scholarly journals Methodological discussion of the income measure in the European Social Survey round 1

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik ◽  
Uwe Warner
Keyword(s):  
Household Income ◽  
Demographic Variable ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Accurate Method ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Income Sources ◽  
National Tax ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cross National

During the last decade, the number of cross-national and cross-cultural empirical research has increased; at the same time the need for comparative survey data grew considerably. Also more and more politicians and policy decision makers are looking across the national and cultural borders of their countries. Looking at the question of total net household income, we discus advantages and weaknesses of an input harmonized social survey. We demonstrate the impact of the national social, economic and legal particularities on the answering behavior of the surveyed respondent by comparing across countries the interview outcomes from the European Social Survey (ESS) and the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). ESS used a crude measurement of the total net household income interviewing only one randomly selected household member. ECHP surveyed all persons living in a sampled household and asked all income sources and components of the respondents and the household. In this paper we use ECHP as a reference showing the most accurate method to measure income, and compare this with the interview results of ESS. For comparative social surveys we propose a set of questions on income that takes into account the national circumstances. We get comparable data across countries reflecting the national tax systems, the particular practices in the earning structures and the national habits in summing up the different income components. We expect that such a new fieldwork instrument integrated into the data production of cross-national surveys may increase the analytical power of the comparative socio-demographic variable "total net household income".

scholarly journals Design and development of the income measures in the European Social Surveys

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juergen Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik ◽  
Uwe Warner
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Reference Data ◽  
National Income ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Social Surveys ◽  
Household Members ◽  
The Impact

In social surveys "total net household income" is an indicator of the re-spondent's socio-economic status. It describes the economic situation of household members and their positions in an income distribution. It is used as an explanatory variable in mobility studies and as a social-demographic back-ground item in inequality research. This paper shows the impact of questionnaire design on measurements of "total net household income" in social surveys. In particular we illustrate how the measurement quality of the income variable depends on the data sources about the national income distributions used to design the answer categories offered to the respondent. Beginning with the fourth round of European Social Survey fielded in 2008 and the following years, the income categories for the question about the "total net household income" amount are built on national income distribution of households resident in the country under study. The response categories of the modified ESS questionnaires have been based on deciles of the actual household income distribution in the country in question. The central organizers of European Social Survey (ESS) instruct the national questionnaire designers to define the income brackets for the answer categories using the deciles of the most reliable national income data source. Analyzing the ESS data from 2008, 2010 and 2012, we found in some countries remarkable divergences from the expected 10% frequencies in each category. In this article we argue that the quality of this new income measure depends on the quality of the reference statistics from which the national household income ranges are derived. The quality of the responses to the survey question about the "total net household income", and finally the quality of the obtained survey measure, depends on the quality of the reference statistics from which the household income categories for the answers is derived. These reference data must cover all types of the household's income from all household members and optimally represent the national distribution of household income across the survey universe. That means first that all possible payments accruing to a household and all its members in a given country must be reported in references, and second that all households in the survey's universe must be represented in the statistics used to detect the answer categories. Then the income brackets for the response categories can be calculated using the 10% percentiles from the income distribution in the reference data. Relevance, accuracy, timeliness, comparability, coherence, accessibility and clarity are quality domains of official statistics used as reference data for the survey measurement. We conclude that the central coordinators of the ESS define and communicate minimum threshold values for quality domains of the reference data. The national coordinators should report deviations. This would give the users of ESS data an insight into the quality of the income measurement.

scholarly journals Regional Variation in Inequality of Educational Opportunity across Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312110198
Author(s):  
Bastian A. Betthäuser ◽  
Caspar Kaiser ◽  
Nhat An Trinh
Keyword(s):  
Regional Variation ◽  
Educational Opportunity ◽  
Large Body ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Inequality Of Educational Opportunity ◽  
Cross National

A large body of literature documents cross-national variation in the level of inequality of educational opportunity (IEO) among children from different social backgrounds. By contrast, relatively little attention has been given to the extent to which IEO varies within counties and across regions. On the basis of data from the European Social Survey, the authors map variation in IEO across regions in Europe and show that IEO varies substantially within counties. This visualization of the heterogeneity of IEO within European countries highlights the need for researchers and policy makers to extend the current focus on cross-national differences and to investigate and address IEO at the regional level. The visualization raises important questions with respect to the contours, causes, and consequences of cross-regional variation in IEO.

scholarly journals Hello pension, goodbye tension? The impact of work and institutions on older workers’ labor market participation in Europe

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Fleischmann ◽  
Ferry Koster ◽  
Pearl Dykstra ◽  
Joop Schippers
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Institutional Characteristics ◽  
Labor Market Participation ◽  
Market Participation ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Welfare State

To sustain the welfare state, several EU countries agreed to take measures aimed at increasing the labor market participation of older workers (European Commission 2001). In this study, we developed a framework integrating individual, work, and institutional characteristics in order to explain the labor market participation of older workers. While prior studies focused mainly on individual characteristics, the present analysis investigated the impact of work and institutions more closely using the European Social Survey. Multilevel analyses across 21 countries showed that work characteristics increased the benefits from work, hence increasing the likelihood of participation among older workers, and that the generosity of institutions discouraged older workers to remain in the labor market.

Political attitudes and trade union membership in the Nordic countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Strøby Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Impact

Do political attitudes influence the likelihood of employees being members of a trade union, and to what extent is this the case in the Nordic countries with their high aggregate levels of membership? In this article, I address these questions using European Social Survey data from 2012. The results show that left-wing political attitudes have the most impact on the likelihood of trade union membership in Sweden and to a lesser extent in Denmark. In Norway and Finland, there is no statistically significant impact. I argue that the impact of left-wing political attitudes on unionization in Sweden and Denmark reflects a conception among employees that trade unions are normative organizations.

scholarly journals When economic and cultural interests align: the anti-immigration voter coalitions driving far right party success in Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphne Halikiopoulou ◽  
Tim Vlandas
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Strong Positive Correlation ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Positive Correlation ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Party Support ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis article contests the view that the strong positive correlation between anti-immigration attitudes and far right party success necessarily constitutes evidence in support of the cultural grievance thesis. We argue that the success of far right parties depends on their ability to mobilize a coalition of interests between their core supporters, that is voters with cultural grievances over immigration and the often larger group of voters with economic grievances over immigration. Using individual level data from eight rounds of the European Social Survey, our empirical analysis shows that while cultural concerns over immigration are a stronger predictor of far right party support, those who are concerned with the impact of immigration on the economy are important to the far right in numerical terms. Taken together, our findings suggest that economic grievances over immigration remain pivotal within the context of the transnational cleavage.

scholarly journals Diversity and Perceptions of Immigration: How the Past Influences the Present

2020 ◽  
pp. 003232172092277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren McLaren ◽  
Anja Neundorf ◽  
Ian Paterson
Keyword(s):  
Generational Differences ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Additive Models ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Past ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
The Uk ◽  
British Sample ◽  
The Impact

The question of whether high immigration produces anti-immigration hostility has vexed researchers across multiple disciplines for decades. And yet, understanding this relationship is crucial for countries dependant on immigrant labour but concerned about its impact on social cohesion. Absent from most of this research are theories about the impact of early-years socialisation conditions on contemporary attitudes. Using the British sample of the European Social Survey (2002–2017) and two innovative approaches to modelling generational differences – generalised additive models and hierarchical age‒period‒cohort models – this paper shows that rather than producing hostility to immigration, being socialised in a context of high immigrant-origin diversity is likely to result in more positive attitudes to immigration later in life. This implies that through generational replacement, countries like the UK are likely to become increasingly tolerant of immigration over time. Importantly, however, a context of high-income inequality may diminish this effect.

Voter Turnout, Information Acquisition and Education: Evidence from 15 European Countries

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Borgonovi ◽  
Beatrice d'Hombres ◽  
Bryony Hoskins
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Information Acquisition ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Compulsory Schooling ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This article examines the impact of education on political participation in 15 European countries. We use data from the European Social Survey and find that education is positively associated with voter turnout and information acquisition about politics and currents affairs. However, when we use exogeneous changes in compulsory schooling to instrument education, we observe a statistically significant causal relationship in the case of information acquisition but not voter turnout.

scholarly journals How does Income Inequality affect the Support for Populist Parties?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Stoetzer ◽  
Johannes Giesecke ◽  
Heike Klüver
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Mediation Analysis ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Causal Mediation Analysis ◽  
The Impact

Recent studies provide evidence that income inequality is a relevant driver for the electoral success of populist parties all over Europe. In this article, we aim to understand how exactly increasing income inequality can lead to support for populist parties. More specifically, we discuss four different attitudinal mechanisms that have been suggested in previous research: economic insecurities, trust in political elites, social integration and social identity. We rely on eight waves of the European Social Survey and find that especially trust in political elites is linked to rising income inequality and populist support. However, a causal mediation analysis shows that none of these mechanisms is sufficient to understand the impact of income inequality onsupport for populists. This finding raises questions regarding the empirical relevance of existing theories to explain how macroeconomic changes in inequality became a pre-condition for the rise of populist parties.

scholarly journals Nowhere Better Than Here?The Subjective Well-Being of German Emigrants and Remigrants

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Erlinghagen
Keyword(s):  
Household Income ◽  
Group Structure ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Demographic Group ◽  
Individual Evaluation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Better Than

The paper investigates in the question if and how the subjective well-being (SWB) of German emigrants, German non-migrants, and German remigrants differ. Based on regression analyses of data from the European Social Survey (ESS) the analyses focus on life satisfaction and happiness as main indicators of SWB. It turns out that German emigrants show increased SWB compared to German non-migrants or remigrants. However, these findings cannot be explained by differences in the socio-economic or socio-demographic group structure. In fact, the increased SWB of emigrants is much more an effect of psychosocial differences and differences in the individual evaluation of household income.

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