unemployment benefit scheme are high. Vice versa, the unemployed are less likely to support the public provision of childcare services if the latter is already well-funded. This finding has implications for the study of welfare states in general because it implies that in mature welfare states, political conflicts may be less about the welfare state as such, but about the distribution of welfare state services and benefits between different groups of beneficiaries.

scholarly journals The Role of Individual- and Contextual-Level Social Capital in Product Boycotting: A Multilevel Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 949 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Zasuwa
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Consumer Participation ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Consumer Activism ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The Individual

Product boycotts represent an important form of sustainable consumption, as withholding purchasing can restrain firms from damaging the natural environment or breaking social rules. However, our understanding of consumer participation in these protests is limited. Most previous studies have focused on the psychological and economic determinants of product boycotting. Drawing on social capital literature, this study builds a framework that explains how individual- and contextual-level social capital affects consumer participation in boycotts of products. A multilevel logistic regression analysis of 29 country representative samples derived from the European Social Survey (N = 54221) shows that at the individual level product boycotting is associated with a person’s social ties, whereas at the country level, generalized trust and social networks positively affect consumer decisions to take part in these protests. These results suggest that to better understand differences among countries in consumer activism, it is necessary to consider the role of social capital as an important predictor of product boycotting.

scholarly journals Support for a universal basic income: A demand–capacity paradox?

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Parolin ◽  
Linus Siöland
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Policy Proposal ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Welfare Benefits ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Country Level

Debate around a universal basic income (UBI) tends to focus on the economic and social implications of the policy proposal. Less clear, however, are the factors influencing support for a UBI. Using the 2016 European Social Survey, we investigate how trade union membership and left political ideology (central to power resources theory) and attitudes towards immigrants’ access to welfare benefits (central to welfare state chauvinism) affect individual support for a UBI. We also investigate how country-level differences in levels of social spending moderate individual-level UBI support. Results from multi-level models suggest that a broader coalition of UBI supporters can generally be found in countries where social spending is low. Specifically, we find that welfare state chauvinism is more likely to be associated with negative attitudes towards a UBI in countries with high levels of spending, but has only a weak association with UBI support in low-spending countries. Similarly, political ideology is more consequential in explaining UBI support in countries with higher levels of spending. These tensions form a demand–capacity paradox: the countries which are presumably least equipped to implement a UBI see the most broad-based support for the policy.

Gender equality and work–family conflict from a cross-national perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 385-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayle Kaufman ◽  
Hiromi Taniguchi
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Ideology ◽  
Logistic Models ◽  
Work Family Conflict ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Gender Egalitarianism ◽  
Country Level ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Work Family ◽  
The Individual

This study examines the relationship between gender ideology at the individual level, gender equality at the country level, and women and men’s experiences of work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW). We use data from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme as well as the 2011 to 2015 Human Development Reports. Our sample consists of 24,547 respondents from 37 countries. Based on multilevel mixed-effects logistic models, we find that women are more likely than men to experience WIF and FIW. At the individual level, traditional gender ideology positively predicts WIF and FIW. Women and men who reside in more gender-unequal countries have a higher likelihood of FIW while men in these contexts also are more likely to experience WIF. Societal gender inequality is more consequential for those who hold less traditional gender ideology. In conclusion, gender egalitarianism at the individual level and gender equality at the country level are both associated with less WIF and FIW. Policies that seek to address work–family balance should incorporate measures to promote gender equality.

scholarly journals Introduction: Basic Income in European Welfare States: Opportunities and Constraints

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurgen De Wispelaere ◽  
Louise Haagh
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Work Requirement ◽  
The World ◽  
Pipe Dream ◽  
Income Assistance ◽  
Permanent Residents

In the space of a mere five years, basic income has become something of a global policy phenomenon. The proposal to grant all permanent residents of a political territory a regular cash transfer on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement (Van Parijs and Vanderborght, 2017) is actively discussed at the highest levels of policy-making across the world, including by international institutions such as OECD, IMF or the World Bank. At the same time, several country surveys indicate the basic income idea is gaining considerable traction amongst the general public, with support for basic income in the latest wave of the European Social Survey (ESS) averaging slightly above 50 per cent (Lee, 2018). This suggests basic income has now firmly moved away from a mere ‘philosophical pipe dream’ to being considered as a serious alternative to conditional income assistance (Van Parijs, 2013; Haagh, 2017).

Basic Human Values and Attitudes Towards a Universal Basic Income in Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwangeun Choi
Keyword(s):  
Negative Relationship ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Human Values ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Welfare State Development ◽  
Self Transcendence ◽  
Moderating Role

Abstract This study contributes to the emerging literature on public opinion on a universal basic income (UBI) not only by investigating the role of basic human values in influencing support for UBI but also by examining the moderating role of welfare state development in the association between basic human values and UBI support. Using the European Social Survey (ESS) Round 8 in 2016, which has an item asking whether to support UBI and the 21-item measure of human values that is based on the Schwartz theory of basic human values, the results show that individual universalism that is a self-transcendence value is positively and significantly associated with support for UBI, while the other self-transcendence value, benevolence, has a negative relationship with that; the two self-enhancement values, power and achievement, are positively linked to support for UBI. Additionally, in advanced welfare states, people who are more inclined towards individual universalism are more likely to support UBI; by contrast, in underdeveloped welfare states, this relationship is not apparent.

scholarly journals Who Wants to Work More? Multilevel Study on Underemployment of Working Mothers in 22 European Countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 283
Author(s):  
Milla Salin ◽  
Jouko Nätti
Keyword(s):  
Working Mothers ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Country Level ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Market Situation ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Individual

This study examines underemployment of working mothers in 22 European countries. Underemployed mothers are defined as those who wish to work longer hours than they are currently working. Compared to unemployment and employment in general, the research tradition of underemployment is less established. This article contributes to the existing knowledge on underemployment in two ways. First, it focuses on a specific group of workers: mothers. Secondly, while the vast majority of earlier studies has concentrated on single countries, this study is cross-national. Using data from the 2010/2011 European Social Survey (ESS), a multilevel analysis provides three major findings. First, underemployment exists in all countries examined, but the prevalence varies significantly. Second, the prevalence and depth (i.e., how large is the gap between preferred and current working hours) of underemployment are not necessarily correlated; a high prevalence can be accompanied by shallower underemployment and vice versa. Third, at the individual-level, underemployment particularly hurts mothers who are in a more insecure position in terms of their economic and labor market situation. At the country level, underemployment is related to a poorer economic situation and less-extensive childcare system.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document