Veronica Polin

Poverty transitions and trigger events across EU groups of countries: Evidence from EU-SILC

The dynamics of income poverty in European countries have been extensively analysed using the ECHP dataset, run from 1994 to 2001 in the ‘old’ fifteen member states. Using EU-SILC longitudinal data, the purpose of this paper is to update this type of analysis to 2006 by including the ‘new’ EU member states and focusing on poverty mobility. The demographic and economic events associated with households falling into or exiting poverty are analysed through both descriptive analyses and logit regressions. The analysis compares six groups of countries clustered according to welfare regime typologies. The results reveal that most poverty transitions are associated with economic events, but the entry rates after the occurrence of demographic events are also crucial. With respect to poverty entry rates, differences among groups of countries are consistent with their welfare regime typologies, but a less clear ranking among them emerges when considering poverty exit rates and when regressions are estimated while controlling for household characteristics.

Poverty Dynamics in Clusters of European Union Countries: Related Events and Main Determinants

So far the dynamics of income poverty in European countries has been analysed in a comparative perspective using the ECHP dataset, the first EU-scale panel survey ran from 1994 to 2001 in the “old” 15 member states. By means of the EU-SILC longitudinal data, the main purpose of this paper is to up-to-date such kind of analysis up to 2007 and to extend it including also the “new” EU member states. Being the time span covered by EU-SILC too short for carrying out survival analysis on poverty duration and recurrence, in this paper we focus on income poverty mobility only, identifying and analysing which are the main determinants associated to households’ fall into or exit from poverty. Analyses are carried out grouping EU countries in the five usual geographical clusters. The results show that events related to the labour market are the most important in all clusters both because of their frequency and their relevant impact on poverty transitions Demographic events are, on the contrary, everywhere, much less relevant.

Povertà assoluta e costo della vita: un'analisi empirica sulle famiglie italiane

Our paper contains an investigation on poverty based on the absolute approach. In doing so, different price levels are taken into account, emphasising the possible effects of different costs of living in various geographical areas. For Italy, this issue seems crucial, considering dramatic economic gaps between Northern and Southern areas. Yet, there is few data available, so that only a pioneering study can carried out. Therefore, we estimate absolute poverty thresholds both for regions and macro areas. The analysis is based on consumption data from ISTAT expenditures survey. Our reasoning why we use consumption data, even though in some cases income seems more appropriate, is to present poverty estimates comparable with official statistics for Italy. General results show a partial narrowing in the geographical gap in favour of the South, with respect to traditional approaches; indeed, inequalities between regions could turn out to be less obvious by considering different cost of living indices than it is the case if the same level of prices is used. The analysis is performed using several indicators (i.e. head-count, poverty gap and Sen index). Moreover, a logit regression is conducted to show that, if regional thresholds are used, geographical dummies become not significantly different from 0 in explaining poverty rates, whereas the relevance of other socio-economic aspects increases. Finally, we show how results can change if we remove the specific hypotheses here considered in the estimation of poverty thresholds.

Il costo dei figli: una stima svincolata dal benessere

Economic literature suggests adopting the equivalence scale in order to calculate the private monetary cost of a child. This estimation is based upon controversia1 assumptions about exogeneity of fertility choice, identica1 preferences and possibility of welfare comparisons. In this paper we propose a different approach for estimating the cost of children. This method does not require household welfare comparisons and assumptions about preferences. Using the 1997 Italian Household Budget survey, we estimate the increase in the total expenditure caused by the presence of an additional child for households with equal income and socio-economic characteristics. The monthly margina1 cost is equal to 9% for households with average income.

Public Policies over the Life Cycle: A Large Scale OLG Model for France, Italy and Sweden

The paper presents a large scale overlapping generation model with heterogeneous agents, where the family is the decision unit. We calibrate the model for three European countries - France, Italy and Sweden - which show marked differences in the design of some public programs. We examine the properties in terms of annual and lifetime redistribution of a number of tax-benefit programs, by studying the impact of removing from our model economies some or all of them. We find that whether one considers a life-cycle or an annual horizon, and whether behavioral responses are accounted for or not, has a large impact on the results. The model may provide useful insights for policy makers on which kind of reforms are more likely to achieve specific equity objectives.

I MERCATI DEL MICROCREDITO: TENDENZE INTERNAZIONALI E CASO ITALIANO. UNA RASSEGNA

This paper focuses on microcredit, a financial tool adopted in many countries to fight financial exclusion and poverty. By employing microcredit strategies, small loans are granted to low income households who would ‘naturally’ be excluded from the formal financial system. Thus, microcredit enables low income households to create and expand microenterprises or to address temporary liquidity budget problems. We review the main causes of credit exclusion of low income households and discuss the role of innovative micro-lending strategies that aim to limit the ‘imperfections’ of the credit markets. Then, we analyze size, targets and the various ways this instrument has been adopted in industrialized nations versus developing nations. Finally the paper provides an up-to-date overview of the microcredit sector in Europe, focusing particularly on the development of microcredit in Italy as a case-study.