This book investigates the paradox of rich countries of Western Europe, who have high levels of poverty whilst proclaiming its eradication as one of the primary social and economic goals. It looks at how policies often do not achieve their goals, why countries need mechanisms to reduce wage inequality and why they choose to provide universal benefits instead of systems of selective benefits targeted at the poor. Along with cross-countries comparisons, the volume also presents analysis of the minimum income in France, Portugal, Italy, Finland, Ireland, Belgium, and Greece.

Minimum income schemes (MIS) have become key social protection institutions for European citizens, but we know little regarding the logic and dynamics of institutional change in this policy field. This book provides an analytical model that will facilitate an understanding of the scope and direction of recent reforms, offering insight into the conditions under which minimum income schemes are introduced, expanded or retrenched. Natili presents a comparative analysis of policy trajectories of minimum income schemes in Italy and Spain between the mid-1980s and 2015. Although these two countries had similar points of departure, and faced comparable functional pressures and institutional constraints, they experienced remarkably different developments in this policy field in the last two decades. This comparative analysis provides empirical evidence of the impacts of different types of credit-claiming dynamics resulting from the interaction of socio-political demand with political supply. The Politics of Minimum Income also assesses the reform processes both in countries that have introduced MIS in the age of austerity (such as Portugal) and in countries that have retrenched them (Austria and Denmark).

The sixteenth edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play has a triple ambition. First, it provides easily accessible information to a wide audience about recent developments in both EU and domestic social policymaking. Second, the volume provides a more analytical reading, embedding the key developments of the year 2014 in the most recent academic discourses. Third, the forward-looking perspective of the book aims to provide stakeholders and policymakers with specific tools that allow them to discern new opportunities to influence policymaking. In this 2015 edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play, the authors tackle the topics of the state of EU politics after the parliamentary elections, the socialisation of the European Semester, methods of political protest, the Juncker investment plan, the EU’s contradictory education investment, the EU’s contested influence on national healthcare reforms, and the neoliberal Trojan Horse of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

This paper provides an overview of the design of means-tested Guaranteed Minimum Income schemes, which constitute an important component of social protection systems in European countries. It discusses how key design features differ across countries, including how countries balance the primary objective of poverty alleviation against the desire to both manage the work disincentives inherent in such programs and contain fiscal cost. The analysis finds a clear trade-off between both concerns in practice, with many countries combining low generosity with low benefit withdrawal rates (BWRs) thus prioritizing employment incentives over the primary objective of poverty alleviation. Many countries can reduce this trade off by combining higher generosity with higher BWRs. Countries with very high BWRs should consider reducing these, including through allowing income disregards and time dependent (rather than income-dependent) benefit withdrawal. The work disincentives associated with higher BWRs can also be attenuated through strengthening complementary activation policies that incentivize and support participation in the labor market.

“Powerful as well as highly engaging—a brilliant book.” —Amartya Sen A Times Higher Education Book of the Week It may sound crazy to pay people whether or not they’re working or even looking for work. But the idea of providing an unconditional basic income to everyone, rich or poor, active or inactive, has long been advocated by such major thinkers as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill, and John Kenneth Galbraith. Now, with the traditional welfare state creaking under pressure, it has become one of the most widely debated social policy proposals in the world. Basic Income presents the most acute and fullest defense of this radical idea, and makes the case that it is our most realistic hope for addressing economic insecurity and social exclusion. “They have set forth, clearly and comprehensively, what is probably the best case to be made today for this form of economic and social policy.” —Benjamin M. Friedman, New York Review of Books “A rigorous analysis of the many arguments for and against a universal basic income, offering a road map for future researchers.” —Wall Street Journal “What Van Parijs and Vanderborght bring to this topic is a deep understanding, an enduring passion and a disarming optimism.” —Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post

This is the first book to provide a comprehensive and systematic assessment of the impact of the crisis and austerity policies on all elements of the European Social Model. This book assesses the situation in each individual EU member state on the basi

Universal basic income (UBI) is emerging as one of the most hotly debated issues in development and social protection policy. But what are the features of UBI? What is it meant to achieve? How do we know, and what don’t we know, about its performance? What does it take to implement it in practice? Drawing from global evidence, literature, and survey data, this volume provides a framework to elucidate issues and trade-offs in UBI with a view to help inform choices around its appropriateness and feasibility in different contexts. Specifically, the book examines how UBI differs from or complements other social assistance programs in terms of objectives, coverage, incidence, adequacy, incentives, effects on poverty and inequality, financing, political economy, and implementation. It also reviews past and current country experiences, surveys the full range of existing policy proposals, provides original results from micro†“tax benefit simulations, and sets out a range of considerations around the analytics and practice of UBI.

This first open access book in a series of three volumes provides an in-depth analysis of social protection policies that EU Member States make accessible to resident nationals, non-resident nationals and non-national residents. In doing so, it discusses different scenarios in which the interplay between nationality and residence could lead to inequalities of access to welfare. Each chapter maps the eligibility conditions for accessing social benefits, by paying particular attention to the social entitlements that migrants can claim in host countries and/or export from home countries. The book also identifies and compares recent trends of access to welfare entitlements across five policy areas: health care, unemployment, family benefits, pensions, and guaranteed minimum resources. As such this book is a valuable read to researchers, policy makers, government employees and NGO’s.