Becoming Poor in Belgium and Britain: the Impact of Demographic and Labour Market Events

In this paper, we model the impact on the entry into poverty of a range of demographic and labour market events. Our analyses are based on longitudinal panel data from two countries belonging to a different welfare regime type – Belgium and Britain. The results show that while in Belgium the impact of most life events is relatively small, in Britain most demographic and labour market events significantly raise the chances of becoming poor. We link the observed poverty entry patterns to the ways in which economic welfare in Belgium and Britain is distributed between the three main systems of resources distribution: the welfare state, the labour market and the family. We furthermore find that the combined influence of the interrelated parts of the welfare regime on the role of women in the household economy is a potentially important explanatory factor.Life Events; Longitudinal Research; Poverty Dynamics; Welfare Regimes

GINI DP 18: The interplay between economic inequality trends and housing regime changes in advanced welfare democracies

In this paper, I argue that our understanding of the increase in economic inequality in advanced welfare democracies could be enhanced by taking account of the changes which took place in the housing regimes of many countries. I demonstrate how one could derive testable hypotheses concerning a direct relationship between both social trends, which can at least theoretically go in both directions (i.e. changing housing regimes influencing inequality trends, or inequality trends influencing characteristics of housing regimes), while the ‘classical’ driving forces of increasing inequalities function as intermediate variables in a multivariate model. Alternatively, a simple interaction model could guide future research, in the sense that social trends which are routinely considered as ‘driving forces’ of increasing economic inequality – but altogether do not explain that much of the observed long-term trend – could theoretically work out in a different way under different housing regimes.income inequality trends, housing regimes, homeownership, social inequality

A critical-realist view of housing quality within the post-communist EU states: progressing towards a middle-range explanation

Employing a long-term perspective, we explore whether ideologically rooted quality outcomes of housing provision under communism have persisted during the post-communist construction of housing markets. Drawing on theories of path-dependent change, we hypothesize that patterns of housing quality still reflect past lines of division, namely the Soviet housing model, and the classical and reformist models of the Eastern Bloc. Using a critical-realist approach to housing quality, we relate households’ experiences to key underlying structures; this ontological depth is then operationalized by means of micro- and macro-indicators used as input for hierarchical cluster analyses. Findings support our main hypothesis, yet there is more diversity in households’ experiences than initially assumed. Our study advances a valuable middle-range epistemological frame for understanding the complex social reality of housing and helps shatter the growing view that communist housing systems were all too similar

Home-ownership and asset-based welfare: the case of Belgium

In this article, using policy documents and both qualitative and quantitative data sources, we evaluate the extent to which the Belgian welfare system conforms to trends towards asset-based welfare involving the promotion of home-ownership as an alternative to social security provision. We conclude that, following the explicit and ongoing sponsorship of home-ownership since the end of the 19th century, in Belgium, an asset-based approach to welfare has actually been in place for some time. Most Belgian elderly people are income-poor (mainly due to low public pensions) but asset-rich. While the risk of poverty for home-owners in old age is somewhat higher than that for the general population, it is much higher for elderly renters. As far as the preconditions for a possible restructuring of the Belgian welfare state in the direction of greater reliance on asset-based welfare are concerned, we find that most of them are fulfilled. Public debt is high with increasing costs of population ageing looming large on the economic horizon. However, although some politicians have raised the issue, so far, virtually no initiatives have been taken to tap into existing housing wealth. Our qualitative evidence shows that this can be partly explained by the fact that Belgians have a rather conservative attitude towards the welfare state, which is expected to provide adequately for 'traditional' life-course risks such as unemployment and old age. Housing is considered a private issue, separated from the social security sphere

Too pragmatic?:A commentary from sociology on Lux and Sunega's plea for 'pragmatic socio-economics'

In this commentary from sociology, I argue that whilst Lux and Sunega’s (2022) plea for “pragmatic socio-economics” is an interesting starting point towards a more interdisciplinary study of issues related to housing market inefficiencies, it makes theoretical sense to strife towards a more ambitious integration of sociology and economics. Contrary to universally applicable emotional, cognitive or even physiological mechanisms, social norms are intricately interwoven with the institutional context in which different social groups enact them. Though “universal” social norms historically lie at the basis of variegated institutional arrangements, the latter over time develop in ways reflective of initial and evolving power relationships. Analyses of recursive relationships between institutions and social norms ideally include issues of power. I illustrate the potential of such a more integrated approach by presenting a “case” from the politics of welfare and labour market reform

Income inequality and acceptance of corrupt acts

This chapter makes use of the EVS longitudinal integrated file to analyse whether an overall trend towards higher income inequality is associated with growing or declining acceptance of corrupt acts among different social strata. Taking advantage of innovations in multilevel modelling allowed for by the ‘repeated cross-sectional’-nature of this data source, we find that contradictory findings established in previous studies are hard to replicate: there is no relationship between the ‘average’ level (between countries) or the changes (within countries) in income inequality and the acceptance of corrupt acts. Further findings suggest that future research should account for so-called ‘cluster-effects’, whereby ‘families of countries’ with similar religiously-rooted institutional and legal-historical traditions and regulations, systematically vary in termsof value orientations. In particular, we find higher acceptance of corrupt acts in the Southern- and Eastern-European countries compared to the Northern countries. Future research could flesh out which macro-level institutional arrangements (e.g., religion) are associated with which micro-level social attitudes and norms related to the ‘acceptance of corruption’

In which European countries is homeownership more financially advantageous? Explaining the size of the tenure wealth gap in 10 countries with different housing and welfare regimes

Previous research consistently shows that homeowners accumulate more wealth compared with tenants. In this paper, we describe the size of this ‘tenure wealth gap’ for 10 European countries. Furthermore, we explain why the size of the tenure wealth gap differs between countries by including cross-level interactions between institutional variables and housing tenure in a series of country-fixed effects regression models. Cross-country differences arise as the costs of owning versus renting, as well as the profitability of homeownership versus other investments, differ along the lines of welfare policies and housing regime arrangements. We attempt to control for selection bias related to tenure status by using propensity score matching techniques, using data from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). Our findings suggest that the tenure wealth gap is largest in familialistic welfare states, in which marginalised tenants are unable to save, whereas homeownership is a family resource that provides an in-kind retirement income (‘passive’ asset-based welfare). We find smaller tenure wealth gaps in countries with a financialised promotion of homeownership, where housing wealth functions as a privatised welfare arrangement (‘active’ asset-based welfare). The smallest tenure wealth gaps occur in countries with more affordable rental housing, allowing tenants to accumulate savings