This paper examines income inequality over stages of the later-life course (age 45 and older) and systems that can be used to mitigate this inequality. Two hypotheses are tested: Levels of income inequality decline during old age because public benefits are more equally distributed than work...

The impact of aging has become a global concern due to the increasing number of older people in many industrialized countries. Today there are more older women than any other time in history. Living longer may become a burden rather than a blessing if lived out in poverty. This study...

Across OECD countries there are large differences in the average level and trend of working hours and there is persuasive evidence that attitudes to paid employment, particularly for women, differ significantly. This paper therefore asks the question: 'How much of the difference between...

This paper examines whether retirement-income systems allow older individuals to enjoy socially acceptable income levels independent of paid work (decommodification) and the family (defamilialization). Little research has investigated the degree to which decommodification and defamilialization...

The recent EU expansion raised fears of potential migration motivated by welfare receipt. In this paper we use comparable data from five countries - Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Norway and the U.S. - to ask whether immigrants benefit more from social support than natives. Looking at the European...

The aim is to assess the prevalence of poverty among families receiving social assistance. We will examine the incidence of poverty among the recipients in relation to the general poverty profile. To answer these questions, the adequacy and poverty reduction effectiveness of social assistance...

Using microdata from the Luxembourg Income Study, we assess 'time crunch' for families with children in Canada, Germany, Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S. Both theory and empirical evidence suggest that both time and money are important inputs to the well-being of parents and children. We present...

This paper uses data from the Luxembourg Income Study to analyse cross-national and cross-temporal poverty risks in eleven western countries. Our analyses are embedded in the tradition of welfare state research. Despite a hundred years of welfare state efforts, at the beginning of the 21st...

This study explores the plausibility of extending research on income inequality to incorporate relative living standards based on household head's industry of employment. Data from the Luxembourg Income Study is used to assess the relative level and movement of per capita disposable household...