Household Nonemployment, Social Risks and Inequality in Europe

Doctoral thesis (2016)

The dissertation explores interactions between households, states and markets and their relation to socio-economic inequalities among working-age households. The focus lies on three aspects: the ... [more ▼]

The dissertation explores interactions between households, states and markets and their relation to socio-economic inequalities among working-age households. The focus lies on three aspects: the importance of the welfare state, economic risks and opportunities within households, and the link between these two aspects and broader patterns of inequality at the societal level. These are analysed in three empirical studies, using a range of statistical methods (multilevel analysis, event history models and counterfactual analyses of income distributions). In addition, an extensive framework paper provides a background to the analyses, clarifies their relation in theoretical terms, and discusses the results. The first empirical study explores the relation between the regulation of social benefits, social risks, and household nonemployment in 20 European countries using internationally comparative institutional and survey data. The study reveals that eligibility conditions and activation policy vary systematically with the effect of social risks on the probability of household nonemployment. The strength and direction of influence depends on the specific policy area and risk factor. The second study analyses the duration of household nonemployment for British and German couples from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s. Dual joblessness has become longer over time, which is related to changes in the household composition of nonemployed couples. The third analysis evaluates the consequences of welfare shifts between households on changing patterns of inequality between 2005 and 2010. Changes in the distribution of household employment, benefit transfers, and family types in Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Spain are analysed in terms of their contribution to developments in income inequality between households. The analysis of income distributions suggests that changes in socio-demographic and economic household characteristics in a population can have a substantial impact on different income groups. The overarching conclusion of the dissertation is that certain aspects of household composition enhance the risk of lower economic activity and welfare but that the impact of these factors varies strongly according to the broader context the households are situated in. Social policies that have the potential to reduce inequalities between households need to consider possible adverse effects on economic risk structures and spill-over effects to other areas of social protection. Future research should continue studying the household’s role in relation to the market, the state, and individual needs and resources; incorporate additional economic and welfare regime aspects into the analyses; and explore further statistical tools to do so. [less ▲]

La Spirale du déclassement. Essai sur la société des illusions

Book published by Seuil (2016)

Notre civilisation de classe moyenne est à la croisée des chemins. Alors qu'elle définissait le projet des démocraties modernes, elle fait face à des défis majeurs. La recristallisation en masse des ... [more ▼]

Notre civilisation de classe moyenne est à la croisée des chemins. Alors qu'elle définissait le projet des démocraties modernes, elle fait face à des défis majeurs. La recristallisation en masse des inégalités, la mobilité descendante, l'écrasement du pouvoir d'achat des salaires relativement aux prix des biens immobiliers, la paupérisation de cohortes entières de jeunes surdiplômés et la globalisation porteuse d'une montée aux extrêmes de la concurrence forment ensemble une spirale de déclassement aux effets potentiellement dévastateurs. Les inégalités de classes et la fracture des générations se renforcent mutuellement : à raison de la dynamique de repatrimonialisation, les écarts au sein des nouvelles générations sont appelés à se radicaliser. Ce sont autant de phénomènes dissimulés sous le voile du déni, qui risquent de réduire à néant l'ambition de laisser à nos enfants un monde meilleur. À partir de données et de comparaisons internationales inédites, Louis Chauvel récuse ici les illusions qui aggravent nos maux. Car les dénégations qu'on oppose aux difficultés réelles des classes moyennes et populaires, des jeunes et de pans entiers de la société ne font qu'aiguiser les frustrations et un ressentiment général dont la traduction politique s'exacerbe. [less ▲]

Introduction to the Special Issue on Ageing and Well-being

in Social Inquiry into Well-Being (2016), 2(1), 1-3

Between welfare state retrenchments, globalization, and declining returns to credentials: The European middle class under stress

in 2016 Conference Online Program (2016, May)

The Intensity and Shape of Inequality: The ABG Method of Distributional Analysis

in Review of Income and Wealth (2016), 62(1), 5268

Inequality is anisotropic: its intensity varies by income level. We here develop a new tool, the isograph, to focus on local inequality and illustrate these variations. This method yields three ... [more ▼]

Inequality is anisotropic: its intensity varies by income level. We here develop a new tool, the isograph, to focus on local inequality and illustrate these variations. This method yields three coefficients which summarize the shape of inequality: a main coefficient, Alpha, which measures inequality at the median, and two correction coefficients, Beta and Gamma, which pick up any differential curvature at the top and bottom of the distribution. The analysis of a set of 232 microdata samples from 41 different countries in the LIS datacenter archive allows us to provide a systematic overview of the properties of the ABG (Alpha Beta Gamma) coefficients, which are compared both to a set of standard indices (Atkinson indices, generalized entropy, Wolfson polarization, etc.) and the GB2 distribution. This method also provides a smoothing tool that reveals the differences in the shape of distributions (the strobiloid) and how these have changed over time. [less ▲]

Malaise in the Western Middle Classes

E-print/Working paper (2016)

Closing or Persisting Gender Gap? A Cohort Analysis of Education and Wages in the US and Europe

Scientific Conference (2016)

Jeunes générations, inégalités et problèmes sociaux : chômeurs, décrocheurs, Neets, au Luxembourg et chez nos voisins

in Georges, Nathalie; Schronen, Danielle; Urbé, Robert (Eds.) Sozialalmanach Inegalitéiten 2016 (2016)

The international debate on NEETS differs from Luxembourguish realities: the problem associated with unemployment or downward mobile youth as it is described in Japan, Australia or France has no perfect ... [more ▼]

The international debate on NEETS differs from Luxembourguish realities: the problem associated with unemployment or downward mobile youth as it is described in Japan, Australia or France has no perfect equivalent in Luxembourg, where the main problem of youth integration is housing shortage and increasing difficulties to gain autonomy, issues that are exacerbated for the children of immigrants. [less ▲]

Is income equality also better for your cognitive health? A multilevel analysis on trajectories of cognitive function at older ages

in PAA Server (2016)

This paper contributes to research on contextual associations with older-age cognitive function by investigating to which extent country-level income inequality is associated with older-age cognitive ... [more ▼]

This paper contributes to research on contextual associations with older-age cognitive function by investigating to which extent country-level income inequality is associated with older-age cognitive function and decline. Data came from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), providing information on cognitive function (fluency, immediate and delayed recall) of respondents aged 50-80 years coming from a total of 16 European countries that participated in at least two waves of SHARE. A total of 44,303 observations were available at first and second measurement, 13,509 observations at third measurement, and 9,736 observations at fourth measurement. Three-level hierarchical models (measurements nested within individuals nested within countries) were run, showing that income inequality was negatively associated with cognitive level but not with decline. The findings suggest that income inequality is not associated with cognitive trajectories. Mechanisms of maintaining cognitive function at older ages may not be susceptible to country-level income inequalities. [less ▲]

Cognitive inequalities in later life: Cross-country differences in the education-cognition gradient

in Gerontologist (2016), 56(S3), 428-429