The Welfare State and Antipoverty Policy in Rich Countries

Marx, Ive; Nolan, Brian; Olivera, Javier

doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-59429-7.00024-8

Cited by 45 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 153 publications

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“…when benefits are selective. The underlying argument is that selective benefit systems are cheaper, entail lower taxes and are more conducive to economic growth, which benefits the poor directly (Marx, Nolan and Olivera 2015). However, several lines of counter-arguments have been established against targeting.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Transfers and Income Inequality in Bulgaria

Mihaylova

Bratoeva-Manoleva

2017

South East European Journal of Economics and Business

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The paper analyzes the distributional effects of social transfers in Bulgaria in the period 2000-2014, using income inequality decomposition by factor components. The results suggest that social transfers mitigate income inequality, but this effect varies depending on the type of transfer. Pensions exert the strongest influence due to their significant share in total income, which also rises over time. Family allowances are pro-poor in nature, but because of their small share in beneficiaries’ total income, their impact on overall inequality is much weaker. “Other social benefits” have the weakest inequality-reducing effect, which is due to their higher concentration towards the richest decile and increasing share in total income. Despite the inequality-decreasing impact of social transfers, we argue that they should not be regarded as the sole remedy for the sharp income disparities in the country, but need to be accompanied by relevant active labor market policies.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Transfers and Income Inequality in Bulgaria

Mihaylova

Bratoeva-Manoleva

2017

South East European Journal of Economics and Business

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“…Moreover, the 'at risk of poverty' rate considers only the bottom part of the income distribution, while the whole distribution matters for the Gini coefficient. Different Gini coefficients might therefore correspond to the same 'at risk of poverty' rate and a particular Gini coefficient might correspond to different 'at risk of poverty' rates, as also noted by Marx, Nolan and Olivera (2015). We therefore also look at the association revealed by data.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…As highlighted by Marx, Nolan and Olivera (2015), based on the seminal works of Amartya Sen, a headcount poverty target may provide a perverse incentive to policymakers to target those who are below but close to the poverty threshold (because those people can lifted over the poverty threshold in a much easier way than the very poor). A poverty gap target may provide incentives to consider all the poor, including those who are very poor…”

Section: Deriving Income Poverty Indicators From the Eu-wide Distribumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Marx, Nolan and Olivera (2015) highlight that research to establish better poverty thresholds than 60 percent of the median income, such as the cost of a specific basket of goods and services, has had a quite limited impact on policy formulation. Coudouel, Hentschel and Wodon (2002) also provide many useful guidelines for the development of new indicators, some of which also consider the depth and severity of poverty.…”

Section: Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While according to Atkinson, Marlier and Nolan (2004), the task force that helped to develop the social indicators highlighted that the 'at risk of poverty' indicator does not provide a basis for assessing people as 'poor', the European Commission and the Council subsequently agreed to label the indicator as 'at risk of poverty'. Poverty has many different definitions, as summarised by, for example, Coudouel, Hentschel and Wodon (2002), Marx, Nolan and Olivera (2015) and Weziak-Bialowolska (2016). However, a standard definition of poverty, which coincides with the everyday use of the word 'poverty', refers to a situation in which the individual has little money and few possessions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Why is it So Hard to Reach the EU’s Poverty Target?

Darvas

2018

Soc Indic Res

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The European Union's Lisbon strategy goal of tackling poverty was a notable failure, while the Europe 2020 strategy's poverty target is out of reach. Both strategies were based on variants of the 'at risk of poverty' indicator, which has an inappropriate and misleading name. We demonstrate theoretically and empirically by cross-section, time series and panel cointegration evidence, that the 'at risk of poverty' indicator essentially measures income inequality, not poverty. Our calculations show that even after taking into account the positive impact that expected economic growth should have on material deprivation and low work intensity, the Gini coefficient of income inequality would have to fall by 3.5 points in each EU country if the Europe 2020 poverty target is to be reached, which is implausible. Huge differences between national poverty thresholds make the EU-wide poverty aggregate pointless. We approximate the EU-wide distribution of income and use it calculate EU-wide poverty indicators. The political agreement between EU member states expressed the goal of reducing poverty, not inequality. There are good reasons to aim for lower income inequality, but a political agreement would be needed to set an inequality goal and corresponding policies. Megbecsüljük az uniós szintű jövedelemelosztást, amely segítségével az EU egészére kiterjedő szegénységi mutatókat számolunk. Az EU tagállamok közötti politikai megállapodás a szegénység csökkentésére vonatkozott, nem pedig a jövedelemegyenlőtlenségek csökkentésére. Bár felhozhatóak indokok az alacsonyabb jövedelmi egyenlőtlenségre való törekvés mellett, de politikai egyetértésre lenne szükség az egyenlőtlenségi cél és az ennek megfelelő gazdasági és szociális politikák meghatározásához.

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Family, Poverty, and Social Policy Interventions

Szarfenberg

2021

The Palgrave Handbook of Family Sociology in Europe

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The Welfare State and Antipoverty Policy in Rich Countries

Cited by 45 publications

References 153 publications

Social Transfers and Income Inequality in Bulgaria

Social Transfers and Income Inequality in Bulgaria

Why is it So Hard to Reach the EU’s Poverty Target?

Family, Poverty, and Social Policy Interventions

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