IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/ifswps/2005_007.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Welfare States, Social Structure and the Dynamics of Poverty Rates. A comparative study of 16 countries, 1980-2000

Author

Listed:

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is twofold. The primary purpose is to try and explain both the temporal and the spatial variation of poverty rates in terms of unemployment insurance indicators and structural/sociodemographic factors. Secondly, the paper aims to test the 'convergence hypothesis' of the poverty rate, i.e. whether or not poverty rates in modern welfare states have converged in recent decades. The analyses tentatively suggest that structural change in terms of the unemployment rate, the proportion of single-earner households, the female labour-force participation rate, and the proportion of families with children primarily explains the temporal variation in poverty rates. The unemployment insurance factors primarily explain the spatial variation, i.e. variation between countries. In part, however, the temporal variation is explained but the cuts in net replacements in unemployment insurance. This factor alone explains a larger share of the overall variance than all the structural factors put together. Where the convergence hypothesis is concerned, a random-effects model is proposed as a statistical tool for testing convergence (and disperson). The results of this analysis suggest that for the 16 countries and the time frame under review the convergence hypothesis must be rejected, an outcome that is in line with some other analyses presented recently.

Suggested Citation

  • Bäckman, Olof, 2005. "Welfare States, Social Structure and the Dynamics of Poverty Rates. A comparative study of 16 countries, 1980-2000," Arbetsrapport 2005:7, Institute for Futures Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifswps:2005_007
    Note: ISSN 1652-120X ISBN 91-89655-65-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.framtidsstudier.se/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/20051201134859fil2PWNc7fvFPdW2pEwy70s.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wasmer, Etienne, 2002. "Interpreting Europe and US labor markets differences: the specificity of human capital investments," Arbetsrapport 2003:9, Institute for Futures Studies.
    2. Oded Galor & Omer Moav, 2002. "Natural Selection and the Origin of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1133-1191.
    3. Lundqvist, Torbjörn, 2002. "Den starka alkoholstatens fall," Arbetsrapport 2002:3, Institute for Futures Studies.
    4. Westholm, Erik, 2003. "Leaving Rurality Behind. Re-orientation of spatial policies in Sweden," Arbetsrapport 2003:12, Institute for Futures Studies.
    5. Palme, Mårten & Svensson, Ingemar, 2002. "Pathways to Retirement and Retirement Incentives in Sweden," Arbetsrapport 2002:9, Institute for Futures Studies.
    6. Jantti, Markus & Danziger, Sheldon, 2000. "Income poverty in advanced countries," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 309-378, Elsevier.
    7. Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi & Ruhi Saith & Frances Stewart, 2003. "Does it Matter that we do not Agree on the Definition of Poverty? A Comparison of Four Approaches," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 243-274.
    8. Atkinson, Tony & Cantillon, Bea & Marlier, Eric & Nolan, Brian, 2002. "Social Indicators: The EU and Social Inclusion," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199253494.
    9. Anita Haataja, 1999. "Unemployment, Employment and Social Exclusion," LIS Working papers 195, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    10. Andersson, Jenny, 2002. "Alva´s Futures Ideas in the construction of Swedish Futures Studies," Arbetsrapport 2002:5, Institute for Futures Studies.
    11. Daumerie, Béatrice, 2003. "What Future for Europe? New perspectives in post-industrial fertility issues," Arbetsrapport 2003:7, Institute for Futures Studies.
    12. Barnekow, Carl, 2004. "Diskriminering i den statliga sektorn? - En utvärdering av det statliga pensionssystemet," Arbetsrapport 2004:2, Institute for Futures Studies.
    13. Deborah Mitchell & Francis Castles, 1991. "Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism or Four?," LIS Working papers 63, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    14. Lagerlöf, Nils-Petter, 2001. "From Malthus to Modern Growth: Can Epidemics Explain the Three Regimes?," Arbetsrapport 2001:1, Institute for Futures Studies.
    15. White, Halbert, 1982. "Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Misspecified Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 1-25, January.
    16. Ranehill, Eva, 2002. "Social snedrekrytering till högre studier - En litteraturöversikt," Arbetsrapport 2002:10, Institute for Futures Studies.
    17. Tony Atkinson & Bea Cantillon & Eric Marlier & Brian Nolan, 2002. "Indicators for Social Inclusion," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 7-28.
    18. Johan Fritzell & Veli-Matti Ritakallio, 2004. "Societal Shifts and Changed Patterns of Poverty," LIS Working papers 393, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    19. Rydell, Ingrid, 2005. "Equity, Justice, Interdependence: Intergenerational Transfers and the Ageing Population," Arbetsrapport 2005:5, Institute for Futures Studies.
    20. Karel van den Bosch & Ive Marx, 1996. "Trends in Financial Poverty in OECD Countries," LIS Working papers 148, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    21. Sommestad, Lena, 2001. "Health and Wealth: The Contribution of Welfare State Policies to Economic Growth," Arbetsrapport 2001:3, Institute for Futures Studies.
    22. Korpi, Walter, 2003. "Welfare State Regress in Western Europe: Politics, Institutions, Globalization and Europeanization," Working Paper Series 5/2003, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    23. Dahlberg, Susanne & Nahum, Ruth-Aïda, 2003. "Cohort Effects on Earnings Profiles: Evidence from Sweden," Arbetsrapport 2003:3, Institute for Futures Studies.
    24. Moene, Karl O. & Wallerstein, Michael, 2003. "Income Inequality and Welfare spending: A disaggregated Analysis," Memorandum 18/2003, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    25. Westholm, Erik, 2004. "Modes of re-territorialisation. Spatial implications of regional competition politics in Sweden," Arbetsrapport 2004:4, Institute for Futures Studies.
    26. Kenneth Nelson, 2004. "Mechanisms of Poverty Alleviation," LIS Working papers 372, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    27. Bea Cantillon & Karel van den Bosch & Ive Marx, 2002. "The Puzzle of Egalitarianism: About the Relationships between Employment, Wage Inequality, Social Expenditures and Poverty," LIS Working papers 337, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    28. Lundqvist, Torbjörn, 2002. "Arbetskraft och konkurrensbegränsning; aktörsperspektiv på den svenska modellen och framtiden," Arbetsrapport 2002:1, Institute for Futures Studies.
    29. Malmberg, Bo & Sommestad, Lena, 2000. "Tunga trender i den globala utvecklingen," Arbetsrapport 2000:2, Institute for Futures Studies.
    30. Malmberg, Bo & Lindh, Thomas, 2004. "Forecasting global growth by age structure projections," Arbetsrapport 2004:5, Institute for Futures Studies.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Duvander, Ann-Zofie & Ferrarini, Tommy & Thalberg, Sara, 2005. "Swedish parental leave and gender equality - Achievements and reform challenges in a European perspective," Arbetsrapport 2005:11, Institute for Futures Studies.
    2. Ström, Sara, 2005. "Childbearing and psycho-social work life conditions in Sweden 1991-2000," Arbetsrapport 2005:13, Institute for Futures Studies.
    3. Lundqvist, Torbjörn, 2005. "The Employers in the Swedish Model The Importance of Labour Market Competition and Organisation," Arbetsrapport 2005:2, Institute for Futures Studies.
    4. Hong, Ying & Corman, Diana, 2005. "Women´s Return to Work after First Birth in Sweden during 1980-2000," Arbetsrapport 2005:19, Institute for Futures Studies.
    5. Blomquist, Sören & Christiansen, Vidar, 2004. "Welfare Enhancing Marginal Tax Rates: The Case of Publicly Provided Day Care," Arbetsrapport 2004:6, Institute for Futures Studies.
    6. Westholm, Erik, 2004. "Modes of re-territorialisation. Spatial implications of regional competition politics in Sweden," Arbetsrapport 2004:4, Institute for Futures Studies.
    7. Olof B ckman, 2005. "Welfare States, Social Structure and the Dynamics of Poverty Rates: A Comparative Study of 16 Countries, 1980-2000," LIS Working papers 408, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    8. Westholm, Erik, 2003. "Leaving Rurality Behind. Re-orientation of spatial policies in Sweden," Arbetsrapport 2003:12, Institute for Futures Studies.
    9. Thalberg, Sara, 2003. "Demographic Patterns in Europe. A review of Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania," Arbetsrapport 2003:8, Institute for Futures Studies.
    10. Rydell, Ingrid, 2002. "Demographic Patterns from the 1960s in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal," Arbetsrapport 2003:2, Institute for Futures Studies.
    11. Lindh, Thomas & Malmberg, Bo, 2002. "Swedish post-war economic development. The role of age structure in a welfare state," Arbetsrapport 2003:4, Institute for Futures Studies.
    12. Marx, Ive & Nolan, Brian & Olivera, Javier, 2014. "The Welfare State and Anti-Poverty Policy in Rich Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 8154, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Koen Caminada & Kees Goudswaard, 2009. "Effectiveness of Poverty Reduction in the EU: A Descriptive Analysis," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 1(2), pages 1-49, July.
    14. Alkire, Sabina & Santos, Maria Emma, 2014. "Measuring Acute Poverty in the Developing World: Robustness and Scope of the Multidimensional Poverty Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 251-274.
    15. Janet Gornick & Markus Jäntti & Teresa Munzi & Thierry Kruten, 2015. "Luxembourg Income Study – response," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(4), pages 549-556, December.
    16. Fotis Papadopoulos & Panos Tsakloglou, 2015. "Chronic material deprivation and long-term poverty in Europe in the pre-crisis period," ImPRovE Working Papers 15/16, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    17. Susan Harkness, 2004. "Social and Political Indicators of Human Well-being," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-33, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    18. Anna B. Kis & András Gábos, 2015. "Consistent poverty across the EU," ImPRovE Working Papers 15/22, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    19. Caminada, Koen & Goudswaard, Kees & Koster, Ferry, 2010. "Social Income Transfers and Poverty Alleviation in OECD Countries," MPRA Paper 27345, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Caminada, Koen & Goudswaard, Kees, 2009. "Social expenditure and poverty reduction in the EU15 and other OECD countries," MPRA Paper 20138, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Welfare States; Social Structure; Poverty Rates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:hhs:ifswps:2005_007. 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: Erika Karlsson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/framtse.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.