Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T22:28:21.437Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Great Wake-Up Call? Social Citizenship and Minimum Income Provisions in Europe in Times of Crisis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2014

SARAH MARCHAL ,
IVE MARX  and
NATASCHA VAN MECHELEN
SARAH MARCHAL
Affiliation:
Ph.D. Fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) and University of Antwerp, Sint Jacobsstraat 2, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium email: [email protected]
IVE MARX
Affiliation:
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn and University of Antwerp, Sint Jacobstraat 2, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium email: [email protected]
NATASCHA VAN MECHELEN
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp, Sint Jacobsstraat 2, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

When the 2008 crisis hit, social safety nets in Europe were not in the best of shape. This article examines what, if anything, governments did to adjust minimum income protection after two decades of relative neglect. In view of the hardship brought on by the crisis, this question is of importance in itself. In addition, there is a long-standing interest in the role crises play in re-shaping policies, possibly in a radical way. Building on purpose-collected data for twenty-four European countries, this article shows that many countries introduced supportive measures during the first years of the crisis, particularly in the form of additional benefit increases and more generous child benefits. Behavioural requirements imposed on minimum income recipients were not relaxed but in some countries activation efforts were intensified. Although the evidence shows that the crisis did trigger a response, there is little evidence for a structural change of course towards more adequate safety nets.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 247 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aurich, P. (2011), ‘Activating the unemployed – directions and divisions in Europe’, European Journal of Social Security, 13: 3, 294–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bahle, T., Hubl, V. and Pfeifer, M. (2011), The Last Safety Net: A Handbook of Minimum Income Protection in Europe, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Bonoli, G. and Natali, D. (2012), ‘The politics of the “new” welfare states: analysing reforms in Western Europe', in Bonoli, G. and Natali, D. (eds.), The Politics of the New Welfare States, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 3–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradshaw, J. (2010), ‘An international perspective on child benefit packages', in Kamerman, S. B., Phipps, S. and Ben-Arieh, S. (eds.), From Child Welfare to Child Well-Being: An International Perspective on Knowledge in the Service of Policy Making, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York: Springer, pp. 293–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradshaw, J. and Finch, N. (2002), A Comparison of Child Benefit Packages in 22 Countries, Research Report, Norwich: UK Department for Work and Pensions.Google Scholar
Cantillon, B., Van Mechelen, N., Marx, I. and Van den Bosch, K. (2004), The Evolution of Minimum Income Protection in 15 European Countries, 1992–2001, CSB-berichten, Antwerp: Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.Google Scholar
Chung, H. and Thewissen, S. (2011), ‘Falling back on old habits? A comparison of the social and unemployment crisis reactive policy strategies in Germany, the UK and Sweden’, Social Policy and Administration, 45: 4, 354–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clasen, J. and Clegg, D. (2007), ‘Levels and levers of conditionality: measuring change within welfare states', in Clasen, J. and Siegel, N. A. (eds.), Investigating Welfare State Change: The ‘Dependent Variable Problem' in Comparative Analysis, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 166–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clasen, J. and Clegg, D. (eds.) (2011), Regulating the Risk of Unemployment, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Clasen, J., Clegg, D. and Kvist, J. (2012), European Labour Market Policies in (the) Crisis, European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), Working Paper WP 2012.12, Brussels: ETUI.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dukelow, F. (2011), ‘Economic crisis and welfare retrenchment: comparing Irish policy responses in the 1970s and 1980s with the present’, Social Policy and Administration, 45: 4, 408–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eardley, T., Bradshaw, J., Ditch, J., Gough, I. and Whiteford, P. (1996), Social Assistance in OECD Countries: Synthesis Report, Research Report, London: HSMO Department of Social Security.Google Scholar
Eichhorst, W. and Konle-Seidl, R. (2008), Contingent Convergence: A Comparative Analysis of Activation Policies, IZA Discussion Paper 3905, Bonn: IZA.Google Scholar
European Commission, (2008), Communication from the Commission to the European Council – A European Economic Recovery Plan, Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
European Commission, (2009), Economic Crisis in Europe: Causes, Consequences and Responses, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.Google Scholar
Farnsworth, K. and Irving, Z. (eds.) (2011), Social Policy in Challenging Times: Economic Crisis and Welfare Systems, Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Frazer, H. and Marlier, E. (2009), Minimum Income Schemes Across EU Member States, Synthesis Report, Peer Review on Social Protection and Social Inclusion and Assessment in Social Inclusion, Brussels: European Commission DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.Google Scholar
Gauthier, (2010), The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Family Policies in the European Union, Brussels: European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.Google Scholar
Gough, I. (2011), ‘From financial crisis to fiscal crisis', in Farnsworth, K. and Irving, Z. (eds), Social Policy in Challenging Times: Economic Crisis and Welfare Systems, Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 49–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacker, J. S. (2002), The Divided Welfare State: The Battle over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamburg, B., Momigliano, S., Manzke, B. and Siviero, S. (2010), ‘The reaction of fiscal policy to the crisis in Italy and Germany: are they really polar cases in the Euopean context?’, proceedings of the Public finance workshop: fiscal policy, lessons from the crisis, Banca d'Italia, Perugia.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hay, C. and Wincott, D. (2012), The Political Economy of European Welfare Capitalism, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemerijck, A. (2012), ‘Stress-testing the new welfare state', in Bonoli, G. and Natali, D. (eds.), The Politics of the New Welfare State, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 68–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Immervoll, H. (2012), ‘Minimum-income benefits in OECD countries: policy design, effectiveness and challenges', in Besharov, D. and Couch, K. (eds.), Counting the Poor: New Thinking About European Poverty Measures and Lessons for the United States, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 171–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Immervoll, H. and Llena-Nozal, A. (2011), Social Policies for a Recovery, IZA Policy Paper 32, Bonn: IZA.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund, (2010), ‘Exiting from crisis intervention policies’, Fiscal Affairs, Monetary and Capital markets, and Research Departments, IMF.Google Scholar
Jeene, M., van Oorschot, W. and Uunk, W. (forthcoming), ‘The dynamics of welfare opinions in changing economic, institutional and political contexts: an empirical analysis of Dutch deservingness opinions, 1975–2006’, Social Indicators Research, doi 10.1007/s11205-012-0230-6 Google Scholar
Jenkins, S. P., Brandolini, A., Micklewright, J. and Nolan, B. (eds). (2013), The Great Recession and the Distribution of Household Income, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kazepov, Y. (2010), Rescaling Social Policies towards Multilevel Governance in Europe Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Kenworthy, L. (2010), ‘Labour market activation', in Castles, F. G., Leibfried, S., Lewis, J., Obinger, H. and Pierson, C. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 435–47.Google Scholar
Kuipers, S. (2006), The Crisis Imperative, Amsterdan: Amsterdam University press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kvist, J. (2007), ‘Exploring diversity: measuring welfare state change with fuzzy-set methodology', in Clasen, J. and Siegel, N. A. (eds.), Investigating Welfare State Change: The Dependent Variable Problem in Comparative Analysis, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 198–214.Google Scholar
Leibfried, S. (1992), ‘Towards a European welfare state? On integrating poverty regimes into the European Community', in Ferge, Z. and Kolberg, J. E. (eds.), Social Policy in a Changing Europe, Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag, pp. 245–79.Google Scholar
Marchal, S., Marx, I. and Van Mechelen, N. (2011), Do Europe's Minimum Income Schemes Provide Adequate Shelter against the Economic Crisis and How, If at All, Have Governments Responded?, IZA Discussion Paper 6264, Bonn: IZA.Google Scholar
Marshall, T. H. (1950), Class, Citizenship and Social Development, New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
Matsaganis, M. (2011), ‘The welfare state and the crisis: the case of Greece’, Journal of European Social Policy, 21: 5, 501–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MISSOC, (2009), ‘MISSOC Comparative Tables Database’, http://www.missoc.org/MISSOC/comparativeTables, downloaded 12.10.2012Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (2010), ‘Social assistance and minimum income benefits in old and new EU democracies’, International Journal of Social Welfare, 19: 367–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, K. (2013), ‘Social assistance and EU poverty thresholds 1990–2008: are European welfare systems providing just and fair protection against low income?’, European Sociological Review, 29: 386–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
OECD (2012), Social spending during the crisis, Social expenditure (SOCX) data update 2012. http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/OECD2012SocialSpendingDuringTheCrisis8pages.pdf.Google Scholar
Pfeifer, M. (2009), ‘Public opinion on state responsibility for minimum income protection: a comparison of 14 European countries’, Acta Sociologica, 52: 2, 117–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, P. (1996), ‘The new politics of the welfare state’, World Politics, 48: 2, 143–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, P. (2000), ‘Increasing returns, path dependence, and the study of politics’, The American Political Science Review, 94: 2, 251–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sawyer, M. (2012), ‘The tragedy of UK fiscal policy in the aftermath of the financial crisis’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 36: 205–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spilimbergo, A., Symansky, S., Blanchard, O. and Cottarelli, C. (2008), Fiscal Policy for the Crisis, IMF Staff Position note SPN/08/01, IMF.Google Scholar
Starke, P., Kaasch, A. and Van Hooren, F. (2013), The Welfare State as Crisis Manager. Explaining the Diversity of Policy Responses to Economic Crisis, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Streeck, W. and Thelen, K. (2005), ‘Introduction: institutional change in advanced political economies', in Streeck, W. and Thelen, K. (eds.), Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1–33.Google Scholar
Thelen, K. (2004), How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States and Japan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Mechelen, N. and Marchal, S. (2013), ‘Struggle for life: social assistance benefits, 1992–2009', in Marx, I. and Nelson, K. (eds.), Minimum Income Protection in Flux, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 28–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Mechelen, N., Marchal, S., Goedemé, T., Marx, I. and Cantillon, B. (2011), The CSB Minimum Income Protection Indicators dataset (CSB-MIPI), CSB Working Paper, Antwerp: Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy.Google Scholar
Van Rie, T. and Marx, I. (2012), ‘The EU at work? The European employment strategy from crisis to crisis’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 50: 2, 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vis, B., van Kersbergen, K. and Hylands, T. (2011), ‘To what extent did the financial crisis intensify the pressure to reform the welfare state?’, Social Policy and Administration, 45: 4, 338–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weishaupt, T. (2013), ‘A common turn to activation?', in Marx, I. and Nelson, K. (eds), Minimum Income Protection in Flux, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 190–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yerkes, M. and van der Veen, R. (2011), ‘Crisis and welfare state change in the Netherlands’, Social Policy and Administration, 45: 4, 430–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar