By way of introduction This report provides the fi rm foundation for anchoring the research that will be performed by the GINI project. It subsequently considers the fi elds covered by each of the main work packages: ● inequalities of income, wealth and education, ● social impacts, ●...

Welfare states are said to have evolved over the course of the past twenty years towards a ‘social investment’ model of welfare, characterised by a focus on equality of opportunity and upward social mobility combined with greater emphasis on individual responsibility. More or less...

Introduction In the decade leading to the present crisis – despite years of growing employment and increasing average incomes – Europe did not succeed in making any substantial progress in combating relative income poverty, particularly among the working age population. Certainly, Europeans...

This paper provides a description of activation efforts directed towards minimum income recipients. Information on activation strategies aimed at this population group has remained relatively limited, partly because social assistance claimants have only quite recently become a target group of...

This article examines inequalities in highbrow cultural participation in 18 countries. It tests whether inequalities in such participation occur because of the status conferred by consumption of high culture, or whether they are more a result of differences in cognitive competencies....

Introduction Fighting poverty has always been at the centre of welfare state activities. There are several important reasons for such a focus but a key issue is no doubt that poverty is associated with increasing risks for ill-health and also death. That at least extreme poverty and poor health...

This paper offers a comprehensive econometric investigation of the impact of income inequality on the values endorsed by people. Using survey data from thirty-three OECD countries over a period of twenty-eight years, the following dimensions of value systems are investigated: work ethic, civism,...

Previous research suggests that where inequality is high, participation is low. Two arguments are generally put forward to explain this finding: First, inequality depresses participation because people have diverging statuses and therefore fewer opportunities to share common goals. Second,...

This paper explores and compares the effectiveness of Minimum Income (MI) schemes in protecting persons of working age from poverty in the European Union. Using the European microsimulation model EUROMOD we estimate indicators of coverage and adequacy of MI schemes in 14 EU countries. In terms...