Decent Incomes for All
Improving Policies in Europe
Bea Cantillon editor John Hills editor Tim Goedemé editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
Published:10th Jan '19
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
In 2000, the first social agenda in the history of the European Union was launched, and the endeavor to combat poverty came increasingly to the forefront as a specific area for EU policy cooperation and coordination. Regrettably, however, little progress has been achieved so far, either at the national or European level. On the contrary, the EU's social fabric is under major stress: convergence in national living standards has halted or reversed while progress in terms of poverty reduction in the last decades has been disappointing in most EU Member States. In Europe, despite high social spending and work-related welfare reforms, poverty often remains a largely intractable problem for policymakers and a persistent reality for many European citizens. In Decent Incomes for All, the authors shed new light on recent poverty trends in the European Union and the corresponding responses by European welfare states. They analyze the effect of social and fiscal policies before, during, and after the recent economic crisis and study the impact of alternative policy packages on poverty and inequality. The volume also explores how social investment and local initiatives of social innovation can contribute to tackling poverty, while recognizing that there are indeed structural constraints on the increase of the social floor and difficult trade-offs involved in reconciling work and poverty reduction. Academics and graduate students in comparative social policy, inclusion and anti-poverty policy, sociology, and public economics will find the book to be a particularly helpful resource in their work.
Poverty might be even more widespread-and differently distributed across countries and household types within the EU-than what appears by the usual 'at risk of poverty' indicator. Exploring different methodological approaches, this book presents a complex view of what happened where before and during the Great Recession, as well as the differential ability of individual countries to protect the poor through their policy choices. The lessons these analyses teach at the substantive and methodological level offer crucial suggestions on how progress might be achieved at the national and EU level in granting a decent income to both workers' and jobless people's households. * Chiara Saraceno, PhD, Professor Emerita, WZB Berlin Social Science Center; honorary fellow, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin *
With European welfare states under economic pressure, policymakers have taken their eyes off the poverty reduction ball, with the inevitable result that poverty has worsened as social protection provisions have been allowed to erode. This book by some of Europe's leading social policy scholars vividly illustrates how top-quality research can highlight social issues, provide the evidence to better understand them, and point to appropriate policy responses. It is a timely reminder of the important role that a decent income safety net can play in promoting well-being and setting the social foundations for sustainable economic prosperity. * Peter Saunders, PhD, DipEcThy, Professor, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney; President, Foundation for International Studies on Social Security *
ISBN: 9780190849696
Dimensions: 157mm x 236mm x 31mm
Weight: 590g
344 pages