But what about that nice house you own? The impact of asset tests in minimum income schemes in Europe: An empirical exploration

2020 ◽  
pp. 095892872097013
Author(s):  
Sarah Marchal ◽  
Sarah Kuypers ◽  
Ive Marx ◽  
Gerlinde Verbist
Keyword(s):  
Household Finance ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Microsimulation Model ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Consumption Survey ◽  
European Welfare States

Means-tested transfer schemes in Europe and elsewhere tend to include not only income tests but also asset tests of various sorts. The role of asset tests in minimum income protection provisions has been extensively researched in the Anglo-Saxon context. Far fewer authors have assessed the role of asset tests on social policy in a continental European context. Although asset tests may be useful in singling out the more deserving of the poor, we know relatively little of their actual impact on eligibility and social outcomes in European welfare states. This paper looks at the prevalence and design of asset tests in European minimum income protection schemes. We distinguish between two main types of asset tests: outright disqualification when assets reach a certain value, versus a more gradual tapering at a fictional rate of return. We then analyse in greater detail how asset tests in Belgium and Germany, as representatives of these two types, affect minimum income protection eligibility and poverty outcomes. We use the EUROMOD microsimulation model on the Household Finance and Consumption Survey data in order to assess the effects of asset tests. This survey was explicitly designed to more realistically reflect assets and capital incomes.

Investing in subsidized childcare to reduce poverty

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-319
Author(s):  
Tine Hufkens ◽  
Francesco Figari ◽  
Dieter Vandelannoote ◽  
Gerlinde Verbist
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Microsimulation Model ◽  
Employment Opportunities ◽  
Subsidized Childcare ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
European Welfare States

Expanding childcare is often considered as a suitable way to enhance employment opportunities for mothers with young children as well as to reduce child poverty. In this study, the authors critically investigate this assertion by simulating a set of scenarios of increasing subsidized childcare slots and mothers’ employment. For a variety of European welfare states, the impact on poverty and on the government’s budget is estimated using the European microsimulation model EUROMOD. The findings suggest that to achieve significant poverty reductions among young children, both additional childcare slots and increased mothers’ employment should be well targeted. The expenditures for additional childcare slots can to a large extent be recovered by the government receipts generated by the additional employment; however, there appears to be a trade-off between the extra revenue that can be generated and the extent of poverty reduction.

Convergence from below? The reform of minimum income protection in France and the UK

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Clegg
Keyword(s):  
Safety Net ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Political Economies ◽  
Working Age ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Institutional Legacies ◽  
European Welfare States

Through a systematic comparison of major reforms to minimum income benefits for people of working age in France and the UK, this paper assesses the scope for cross-national convergence in this growing sector of European welfare states. It shows that while differing institutional legacies have shaped the precise design of the new minimum income systems that have been put in place on each side of the Channel in recent years, there is also evidence of an increasingly common conceptualisation of the function of the last safety net and its articulation with the labour market, despite the two countries' still very different political economies. This suggests the potential across welfare states for convergence “from below” on broader understandings of the role of social security provisions in regulating economic life.

scholarly journals Smaller net or just fewer to catch? Disentangling the causes for the varying sizes of minimum income schemes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jussi Tervola ◽  
Merita Jokela ◽  
Joonas Ollonqvist
Keyword(s):  
Social Assistance ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Weak Evidence

The sizes of minimum income schemes vary significantly even in welfare states that are considered similar. For example among Nordic countries, the share of recipients is almost double in Finland compared to Nordic peers. Considering the strong political will to diminish the receipt of last-resort benefits, we demonstrate a methodological framework to evaluate the reasons for varying number of beneficiaries and apply it to two Nordic countries, Finland and Sweden. By using microsimulation of eligibility rates, we examine the role of social assistance legislation, first-tier benefits and non-take-up. Relatively high number of beneficiaries in Finland is traced back to social assistance policies such as higher norm levels and earning disregard but also to lower non-take-up rate of social assistance benefits, which potentially reflects looser discretion and asset test. We also find some, albeit weak, evidence that the implementation reform of social assistance in Finland 2017 has further reduced non-take-up.

scholarly journals Foundations in the Netherlands: Toward a Diversified Social Model?

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (13) ◽  
pp. 1833-1843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo N. M. Schuyt ◽  
Barbara M. Gouwenberg ◽  
Barry L. K. Hoolwerf
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Nonprofit Sector ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Budget Cuts ◽  
Income Source

This article describes the history, development, and current position of Dutch foundations. In the past, the philanthropy sector and foundations initiated many nonprofit services in the Netherlands. Along with the growth of the welfare state, philanthropy was sidelined. Due to public funding, the pillarized Dutch nonprofit sector extended strongly. However, despite its large scale it shows a special feature. Most nonprofits are still privately governed institutions although publicly funded. In the 1980s, governmental budget cuts forced the nonprofits to embrace the market as income source. A dualistic model got dominancy or state or market. At the end of the 20th century, however, philanthropy revived and a new philanthropy sector emerged. The article addresses the issue of the role of philanthropy in changing (European) welfare states. Are we experiencing further marketization and privatization—toward a so-called Anglo-Saxon shareholder model—or are we seeing a continuation of the so-called Rhineland, multistakeholder model of government, market, and philanthropy?

scholarly journals Understanding the Role of Rural Poor’s Endogenous Impetus in Poverty Reduction: Evidence from China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Liu ◽  
Fubin Huang ◽  
Zihan Wang ◽  
Chuanmin Shuai ◽  
Jiaxin Li
Keyword(s):  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Physical Capital ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Partial Least Squares Model ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Impact

Motivating the endogenous impetus of the poor to eradicate poverty is an endogenous dilemma that is difficult to solve using the current external poverty alleviation model. In this paper, based on the field survey data of 1112 poor rural households in China, we examine the impact of the poor’s endogenous impetus on their poverty reduction. Firstly, we identify two different components of endogenous impetus: thought impetus and behavior impetus. Secondly, the poverty reduction (livelihood status) of farmers was used as an endogenous variable to construct a partial least squares model to verify our explanation of the role of endogenous impetus of the poor in poverty reduction. The results indicate that (1) both thought impetus and behavior impetus have a positive impact on the livelihood status of the poor; (2) the human capital, physical capital, and social capital of the poor have a positive relationship with the two components of endogenous impetus; and (3) endogenous impetus plays a mediation role between livelihood capital and livelihood status. As expected, human and physical capital have a positive and significant relationship with poverty reduction. The important enlightenment of this study is that it is very important to motivate the poor’s endogenous impetus of escaping poverty in addition to improving external conditions such as livelihood capital owned by farmers in an effort to realize sustainable poverty reduction.

scholarly journals Redistribution in a joint income–wealth perspective: A cross-country comparison

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Kuypers ◽  
Francesco Figari ◽  
Gerlinde Verbist
Keyword(s):  
Joint Distribution ◽  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Household Finance ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Microsimulation Model ◽  
Country Comparison ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Redistributive Effects ◽  
Distribution Of Income ◽  
Consumption Survey

AbstractRedistribution is usually understood in terms of income, as a resource used to rank individuals as well as determine tax liabilities or benefit entitlements. Yet, it is increasingly argued that more prominence should be given to the joint distribution of income and wealth and interest into the taxation of wealth for redistributive purposes has largely increased. By including income and wealth data from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey into the tax–benefit microsimulation model EUROMOD, we add two novel aspects to the literature. First, we include the analysis of taxes on wealth and wealth transfers. Second, we evaluate redistributive effects of tax–benefit systems against the joint income–wealth distribution instead of income only. We show that expressing living standards in terms of both income and wealth results in considerable reranking of individuals, which in turn leads to a lower redistributive impact of tax–benefit systems than is traditionally considered.

Southern European welfare states and homelessness: Portugal and Greece

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-128
Author(s):  
Nikos Kourachanis
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Intervention ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
Intervention Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
European Welfare States

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare homelessness policies in Portugal and Greece. Design/methodology/approach After a brief overview of the relationship between welfare regimes and homelessness, the characteristics of homelessness policies within the South-European regime are studied. Subsequently, by employing empirical data, a comparison between the homelessness policies of these two countries is attempted through three axes of analysis: the historical emergence of homelessness policies; the impact of the memoranda, as a series of fiscal measures associated with welfare retrenchment, on the deterioration of homelessness; and the characteristics of the social policies being developed. Findings It is noted that the two countries consolidate a residual social intervention model that fails to address homelessness adequately. Originality/value This is the first attempt to compare homelessness policies between Portugal and Greece.

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