IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hdl/wpaper/0901.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Guaranteed Minimum Income for EuropeÂ’’s Elderly. Options and Pitfalls in the Design of a Harmonised Basic Pension Scheme in the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Tim Goedemé
  • Wim Van Lancker

Abstract

Harmonisation of social security systems is back on the agenda of European policy makers. However, the introduction of a harmonised scheme poses severe challenges. In this article we explore some options and difficulties associated with the implementation of a harmonised minimum income protection scheme for the elderly. As earlier contributions to the literature already outlined the practical and ethical arguments in favour of a European basic pension, we take the proposal of a European basic income for the elderly as our starting point and assume that a basic income is philosophically and ethically justified. In this paper, we try to broaden the scope of the discussion to the various and often technical options, difficulties and pitfalls associated with the practical design and implementation of a harmonised European minimum income scheme. Hence, we first offer an overview of minimum income guarantees for the elderly in Europe. Second, we make a detailed assessment of the issues involved in the design of a basic pension. Third, we shed some light on the European dimension of this proposal to, finally, conclude with a sketch of three possible ‘basic pension scenarios’. Our findings confirm that it is one thing to be in favour of a harmonised scheme of minimum income protection, but another to design a realistic and politically feasible proposal.

Suggested Citation

  • Tim Goedemé & Wim Van Lancker, 2009. "A Guaranteed Minimum Income for EuropeÂ’’s Elderly. Options and Pitfalls in the Design of a Harmonised Basic Pension Scheme in the European Union," Working Papers 0901, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    • Handle: RePEc:hdl:wpaper:0901
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://medialibrary.uantwerpen.be/oldcontent/container2453/files/CSB%20WP%202009/CSB_WP_09_01.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:econom:v:69:y:2002:i:274:p:229-43 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Atkinson,Anthony Barnes & Micklewright,John, 1992. "Economic Transformation in Eastern Europe and the Distribution of Income," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521438827.
    3. Jenkins, Stephen P. & Micklewright, John (ed.), 2007. "Inequality and Poverty Re-Examined," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199218127.
    4. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:47:y:2009:i::p:219-233 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Jacques Le Cacheux, 2010. "Funding the EU Budget with a Genuine Own Resource : The Case for a European Tax," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-01880264, HAL.
    6. Tony Fahey, 2005. "The Case for an EU-wide Measure of Poverty," Papers WP169, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    7. Parijs, Philippe Van, 1997. "Real Freedom for All: What (if Anything) Can Justify Capitalism?," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198293576.
    8. Vandenbroucke, Frank, 2002. "The EU and social protection: What should the European Convention propose?," MPIfG Working Paper 02/6, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    9. Maurizio Ferrera, 2009. "The JCMS Annual Lecture: National Welfare States and European Integration: In Search of a ‘Virtuous Nesting’," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 219-233, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gautier, Axel & Wauthy, Xavier, 2012. "Competitively neutral universal service obligations," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 254-261.
    2. Frieda Vandeninden, 2010. "Social Pensions in Europe: The Aim, The Impact and The Cost," CREPP Working Papers 1007, Centre de Recherche en Economie Publique et de la Population (CREPP) (Research Center on Public and Population Economics) HEC-Management School, University of Liège.
    3. Artner, Annamária, 2013. "A fiatalok munkanélküliségének kérdéséhez Európa példáján keresztül [Contribution to the problem of the youth unemployment through the example of Europe]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(12), pages 1370-1392.
    4. Vandeninden, Frieda, 2012. "A Simulation of Social Pensions in Europe," MERIT Working Papers 2012-008, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Juan Luis Londoño & Miguel Székely, 2000. "Persistent Poverty and Excess Inequality: Latin America, 1970-1995," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 3, pages 93-134, May.
    2. Alberto Chilosi, 2014. "The Economic System as an End or as a Means, and the Future of Socialism: An Evolutionary Viewpoint," Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought, in: Riccardo Bellofiore & Ewa Karwowski & Jan Toporowski (ed.), Economic Crisis and Political Economy, chapter 1, pages 10-28, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Iga Magda & Ewa Cukrowska-Torzewska, 2019. "Gender wage gap in the workplace: Does the age of the firm matter?," IBS Working Papers 01/2019, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    4. Klugman, Jeni & Braithwaite, Jeanine, 1998. "Poverty in Russia during the Transition: An Overview," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 13(1), pages 37-58, February.
    5. Dimitris Mavridis & Pálma Mosberger, 2017. "Income Inequality and Incentives. The Quasi-Natural Experiment of Hungary 1914-2008," Working Papers halshs-02797438, HAL.
    6. Daniela Andrén & Thomas Andrén, 2015. "Gender and occupational wage gaps in Romania: from planned equality to market inequality?," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-27, December.
    7. Londoño, Juan Luis & Székely, Miguel, 1997. "Persistent Poverty and Excess Inequality: Latin America, 1970-1995," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 6092, Inter-American Development Bank.
    8. Alan B. Krueger & Jorn-Steffen Pischke, 1995. "A Comparative Analysis of East and West German Labor Markets: Before and After Unification," NBER Chapters, in: Differences and Changes in Wage Structures, pages 405-446, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Chris Doyle, 1996. "The Distributional Consequences During The Early Stages Of Russia'S Transition," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 42(4), pages 493-505, December.
    10. Hossain, Ferdaus & Jensen, Helen H., 2000. "Lithuania's food demand during economic transition," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 31-40, June.
    11. Eva Sierminska, 2004. "Female Income Differentials and Social Benefits: A Four Country Comparison," LIS Working papers 377, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    12. Malkova, Olga, 2020. "Did Soviet elderly employment respond to financial incentives? Evidence from pension reforms," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    13. Jean-Claude Barbier & Fabrice Colomb, 2011. "The unbearable foreignness of EU law in social policy, a sociological approach to law-making," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00639906, HAL.
    14. Francisco H. G. Ferreira, 1999. "Economic transition and the distributions of income and wealth," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 7(2), pages 377-410, July.
    15. Mark Gradstein & Branko Milanovic, 2004. "Does Libertè = Egalité? A Survey of the Empirical Links between Democracy and Inequality with Some Evidence on the Transition Economies," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 515-537, September.
    16. Martin Kahanec & M. Guzi & M. Martišková & M. Paleník & F. Pertold & Z. Siebertová, 2012. "GINI Country Report: Growing Inequalities and their Impacts in the Czech Republic and Slovakia," GINI Country Reports czech_slovak, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    17. Lopez-Rodriguez, Patricia & De la Torre Garcia, Rodolfo, 2000. "Closing the gap: the link between social capital and microfinance services," MPRA Paper 22974, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jun 2009.
    18. Sonin, Konstantin, 2003. "Why the rich may favor poor protection of property rights," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 715-731, December.
    19. Bjorn Gustafsson & Ludmila Nivorozhkina, 1998. "The Distribution of Economic Well-being in Urban Russia at the End of the Soviet Era," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 361-380.
    20. Franziska Gassmann & Bruno Martorano & Jennifer Waidler, 2022. "How Social Assistance Affects Subjective Wellbeing: Lessons from Kyrgyzstan," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(4), pages 827-847, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hdl:wpaper:0901. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Santiago Burone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csbuabe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.