IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v129y2016i2d10.1007_s11205-015-1138-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

More than Cash: Societal Influences on the Risk of Material Deprivation

Author

Listed:
  • Sabine Israel

    (Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg)

Abstract

This paper considers the societal factors which determine a household’s command over resources aside from cash income. The aim of this paper is to explain why in some European countries the deprivation risk for households is relatively low despite high absolute poverty levels. Two main mechanisms at the societal level are identified that reduce deprivation but which do not directly impact disposable income. The first is the provision of in-kind benefits which increase the purchasing power of households; the second is informal support from networks. An analysis using 2012 EU-SILC data shows that both factors are significant in explaining the cross-country variation in Europe while controlling for national affluence. Households which have higher in-kind benefits from social services as well as non-cash company benefits and their own production show lower levels of deprivation. On the national level, universally provided social services (e.g. housing, healthcare or transport) can substantially improve the living conditions of the income poor and reduce social exclusion. However, the main factor explaining cross-country variation in deprivation is the provision of informal support from networks. When the social context is dominated by low generalised trust, social support for poor households is lower, leading to a marginalisation of the poor. In contrast, when trust is high, support from kin and non-kin networks in terms of lump sum transfers or co-usage of consumer goods significantly improve living conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabine Israel, 2016. "More than Cash: Societal Influences on the Risk of Material Deprivation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 619-637, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:129:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-015-1138-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-015-1138-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-015-1138-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-015-1138-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruud Muffels & Didier Fouarge, 2004. "The Role of European Welfare States in Explaining Resources Deprivation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 68(3), pages 299-330, September.
    2. Peter Whiteford, 1995. "The use of replacement rates in international comparisons of benefit systems," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(2), pages 3-30, April.
    3. Brian Nolan & Christopher T. Whelan, 2010. "Using non-monetary deprivation indicators to analyze poverty and social exclusion: Lessons from Europe?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 305-325.
    4. GUIO Anne-Catherine & FUSCO Alessio & MARLIER Eric, 2009. "A European Union Approach to Material Deprivation using EU-SILC and Eurobarometer data," IRISS Working Paper Series 2009-19, IRISS at CEPS/INSTEAD.
    5. Alari Paulus & Holly Sutherland & Panos Tsakloglou, 2010. "The distributional impact of in-kind public benefits in European countries," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 243-266.
    6. Paul Dickes & Alessio Fusco & Eric Marlier, 2010. "Structure of National Perceptions of Social Needs Across EU Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 95(1), pages 143-167, January.
    7. Rolf Aaberge & Audun Langørgen & Petter Lindgren, 2013. "The distributional impact of public services in," Discussion Papers 746, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    8. Bea Cantillon, 2011. "The Paradox of the Social Investment State. Growth, Employment and Poverty in the Lisbon Era," Working Papers 1103, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    9. Christopher T. Whelan & Bertrand Maître, 2012. "Understanding Material Deprivation in Europe: A Multilevel Analysis," Working Papers 201205, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    10. Kenneth Nelson, 2004. "Mechanisms of Poverty Alleviation," LIS Working papers 372, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    11. Nolan, Brian & Whelan, Christopher T., 2011. "Poverty and Deprivation in Europe," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199588435.
    12. Kaminska, Olena & Iacovou, Maria & Levy, Horacio, 2012. "Using EU-SILC data for cross-national analysis: strengths, problems and recommendations," ISER Working Paper Series 2012-03, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Enrico Fabrizi & Chiara Mussida & Maria Laura Parisi, 2023. "Comparing Material and Social Deprivation Indicators: Identification of Deprived Populations," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 999-1020, February.
    2. Maureen Berner, 2017. "Multidimensional Measures of Poverty: The Potential Contribution of Non‐Profit Food Pantry Data to Assess Community Economic Condition," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(4), pages 381-401, December.
    3. Hanna Dudek & Wiesław Szczesny, 2021. "Multidimensional material deprivation in Poland: a focus on changes in 2015–2017," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 741-763, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abigail Mcknight & Brian Nolan, 2012. "GINI Intermediate Report WP 4: Social Impacts of Inequalities," GINI Discussion Papers wp4, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    2. Bárcena-Martín, Elena & Blázquez, Maite & Moro-Egido, Ana I., 2020. "The role of income pooling and decision-making responsibilities in material deprivation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 416-428.
    3. Marx, Ive & Nolan, Brian & Olivera, Javier, 2014. "The Welfare State and Anti-Poverty Policy in Rich Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 8154, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Geranda Notten & Anne-Catherine Guio, 2016. "The impact of social transfers on income poverty and material deprivation," ImPRovE Working Papers 16/17, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    5. Calvert, E. (Emma) & Brian Nolan, 2012. "GINI DP 68: Material Deprivation in Europe," GINI Discussion Papers 68, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    6. Geranda Notten, 2013. "Measuring performance: does the assessment depend on the poverty proxy?," ImPRovE Working Papers 13/13, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    7. Bertrand Maître & Brian Nolan & Christopher T. Whelan, 2013. "A Critical Evaluation of the EU 2020 Poverty and Social Exclusion Target: An Analysis of EU-SILC 2009," Working Papers 201309, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    8. Bertrand Maitre & Brian Nolan & Christopher Whelan, 2013. "GINI DP 79: A Critical Evaluation of the EU 2020 Poverty and Social Exclusion Target: An Analysis of EU-SILC 2009," GINI Discussion Papers 79, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    9. E. Bárcena-Martín & B. Lacomba & A. I. Moro-Egido & S. Pérez-Moreno, 2014. "Country Differences in Material Deprivation in Europe," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(4), pages 802-820, December.
    10. Vincent A. Hildebrand & María Noel Pi Alperin & Philippe Van Kerm, 2017. "Measuring and Accounting for the Deprivation Gap of Portuguese Immigrants in Luxembourg," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(2), pages 288-309, June.
    11. Ilari Ilmakunnas & Lauri Mäkinen, 2021. "Age Differences in Material Deprivation in Finland: How do Consensus and Prevalence-Based Weighting Approaches Change the Picture?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 393-412, April.
    12. Fotis Papadopoulos & Panos Tsakloglou, 2015. "Chronic material deprivation and long-term poverty in Europe in the pre-crisis period," ImPRovE Working Papers 15/16, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    13. Caroline Dewilde, 2008. "Individual and institutional determinants of multidimensional poverty: A European comparison," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 86(2), pages 233-256, April.
    14. Santos, María Emma, 2019. "Non-monetary indicators to monitor SDG targets 1.2 and 1.4: standards, availability, comparability and quality," Estudios Estadísticos 44452, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    15. Alois Guger & Silvia Rocha-Akis, 2016. "Umverteilung durch den Staat in Österreich," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 89(5), pages 329-345, May.
    16. Sabina Alkire, Mauricio Apablaza, 2016. "Multidimensional Poverty in Europe 2006-2012: Illustrating a Methodology," OPHI Working Papers 74, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    17. Aaberge, Rolf & Eika, Lasse & Langørgen, Audun & Mogstad, Magne, 2019. "Local governments, in-kind transfers, and economic inequality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    18. Andrea Brandolini, 2013. "Poverty," Chapters, in: Luigino Bruni & Stefano Zamagni (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Reciprocity and Social Enterprise, chapter 26, pages 261-270, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Luca Giangregorio, 2024. "Welfare type and income inequality: an income source decomposition including in-kind benefits and cash-transfers entitlement," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(2), pages 367-403, April.
    20. András Gábos & Tim Goedemé, 2016. "The Europe 2020 social inclusion indicators: main conclusions of the ImPRovE project on validity, methodological robustness and interrelationships," ImPRovE Working Papers 16/13, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:129:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-015-1138-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.