When equity matters for marital stability: Comparing German and U.S. couples

none3siComparing West Germany and the U.S., we analyze the association between equity—in terms of the relative gender division of paid and unpaid work hours—and the risk of marriage dissolution. Our aim is to identify under what conditions equity influences couple stability. We apply event-history analysis to marriage histories using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for West Germany and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics for the U.S. for the period 1986–2009/10. For the U.S., we find that deviation from equity is particularly destabilizing when the wife underbenefits, especially when both partners’ paid work hours are similar. In West Germany, equity is less salient. Instead, we find that the male breadwinner model remains the single most stable couple arrangement.mixedBellani D.; Esping Andersen G.; Pessin L.Bellani D.; Esping Andersen G.; Pessin L

Comparing Welfare Regime Changes: Living Standards and the Unequal Life Chances of Different Birth Cohorts

The cohort sustainability of welfare regimes is of central importance to most long-term analyses of welfare state reforms (see for example: Esping-Andersen et al., 2002). A complement to these analyses shows that changes in intra versus inter cohort inequalities are major outcomes or consequences of the trajectories of the different welfare regimes. Previous comparative research papers show the difference between France and the United-States, since the American intra-cohort inequalities have increased strongly for the last three decades, when the French case show less intra-cohort inequalities and more inter-cohort imbalances at the expense of younger generations of adults (Chauvel 2006). Here, we propose a comparison between the US, Danish, French, and Italian dynamics of distribution of after tax and transfers equivalised income by age, period and cohort, to assess how different welfare regimes gave different trade-offs between intra and inter cohort inequality. The Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) data are used to analyze the transformations of the intra cohort inequalities (based on interdecile ratios) and the changes in the cohort life chances. The main result is that the conservative and the familialistic welfare regimes are marked by more inter-cohort inequalities to the expense of young social generations, who are relatively impoverished, when the social-democrat and the liberal ones show less inter-cohort redistribution of resources, but increasing intra-cohort inequality, particularly in the case of the US. In terms of cohort sustainability of welfare regimes, the French and Italian dynamics seem to be unsustainable since the contemporary well-off seniors are flowed by impoverished mid-aged groups who will be poor seniors of the 2020s

High politics in the Low Countries: COVID-19 and the politics of strained multi-level policy cooperation in Belgium and the Netherlands

COVID-19 presented Europe with an, in many respects, unprecedented challenge. While the virus proved itself to be transnational in nature, not taking heed of borders, government responses were largely national. Still, governments soon found themselves engaged in complex multi-level policy cooperation at the national, subnational, and supranational levels. This paper looks at the crisis response in the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands) to understand the impact of this process on the political system. We argue that efficient multi-level policy cooperation in both countries has run up against the limits of existing institutions, leading to significant political grievances. In Belgium, slow negotiation between the central and regional governments has put the federal system in question. In the Netherlands, meanwhile, the absence of European institutions tasked with fiscal policy coordination has increased the salience of the EU fiscal sphere once again

Parental financial support : A safety net for young adults with debt problems

Parental financial support benefits young adults in societies with decreasing welfare-state support and a pattern of early home-leaving. This article focuses on the association between young adults' debt problems and parental financial support: the extent to which indebted young adults receive financial help from their parents. We also investigate the extent to which specific benefits are associated with debt problems or parental financial support. The data were gathered in an online survey conducted among 18-to-35-year-old Finns (n = 1,019). The results revealed, first, that many parents safeguard their indebted adult children's lives by means of financial support and second, that heavy cash-welfare-benefit users are particularly likely to receive parental financial support. Our analysis also revealed that the prevalence of debt problems as well as of parental financial support were especially high among those who had received social assistance, sickness benefit or labour-market subsidy within the previous 12 months. In a society open to new social risks as well as to debt problems, young people who lack financial support from their parents have a rockier transition to adulthood than those who receive support.Peer reviewe

Employment insecurity and life satisfaction: The moderating influence of labour market policies across Europe

This article tests whether the link between employment insecurity and life satisfaction is moderated by the generosity of labour market policies across Europe. Employment insecurity provokes anxieties about (a) the difficulties of finding a new job and (b) alternative sources of non-work income. These components can be related to active and passive labour market policies, respectively. Generous policy support is thus expected to buffer the negative consequences of employment insecurity by lowering the perceived difficulty of finding a similar job or providing income maintenance during unemployment. Based on data for 22 countries from the 2010 European Social Survey, initial support for this hypothesis is found. Perceived employment insecurity is negatively associated with life satisfaction but the strength of the relationship is inversely related to the generosity of labour market policies. Employment insecurity, in other words, is more harmful in countries where labour market policies are less generous

The capacity of social policies to combat poverty among new social risk groups

This paper considers groups who are most likely to be vulnerable to new social risks and tests the effects of social policies on their poverty levels. Specifically, the paper conducts multi-level regression analyses across 18 OECD countries near the year 2004, analyzing the effects of social policies on the likelihood of being poor of low-skilled young women and men aged 18-30, and of those at risk of possessing obsolete skills, namely low-educated men aged 55-64. The analyses are conducted by combining both macro-level policy data and household-and person-level micro-data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) cross-national database. The central question asks which policies - active labor market policies (ALMP), passive labor market policies (PLMP), employment protection legislation (EPL), family policies, government daycare spending - are effective at combating new social risks. In addition to analyzing social policies, the paper also considers union density and representation of women in national parliaments as two measures that depict agents who are most intent on combating old and new social risks, respectively. The findings show that active labor market policies (ALMP) are the most important predictor of a decrease in poverty levels among the low skilled. The negative effect of passive labor market policies (PLMP) on poverty is only significant for the older male group. Family policies are related to a reduction in poverty for both low-skilled young women and men. Union density is significant in reducing the odds of poverty of the older male group, while it is insignificant for both younger males and females - thereby reflecting a measure of prevention against old, but not new, social risks. Additionally, the paper's findings support the hypothesis that the greater the representation of women in national parliaments, the greater the chances of having policies that are associated with a reduction of poverty across age levels. Lastly, gross public social spending as a measure of overall welfare generosity is found to be associated with a reduction in poverty only of the older male group, but not that of the younger groups. The paper's analyses suggest that some social policies remain geared toward older segments of society, leaving the younger population at greater financial and therefore social risk

The Relationship Between Financial Distress and Life-Course Socioeconomic Inequalities in Well-Being:Cross-National Analysis of European Welfare States

Objectives. We investigated to what extent current financial distress explains the relationship between life-course socioeconomic position and well-being in Southern, Scandinavian, Postcommunist, and Bismarckian welfare regimes. Methods. We analyzed individuals (n = 18 324) aged 50 to 75 years in the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe, 2006–2009. Well-being was measured with CASP-12 (which stands for control, autonomy, self-realization, and pleasure) and life satisfaction. We generated a life-course socioeconomic index from 8 variables and calculated multilevel regression models (containing individuals nested within 13 countries), as well as stratified single-level models by welfare regime. Results. Life-course socioeconomic advantage was related to higher well-being; the difference in life satisfaction between the most and least advantaged was 2.09 (95% confidence interval = 1.87, 2.31) among women and 1.65 (95% confidence interval = 1.43, 1.87) among men. The weakest associations were found among Scandinavian countries. Financial distress was associated with lower well-being and attenuated the relationship between life-course socioeconomic position and well-being in all regimes (ranging from 34.26% in Postcommunist to 72.22% in Scandinavian countries). Conclusions. We found narrower inequalities in well-being in the Scandinavian regime. Reducing financial distress may help improve well-being and reduce inequalities

Household employment and the crisis in Europe

The 2008 crisis had a significant impact on household employment in some European countries. An analysis of the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions generated a new cross-national typology of household employment structures and showed how these changed during the crisis and austerity period, capturing the experiences of high and low qualified households. Findings indicate that dual earning households are not always a consequence of gender equality but result from economic necessity or employment opportunities. The re-emergence of traditional male breadwinner households is often the result of female unemployment, especially for lower educated women. An increase in female single earners and workless households is evident in countries hit hardest by the employment crisis. The value of this cross-national typology, rooted in the interaction of educational effects and employment opportunities, is allowing comparison both within and between European countries, going beyond established typologies based on policy frameworks or gender cultures