Public finance of post-compulsory education modifies substantially the supply of educational qualifications. Such modification has crucial implications for the long-term income distribution processes: in a context of sustained increases of demand for educational qualifications (brought about by...

According to the 'median-voter' hypothesis, greater inequality in the market distribution of earnings or income tends to produce greater generosity in redistributive policy. We outline the steps in the causal chain specified by the hypothesis and attempt to assess these steps empirically. Prior...

The aim of this paper is to offer an overview of the many opportunities the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) data set provides to measure the distributive effect of taxes and transfers in the developed countries. Two specific tasks are undertaken. First, and most important, the paper offers a...

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...

Most cross-country comparisons of living standards focus on real Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) adjusted Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person. These measures provide no variance in living standards within the nation, nor do they account for the amount of real incomes that families actually...

The Index of Sustainable Functionality (ISF) makes it possible to analyse domains and the sustainability of multiple systems from various perspectives. This paper uses available household wealth and income data to calculate the resource rich state of Western Australia's ISF from different wealth...

This paper examines variation in old-age income inequality between industrialized nations with modern welfare systems. The analysis of income inequality across countries with different retirement income systems provides a perspective on public pension policy choices and designs and their...

In this paper, we discuss the role of a diverse set of policies aimed at regulating the number and age structure of elections on the size and age structure of five European Academies of Sciences, namely the Austrian, Berlin-Brandenburg, Russian and Norwegian academies and the Royal Society. We...

The life span between the mid-twenties and the late thirties is characterised by multiple demands. In recent years, the expression 'rush hour of life' has been used to describe periods of time when conflicting demands are felt most acutely, in particular related to family formation and fertility.

Decisions to divorce could be affected by a number of characteristics of the local community. Community characteristics may be barriers to divorce (e.g. strong social control) or increase the attractiveness of divorcing (e.g. through access to a good remarriage market), but our knowledge of such...