IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v122y2015i1p1-20.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What do Europeans Believe to be the Causes of Poverty? A Multilevel Analysis of Heterogeneity Within and Between Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Leonor Costa
  • José Dias

Abstract

People’s explanations for why some individuals are poor are of great importance to a comprehensive study of poverty. This cross-cultural study aims to profile differences and similarities in perceptions of the causes of poverty within and between 28 European Union countries. Multilevel models were estimated to allow two levels of analysis to be studied simultaneously, namely the individual and the country, and a multilevel latent class model was selected with six classes of countries and seven classes of individuals. Despite the generalization of the social explanations of poverty at the individual level, some groups also blame the poor for their situation. Individuals in greater economic difficulty attributed more social causes to poverty than those who were better off financially and socially. At the country level, the most developed countries believe poverty has individualistic and fatalistic causes, whereas the least developed countries explain poverty based on the injustices of society. We found that this methodology permits a deeper and richer analysis than traditional clustering methods as it accounts for different nested levels of analysis simultaneously. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Leonor Costa & José Dias, 2015. "What do Europeans Believe to be the Causes of Poverty? A Multilevel Analysis of Heterogeneity Within and Between Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 1-20, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:122:y:2015:i:1:p:1-20
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-014-0672-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11205-014-0672-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-014-0672-0?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. Hayati, Dariush & Karami, Ezatollah, 2005. "Typology of causes of poverty: The perception of Iranian farmers," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 884-901, December.
    2. Yul Davids & Amanda Gouws, 2013. "Monitoring Perceptions of the Causes of Poverty in South Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 1201-1220, February.
    3. Halman, L.C.J.M. & van Oorschot, W.J.H., 1999. "Popular perceptions of poverty in Dutch society," WORC Paper 99.11.01, Tilburg University, Work and Organization Research Centre.
    4. Leonor Costa & José Dias, 2014. "Perceptions of poverty attributions in Europe: a multilevel mixture model approach," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 1409-1419, May.
    5. Caroline Dewilde, 2004. "The Multidimensional Measurement of Poverty in Belgium and Britain: A Categorical Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 68(3), pages 331-369, September.
    6. Daniel Shek & Cecilia Ma, 2009. "Dimensionality of the Chinese Perceived Causes of Poverty Scale: Findings Based on Confirmatory Factor Analyses," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 90(2), pages 155-164, January.
    7. Bijmolt, T.H.A. & Paas, L.J. & Vermunt, J.K., 2004. "Country and consumer segmentation : Multi-level latent class analysis of financial product ownership," Other publications TiSEM fb506162-d125-4091-9083-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Elena Pirani, 2013. "Evaluating contemporary social exclusion in Europe: a hierarchical latent class approach," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 923-941, February.
    9. Patterson B.H. & Dayton C.M. & Graubard B.I., 2002. "Latent Class Analysis of Complex Sample Survey Data: Application to Dietary Data," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 97, pages 721-741, September.
    10. Kyo-seong Kim & Yongwoo Lee & Yu-jeong Lee, 2010. "A Multilevel Analysis of Factors Related to Poverty in Welfare States," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 99(3), pages 391-404, December.
    11. Abouchedid, Kamal & Nasser, Ramzi, 2001. "Poverty attitudes and their determinants in Lebanon's plural society," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 271-282, April.
    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. Gassmann, Franziska & Timár, Eszter, 2024. "Perceived position on the social ladder and redistributive preferences – A survey experiment from the Kyrgyz Republic," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Ana Gomes & José G. Dias, 2023. "Is there a Common Digital Market in the European Union? Implications for the European Digitalization Strategy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 797-814, May.
    3. Canavire Bacarreza, Gustavo J. & Puerta-Cuartas, Alejandro & Beverinotti, Javier, 2024. "Efficiency in Poverty Reduction: A State-Level Analysis for Bolivia," IZA Discussion Papers 16794, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Miki Malul, 2019. "Poverty and Social Policy: Perceptions Versus Reality," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), pages 291-301, December.
    5. Ildikó Husz & Marianna Kopasz & Márton Medgyesi, 2022. "Social Workers’ Causal Attributions for Poverty: Does the Level of Spatial Concentration of Disadvantages Matter?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 1069-1091, August.
    6. Nunzio Tritto & José G. Dias & Francesca Bassi, 2024. "SMEs Circular Economy Practices in the European Union: Multilevel Implications for Sustainability," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 175(3), pages 965-988, December.
    7. Şansel Özpinar & Sacit Hadi Akdede, 2022. "Determinants of the Attribution of Poverty in Turkey: An Empirical Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(2), pages 949-967, November.
    8. Di Mari, Roberto & Bakk, Zsuzsa & Oser, Jennifer & Kuha, Jouni, 2023. "A two-step estimator for multilevel latent class analysis with covariates," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119994, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. José G. Dias & Graça Trindade, 2016. "The Europeans’ Expectations of Competition Effects in Passenger Rail Transport: A Cross-National Multilevel Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(3), pages 1383-1399, December.
    10. Marta – Claudia CLIZA, 2017. "Causes of Poverty – What Do the Poor Think? Poverty Attribution and Its Behavioural Effects," LUMEN Proceedings, Editura Lumen, vol. 1(1), pages 186-197, December.
    11. Silvia COJANU & Cristina STROE, 2017. "Causes of Poverty – What Do the Poor Think? Poverty Attribution and Its Behavioural Effects," Book chapters-LUMEN Proceedings, in: Camelia Ignatescu & Antonio SANDU & Tomita CIULEI (ed.), Rethinking Social Action. Core Values in Practice, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 18, pages 186-197, Editura Lumen.
    12. Liu, Yue & Shuai, Chuanmin & Zhou, Huimin, 2017. "How to identify poor immigrants? - An empirical study of the Three Gorges Reservoir in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 311-326.
    13. Salem , Ali Asghar & Bayat , Neda, 2018. "Factors Influencing Poverty in Iran Using a Multilevel Approach," Journal of Money and Economy, Monetary and Banking Research Institute, Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, vol. 13(1), pages 81-106, January.

    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. Leonor Costa & José Dias, 2014. "Perceptions of poverty attributions in Europe: a multilevel mixture model approach," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 1409-1419, May.
    2. Silvia COJANU & Cristina STROE, 2017. "Causes of Poverty – What Do the Poor Think? Poverty Attribution and Its Behavioural Effects," Book chapters-LUMEN Proceedings, in: Camelia Ignatescu & Antonio SANDU & Tomita CIULEI (ed.), Rethinking Social Action. Core Values in Practice, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 18, pages 186-197, Editura Lumen.
    3. Şansel Özpinar & Sacit Hadi Akdede, 2022. "Determinants of the Attribution of Poverty in Turkey: An Empirical Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(2), pages 949-967, November.
    4. Hector E. Najera Catalan, 2017. "Multiple Deprivation, Severity and Latent Sub-Groups: Advantages of Factor Mixture Modelling for Analysing Material Deprivation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 681-700, March.
    5. Jana Stavkova & Nada Birciakova & Jana Turcinkova, 2012. "Material Deprivation in Selected EU Countries according to EU SILC Income Statistics," MENDELU Working Papers in Business and Economics 2012-19, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    6. Masoud Bijani & Dariush Hayati & Hossein Azadi & Vjekoslav Tanaskovik & Frank Witlox, 2020. "Causes and Consequences of the Conflict among Agricultural Water Beneficiaries in Iran," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-22, August.
    7. Tim Goedemé & Diego Collado & Leen Meeusen, 2014. "Mountains on the move: recent trends in national and EU-wide income dynamics in old and new EU Member States," ImPRovE Working Papers 14/05, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    8. 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.
    9. Bas Donkers & Richard Paap & Jedid‐Jah Jonker & Philip Hans Franses, 2006. "Deriving target selection rules from endogenously selected samples," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(5), pages 549-562, July.
    10. Sara Mota Cardoso & Aurora A. C. Teixeira, 2020. "The Focus on Poverty in the Most Influential Journals in Economics: A Bibliometric Analysis of the “Blue Ribbon” Journals," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), pages 10-42, March.
    11. Veronika Antošová & Jana Stávková & Dana Skálová & Naďa Birčiaková, 2013. "Development and subsequent comparison of the cost of living in different social groups in Czech Republic," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 61(4), pages 841-847.
    12. Natalia Casado-Sanz & Begoña Guirao & Maria Attard, 2020. "Analysis of the Risk Factors Affecting the Severity of Traffic Accidents on Spanish Crosstown Roads: The Driver’s Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-26, March.
    13. Yannick V. Markhof, 2020. "Divide to Conquer? Latent Preference Types and Country-level Heterogeneity," CSAE Working Paper Series 2020-05, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    14. Hannah M. Dunga & Steven H. Dunga, 2022. "Determinants of Perceptions of Poverty; A Case of Townships in Gauteng Province of South Africa," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 12(3), pages 97-103, May.
    15. Azeem, Muhammad Masood & Mugera, Amin W. & Schilizzi, Steven, 2016. "Poverty and vulnerability in the Punjab, Pakistan: A multilevel analysis," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 57-72.
    16. Jeroen K. Vermunt & Jay Magidson, 2007. "Latent Class Analysis With Sampling Weights," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 36(1), pages 87-111, August.
    17. Leonard J. Paas & Jeroen K. Vermunt & Tammo H. A. Bijmolt, 2007. "Discrete time, discrete state latent Markov modelling for assessing and predicting household acquisitions of financial products," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(4), pages 955-974, October.
    18. Salem , Ali Asghar & Bayat , Neda, 2018. "Factors Influencing Poverty in Iran Using a Multilevel Approach," Journal of Money and Economy, Monetary and Banking Research Institute, Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, vol. 13(1), pages 81-106, January.
    19. 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.
    20. Rudolph, Thomas & Kralle, Nora & Eggenschwiler, Matthias, 2021. "Kundensegmentierung für eine nachhaltige und gesunde Ernährung," Marketing Review St.Gallen, Universität St.Gallen, Institut für Marketing und Customer Insight, vol. 38(3), pages 34-43.

    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:122:y:2015:i:1:p:1-20. 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.