The Great Recession as a ‘stress test’ of migrant incorporation in Europe. Are Southern European countries really lame ducks?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Ponzo
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
European Model ◽  
Economic Downturns ◽  
Migrant Integration ◽  
Southern European Countries

Abstract Southern European countries are generally portrayed as lame ducks when it comes to migrant integration. In this article, I will analyse some of the reasons that have led to this outcome including potential biases in migration studies. I argue that Southern European countries in fact hold their own specific ways of incorporating migrants which may be equally or even more positive than those of older immigration countries. At the same time, I maintain that they appear rather heterogeneous in this regard, questioning the idea of a single Southern European model. I will test these hypotheses by comparing Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece with some Western European older immigration countries and by observing the trends of migrant incorporation during the Great Recession which started in 2008. The economic crisis is here regarded as both a factor of change and a ‘stress test’ of the actual robustness of migrant incorporation in the target countries. The empirical data are framed in a typology of migrant incorporation modes conceived of as a heuristic tool to conceptualise the processes occurring during deep economic downturns.

scholarly journals A fuzzy set approach to economic crisis, austerity and public health. Part I. European countries’ conformity to ideal types during the economic downturn

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (18_suppl) ◽  
pp. 41-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese Saltkjel ◽  
Mari Holm Ingelsrud ◽  
Espen Dahl ◽  
Knut Halvorsen
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Fuzzy Set ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
Welfare Generosity

Aims: This is the first part of a two-part paper that takes an explorative approach to assess crisis and austerity in European countries during the Great Recession. The ultimate aim of this two-part paper is to explore the “crisis–austerity” thesis by Stuckler and Basu and assess whether it is the interplay between austerity and crisis, rather than the current economic crisis per se, that can led to deterioration in population health. In Part I of this paper we offer one way of operationalizing crisis severity and austerity. We examine countries as specific configurations of crisis and policy responses and classify European countries into “ideal types.” Methods: Cases included were 29 countries participating in the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) surveys. Based on fuzzy set methodology, we constructed two fuzzy sets, “austerity” and “severe crisis.” Austerity was measured by changes in welfare generosity; severe crisis was measured by changes in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth. Results: In the initial phase of the Great Recession, most countries faced severe crisis combined with no austerity. From 2010–2011 onward, there was a divide between countries. Some countries consistently showed signs of austerity policies (with or without severe crisis); others consistently did not. Conclusions: The fuzzy set ideal-type analysis shows that the European countries position themselves, by and large, in configurations of crisis and austerity in meaningful ways that allow us to explore the “crisis–austerity” thesis by Stuckler and Basu. This exploration is the undertaking of Part II of this paper.

scholarly journals National Identities in Troubled Times: Germany and Southern European Countries after the Great Recession

Genealogy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Antonia María Ruiz Jiménez ◽  
Nieves Aquino Llinares ◽  
Elena Ferri Fuentevilla
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
National Identities ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Compensation Mechanism ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
Southern European Countries

This article aims to elucidate the effects of the Great Recession and the retrenchment of welfare on national identity in several European countries. While different authors have observed that good economic performance, redistribution, and the growth of welfare strengthen countries as political communities of solidarity, there is much less empirical evidence regarding the consequences of an economic crisis for national identity. To investigate these consequences, we focus on a set of countries where the 2008 Great Recession resulted in different impacts, namely, Germany and four countries in Southern Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece). We use secondary quantitative data from Eurobarometer surveys to test aggregated and individual hypotheses relating to both the size and direction of the Great Recession’s effects on national identity. Our results suggest that the roles and impacts of economic variables may be different depending on the relative economic performance of a country within its own context. It seems easier to confirm that good economic performance, in relative terms, might strengthen national identity than proving that poor economic performance will weaken national identity. Even if no definitive empirical evidence can be given at this point, our data suggest a rationalization or compensation mechanism such that citizens look for where to anchor their strong national identities after they have decided on them. If an economy is performing well, then it would become a good anchorage for holding a strong national identity; however, if an economy is not performing well, then economic factors will cease to be a fundamental element for national identity holders.

Stuck in the parental nest?

2018 ◽  
pp. 334-357
Author(s):  
Fernanda Mazzotta ◽  
Lavinia Parisi
Keyword(s):  
Great Recession ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Sharp Decrease ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Leaving Home ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Returning Home ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Southern European Countries

This chapter provides an extensive analysis of leaving and returning home by young people in 14 European countries. It analyzes the effect of the Great Recession, considering a period from 2005 to 2013 and controlling for two key determinants of living arrangements: employment and partnership. The main result is that the Great Recession has reduced the probability of leaving home and increased the probability of returning home, with differences across country groups. In particular, the probability of leaving home in Southern and Eastern European countries slightly declines during the period of analysis, whereas a sharp decrease is recorded in Continental countries at the beginning of the Great Recession. Southern European countries show an increase in home-returning throughout the entire period. Finally, both leaving and returning home seem more closely linked to partnership than to employment.

scholarly journals Social origins and the decision to leave university during the Great recession: the role of the field of study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loris Vergolini ◽  
Eleonora Vlach
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Drop Out Rate

The recent economic downturn has had profound influences on contemporary European societies. This paper analyzes how the Great Recession affected the drop-out rate among university students in Italy, and whether their chosen field of study moderated its effect. To examine the potential long-term effects of this economic downturn on social inequality, we also explore whether students from less-advantaged families who enrolled in prestigious fields were those pushed out from university in disproportionally high numbers. We investigate the interacting influence of the economic crisis, social inequalities and field of study on drop-out rate using data from the Istat “Survey on the educational and occupational paths of high school graduates” in two cohorts of university students (one who attended university prior to and one during the Great Recession). Results obtained from propensity score matching show that the economic crisis had a negative effect on university participation, which was however less strong for Medicine students. Students from lower socio-economic backgrounds in the most remunerative fields of study (those leading to liberal professions), tended to leave university more often than their well-off peers.

North to South Migration

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asaf Augusto
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Global South ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
Family Networks ◽  
Global North ◽  
Migration Theories ◽  
Southern European Countries

The economic crisis set in motion new migration trends in southern European countries. In Portugal, post-crisis migration has occurred in two main directions: northwards to more prosperous European countries and southwards to former Portuguese colonies in Africa—notably oil-producing Angola. Migration from the Global North to the Global South has received little attention in migration theories. In this study, the author argues that Portuguese migration to Angola should be understood not only as a result of the economic crisis, but also as a complex web of intersections in the context of Portuguese culture, Portugal’s linguistic heritage in Angola, family networks, discourses, myths and colonial power.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 258-274
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Hewitt
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
First Century ◽  
National Commission ◽  
Narrative Form ◽  
Simple Explanation ◽  
Global Finance ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Hollywood Films

This chapter turns to the twenty-first century to study the implications of narrative form to the representation of contemporary fiscal catastrophe. It argues that the legacy of the narrative dispute between the Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians can be seen in contemporary explanations of the Great Recession, including the 2011 report generated by the National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis and two Hollywood films, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short. All three texts are shaped by both the imperative to represent the complexity of global finance and the impulse to offer a simple explanation.

Returning to the parental home after the Great Recession: a matter of partnership dissolution or unemployment?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernanda Mazzotta ◽  
Lavinia Parisi
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Parental Home ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Returning Home ◽  
Two Peaks

Abstract This article provides an analysis of the return of young people to the parental home in 23 European countries. It analyses the effect of the Great Recession, considering the period between 2006 and 2014 and controlling for two key determinants of living arrangements: employment and partnership. The main finding is that the Great Recession has increased the probability of returning home: two peaks are observed in 2009 and 2011, with a percentage of returnees almost double that at the beginning of the period under consideration. Returning home seems more closely linked to partnership than to employment.

Elusive equalities and the Great Recession: restoration, retrenchment and redistribution

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-441
Author(s):  
Janine Brodie
Keyword(s):  
Great Depression ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Crisis Responses

AbstractThe 2008 global financial meltdown, commonly called the ‘Great Recession’, was the most serious crisis in capitalism since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and a fundamental repudiation of neoliberal governing assumptions. This paper focuses on the contexts that informed two governmental responses to this economic crisis — restoration and retrenchment through public austerity. It explains that these responses were contingent, experimental, inequitable and, in the end, unsuccessful. Restoration and retrenchment, however, were entirely consistent with previous neoliberal crisis-responses and the abiding ambitions of this governing project. As the economic crisis crawled into the second half of a decade, the idea of inequality was increasingly identified as an underlying cause of crisis and its amelioration as a necessary part of rebuilding economies and communities in a post-crisis era. The paper tracks the case for the revival of equality politics and policies in the early twenty-first century.

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