Publisher's Synopsis
This study examines the extent and social distribution of poverty, as well as the impact of social security on poverty, i.e. its effectiveness in providing a minimum income protection. The study uses data from household panel surveys in seven countries and regions in the EC, including some of the poorer ones, such as Ireland, Catalonia and Greece, which do not often feature in comparative studies of this kind. Much effort has been spent on ensuring the comparability of concepts and methods, as far as possible before the data-gathering stage. - - Methodological conclusions are drawn regarding the comparative measurement of poverty in the EC. Substantive findings are, among others, that there are important variations (as well as similarities) in social characteristics of the poor across EC-countries and that the poverty alleviating effect of social security is much larger in the northern countries than in the southern ones. Finally, the study is among the first to present comparative results on poverty in longitudinal perspective in Europe. -
