Causal pathways of intergenerational poverty transmission in selected EU countries

PDF
Published: Feb 13, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/scad.15941
Keywords:
Poverty intergenerational mobility intergenerational poverty transmission parental background occupation social protection welfare regimes EU
Stefanos Papanastasiou
Democritus University of Thrace
Christos Papatheodorou
Panteion University
Abstract

The paper investigates whether, in what way and to what extent the family of origin affects offspring’s poverty risk in selected EU countries
representing different social protection systems. Employing logit models and utilizing EU-SILC data, the analysis brings to the forefront the importance of social protection for intercepting the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Denmark with the socialdemocratic welfare state is the most successful in mitigating the effect of the family of origin on offspring’s poverty risk, followed by France representing the conservative-corporatist welfare regime. Less effective οn this matter appear to be Greece and Great Britain representing the south-European and the liberal social protection system respectively.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (preferably in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Author Biographies
Stefanos Papanastasiou, Democritus University of Thrace

Stefanos Papanastasiou, (PhD) studied Social Policy at Democritus University of Thrace (Greece) and holds an MSc in Applied and Comparative Social Policy from IMPALLA (University of Leuven) and a PhD from Democritus University. He worked as adjunct lecturer and research associate at Democritus University (i.e. CESSDA-ERIC). He was researcher at the Observatory of Economic and Social Developments, Labour Institute, Greek General Confederation of Labour (INE/GSEE) and at PAF-EAK (a collaboration between INE/GSEE and UADPhilEcon, University of Athens). He has participated in international scientific conferences and workshops and has been reviewer in scientific journals. He is experienced in quantitative analysis using microdata. His research interest and publications are concerned with applied and comparative social policy, social inequality, poverty, intergenerational mobility and social protection. He has participated and coordinated research projects in these fields.

Christos Papatheodorou, Panteion University

Christos Papatheodorou is Professor of Social Policy at the Panteion University, Greece. He is a graduate in Economics from the University of Athens, and holds an MSc in Social Policy Analysis from the University of Bath, and a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science
(LSE). At the LSE he also conducted postdoctoral research. He was Dean of the School of Social, Political and Economic Sciences and Professor of Social Policy at the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. He was head of the Research Unit “Social Policy, Poverty and Inequalities”, Labour Institute, Greek General Confederation of Labour. He was a Researcher at the National Centre for Social Research (Athens), a visiting academic at LSE-STICERD and a visiting professor at the VU Amsterdam. He is a founder member of the Hellenic Social Policy Association and was chairman 2010-2011 and a board member 2002-2008. His research interests and publications are in the fields of political economy of social policy, social and economic inequality, poverty, macroeconomic environment and social protection, functional and personal distribution of income. He has participated and coordinated a large number of research projects in the above fields.

References
Agresti, A., (2002), Categorical data analysis, 2nd Edition, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Airio, I., Moisio, P. and Niemelä, M., (2005), “Intergenerational transmission of poverty in Finland in the 1990s”, European Journal of Social Security, Vol. 7 (3), pp. 253-269,
Available at:http://www.ecineq.org/ecineq_lux15/FILESx2015/CR2/p252.pdf
Becker, G. and Tomes, N., (1986), “Human capital and the rise and fall of families”, Journal of Labour Economics, Vol. 4, pp. 1-39.
Becker, G. and Tomes, N., (1979), “An equilibrium theory of the distribution of income and intergenerational mobility”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 87, pp. 1153-1189.
Available at: https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Economics/Faculty/Glenn_Loury/louryhomepage/teaching/Ec%20237/Becker%20and%20Tomes%20(JPE)%201979.pdf.
Bellani, L. and Bia, M., (2013), “Measuring intergenerational transmission of poverty”, Luxembourg: CEPS/INSTEAD, Available at: http://www.ecineq.org/ecineq_bari13/
filesxbari13/cr2/p72.pdf.
Blanden, J., (2006), “Bucking the trend”: What enables those who are disadvantaged in childhood to succeed later in life?, Department for Work and Pensions, Working Paper No 31, Available at: http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/7729/1/WP31.pdf.
Blanden, J. and Gibbons, S., (2006), The persistence of poverty across generations. A view from two British cohorts, Bristol: The Policy Press, Available at: https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/9781861348531.pdf
Blanden, J. and Gregg, P., (2004), Family income and educational attainment: a review of approaches and evidence for Britain, London: Centre for the Economics of Education,
Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f9c3/3c082a32bdbd49b9ad8896fb4758b9947ea2.pdf
Bowles, S. and Gintis, H., (2001), “The inheritance of economic status: education, class and genetics”, In Feldman M., (ed.): Genetics, behavior and society, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, Available at: http://www.umass.edu/preferen/gintis/feldman.pdf
Breen, R. and Goldthorpe, J., (2001), “Class, mobility and merit: The experience of two British birth cohorts”, European Sociological Review, Vol. 17 (2), pp. 81-101.
Breen, R. and Goldthorpe, J., (1999), “Class, inequality and meritocracy: A critique of Saunders and an alternative analysis”, British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 50 (1), pp. 1-27.
Card, D., (1999), “The causal effect of education on earnings”, In Ashenfelter O. and Card D. (eds.): Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol. 3A, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.
Corak, M., (2006), Do poor children become poor adults? Lessons from a cross country comparison of generational earnings mobility, Discussion Paper No. 1993, Bonn: IZA,
Available at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp1993.pdf
Corcoran, M., (1995), “Rags to rags: Poverty and mobility in the United States”, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 21, pp. 237-267.
Corcoran, M. and Adams, T., (1997), “Race, sex and the intergenerational transmission of poverty”, In Duncan G. & Brooks-Gunn J. (Eds.): Consequences of growing up poor, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 461–517.
Dafermos, Y. and Papatheodorou, C., (2013), The contribution of social protection system in economic growth, Observatory on Economic and Social Developments, Labour Institute, Greek General Confederation of Labour, Athens: INE-GSEE (in Greek), Available at: http:// ineobservatory.gr/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/simvoli-sistimatos.pdf
Dafermos, Y. and Papatheodorou, C., (2010), Macroeconomic environment, inequality and poverty: An empirical investigation on the impact of economic growth and of social protection in Greece and the EU. Observatory on Economic and Social Developments, Labour Institute, Greek General Confederation of Labour, Athens: INE-GSEE, (in Greek). Available at: http://ineobservatory.gr/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/meleti3.pdf.
Erikson, R. and Goldthorpe, J, (2002), “Intergenerational inequality: A sociological perspective”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 16 (3), pp. 31-44, Available at: http://personal.psc.isr.umich.edu/yuxie-web/files/pubs/Articles/Erikson_Goldthorpe2002.pdf.
Ermisch, J. and Francesconi, M., (2002), The effect of parents’ employment on children’s educational attainment, ISER Working Paper 21, University of Essex, Available at: https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/files/iser_working_papers/2002-21.pdf
Ermisch, J., Francesconi, M. and Pevalin, J., (2001) Outcomes for children of poverty, Research Report of the Department of Work and Pensions, Paper 158. London: HMSO.
Esping-Andersen, G., (1990), The three worlds of welfare capitalism, Oxford: Policy Press.
Ferrera, M., (1996), “The ‘Southern Model’ of welfare in social Europe”, Journal of European Social Policy, Vol, 6, pp. 17-37.
Harriss-White, B., (2005), Poverty and Capitalism, Queen Elizabeth House Working Paper 134, Oxford: Oxford University, Available at: http://www3.qeh.ox.ac.uk/pdf/qehwp/qehwps134.pdf
Haveman, R. and Wolfe, B., (1994), Succeeding generations, New York: Sage Publications.
Haveman, R., Wolfe, B. and Wilson, K., (1997), “Childhood poverty and adolescent schooling and fertility outcomes: Reduced-form and structural estimates”, In Duncan, D. and Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.): Consequences of growing up poor, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 123-145.
Heckman, J. and Carneiro, P., (2003), Human capital policy, NBER Working Paper 9495, Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Heckman, J. and Lochner, L., (2000), “Rethinking myths about education and training:Understanding the sources of skill formation in a modern economy”. In Danziger, S. and Waldfogel, J. (Eds.): Securing the future: Investing in children from birth to college, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Heckman, J. and Rubinstein, Y., (2001), “The importance of non-cognitive skills: Lessons from the GED testing program”, American Economic Review, Vol. 91(2), pp. 145-149.
Herrnstein, R. and Murray, C., (1994), The bell curve: Intelligence and class structure in American life, New York: Free Press.
Hilbe, J., (2009), Logistic regression models, New York: Taylor & Francis Group.
Hosmer, D. and Lemeshow S., (2000), Applied logistic regression, 2nd Edition, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Jenkins, S. and Siedler, T., (2007a), The intergenerational transmission of poverty in industrialized countries, CPRC Working Paper 75, Manchester: CPRC, Available at: http://www.tsiedler.net/pdf/articles/intergen_poverty.pdf
Jenkins, S. and Siedler, T., (2007b), Using household panel data to understand the intergenerational transmission of poverty, Berlin: German Institute for Economic Research, Available at: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.59967.de/dp694.pdf.
Kleinbaum, D. and Klein, M., (2010), Logistic regression, New York: Springer.
Leibfried, S., (1993), “Towards a European welfare state? On integrating poverty regimes into the European Community,” In Jones, C. (Ed.): New perspectives on the welfare state in Europe, London & New York: Routledge.
Lewis, O., (1969), The culture of poverty, In Moynihan D. (Ed): On understanding poverty, New York: Basic Books, pp. 187-200.
Lewis, O., (1966), La Vida: a Puerto Rican family in the culture of poverty, New York: Random House, Available at:http://www.ignaciodarnaude.com/textos_diversos/Lewis,Oscar,The%20Culture%20of%20Poverty.pdf
Maitre, B. and Whelan, C., (2008), General data quality issues in the EU-SILC 2005 intergenerational module, Dublin: EQUALSOC.
Mazumder, B., (2001), Earnings mobility in the US: A new look at intergenerational inequality, Department of Economics, University of California at Berkeley, Available at: http://cle.berkeley.edu/wp/wp34.pdf
Mead, L., (1992), The new politics of poverty: The nonworking poor in America, New York City: Harper Collins.
Mead, L., (1986), Beyond entitlement: The social obligations of citizenship, New York: Free Press.
Maitre, B. and Whelan, C., (2008), General data quality issues in the EU-SILC 2005 intergenerational module, Dublin: EQUALSOC.
Murray, C., (1984), Losing ground: American social policy, 1950-1980, New York: Basic Books.
Musick, K. and Mare, R., (2004), Recent trends in the inheritance of poverty and family structure, Working Paper CCPR-002-04, California Centre for Population Research, Los Angeles: University of California, Available at: http://papers.ccpr.ucla.edu/papers/PWP-CCPR-2004-002/PWP-CCPR-2004-002.pdf.
Myrdal, G., (1963), Challenge to affluence, London: Gollancz.
Nickell, S., (1982), “The determinants of occupational success in Britain”, Review of Economic Studies, Vol.49, pp. 43-53.
Papanastasiou, S. and Papatheodorou, C., (2010), “Intergenerational transmission of poverty in the EU: An empirical analysis”, Paper presented at the 1st IIPPE International Conference in Political Economy “Beyond the Crisis”, Rethymno, Crete, Available at: http://www.iippe.org/wiki/images/f/f3/CONF_GREEKPOVERTY_Papanastasiou.pdf
Papanastasiou, S., Papatheodorou, C. Petmesidou, M., (2016), “Child poverty and intergenerational poverty transmission in the EU: What is the impact of social protection, policies and institutions?”, In Petmesidou, M., Delamonica, E., Papatheodorou, C. and Aldrie, H-L (eds): Child poverty, youth (un) employment and social inclusion, CROP International poverty studies, Vol. 1, Stuttgart: CROP/Ibidem, pp. 67-89.
Papatheodorou, C., (1997), Poverty and family background in Greece: The role of father’s occupation and education, Welfare State Programme No. WSP/ 133, LSE-STICERD, London: London School of Economics and Political Science.
Papatheodorou, C. and Dafermos, Y., (2010) Structure and trends in economic inequality and poverty in Greece and EU, 1995-2008. Observatory on Economic and Social Developments, Labour Institute, Greek General Confederation of Labour, Athens: INE-GSEE (in Greek), Available at: http://ineobservatory.gr/wpcontent/uploads/2014/08/report2.pdf
Papatheodorou, C., Dafermos, Y., Danchev, S. and Marsellou, E. (2008) Economic Inequality and Poverty in Greece: Comparative Analysis and Intertemporal Trends. Observatory on Economic and Social Developments, Labour Institute, Greek General Confederation of Labour, Athens: INE-GSEE & UADPhil-Econ (in Greek), Available at: http://ineobservatory.gr/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/report1.pdf.
Papatheodorou, C. and Papanastasiou, S., (2017), The state of the children in Greece – The children of the crisis, Athens: Hellenic National Committee for UNICEF, (forthcoming).
Papatheodorou, C. and Papanastasiou, S., (2010), Intergenerational transmission of poverty in Greece and the EU: Theoretical approaches and empirical analysis, Athens: INE/GSEE (in Greek), Available at: http://ineobservatory.gr/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/download7.pdf.
Papatheodorou, C. and Petmesidou, M., (2005), “Inequality, redistribution and welfare regimes: Comparing Greece to other EU countries”, In Argeitis, G. (Ed.): Economic changes and social contradictions in Greece: The challenges in the beginning of the 21st century, Athens: Typothito - G. Dardanos, pp. 213-254 (in Greek).
Papatheodorou, C. and Petmesidou, M., (2004), “Inequality, poverty and redistribution through social transfers: Greece in comparative perspective”, In Petmesidou, M. and Papatheodorou, C. (Eds.): Poverty and social exclusion, Athens: Exantas, pp. 307-366 (in Greek).
Papatheodorou, C. and Piachaud, D., (1998), “Family background, education and poverty in Greece”, In Korayem, K. and Petmesidou, M. (Eds.): Poverty and social exclusion in the Mediterranean area, Bergen: CROP.
Rauum, O., Bratsberg, B., Roed, K., Osterbacka, E., Eriksson, T., Jantti, M. and Naylor, R., (2007), Marital sorting, household labor supply and intergenerational earnings mobility across countries, Discussion Paper No. 3037, Bohn: IZA, Available at: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/78/1/WRAP_Naylor_dp3037.pdf.
Roemer, J., (2004), “Equal opportunity and intergenerational mobility: Going beyond intergenerational income transition matrices”, In Corak, M. (Ed.): Generational income mobility in North America and Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Saunders, P., (1996), Unequal but fair? A study of class barriers in Britain, London: IEA Health and Welfare Unit.
Saunders, P., (1997), “Social mobility in Britain: An empirical evaluation of two competing theories”, Sociology, Vol. 31, pp. 261-288.
Serafino, P. and Tonkin, R., (2014), Intergenerational transmission of disadvantage in the UK and the EU, Office for National Statistics, Available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171766_378097.pdf.
Solon, G., (1989), “Biases in the estimation of intergenerational earnings correlations”, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 71 (1), pp. 172-174.
Solon, G., (1992), “Intergenerational income mobility in the United States”, American Economic Review, Vol. 82(3), pp. 393-408.
Solon, G., (1999), “Intergenerational mobility in the labour market”, In Ashenfelter O. and Card D. (Eds): Handbook of Labour Economics, Vol. 3A, Amsterdam: North Holland, pp. 1761-1800.
Solon, G., (2002), “Cross-country differences in intergenerational earnings mobility”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 16 (3), pp. 59-66.
Teachman, J., Paasch, K., Day, R. and Carver, K., (1997), “Poverty during adolescence and subsequent educational attainment”, In Duncan, G. and Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.):
Consequences of growing up poor, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 382–418.
Torche, F, (2013), How do we characteristically measure and analyze intergenerational mobility?, New York: Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, Available at: https://web.stanford.edu/group/scspi/_media/working_papers/torche_how-do-we-measure.pdf.
Turkheimer, E., Haley, A., Waldron, M., D’ Onofrio, B. and Gottesman, I., (2003), “Socioeconomic status modifies heritability of IQ in young children”, Psychological
Science, 14(6), pp. 623-626.
Warren, J., Hauser, R. and Sheridan, J., (2002), “Occupational stratification across the life course”, American Sociological Review, Vol. 67, pp. 432-455.
Wilson, W., (1987), The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass and public policy, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Zaimi, A. and Zolyomi, E., (2007), Intergenerational transmission of disadvantages in EU member states, Vienna: European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research.
Zimmerman, D., (1992), “Regression toward mediocrity in economic stature”, American Economic Review, Vol. 82 (3), pp. 409-429.
Most read articles by the same author(s)