Kenneth Nelson, Stockholm University

Purpose and changes in purpose

The overall purpose of the project was to analyze the idea of a European social model based on the institutional structure of European welfare states. The importance to avoid a too narrow institutional analysis was recognized in the project application. Besides social benefit program, which was the main focus of analysis, also other policy areas and individual living conditions has been recognized. This broadening of analytical scope includes health care, labor market activation and material deprivation.

The three most significant findings

The project has resulted in several publications and most of them have been published internationally. The project has generated several findings. One important result is that there is no clear empirical evidence of social policy convergence in the EU, when central dimensions of social benefit programs are in focus. Quite contrary, differences between countries' social policy systems have increased over recent years, something that seems to go against the idea of a single European social model. These analyses on policy convergence have been based on developments in social insurance, social assistance and health care.

Another important finding concerns European integration in Central and Eastern European countries (CEE), where poverty and social exclusion are particularly widespread. We have here analyzed social assistance and compared in CEE countries and longstanding EU democracies. Despite economic growth in CEE countries, social assistance is comparatively underdeveloped. Differences between CEE countries and longstanding EU democracies has widened in recent years. This finding is fairly robust and is observable although the empirical analysis of social assistance benefit levels is adjusted for differences in purchasing parities. We cannot observe any pattern of catching up, where CEE countries are moving closer to longstanding EU democracies. Instead, social assistance benefit levels in several CEE countries are lagging further behind.

Another important result concerns poverty alleviation, which is a central dimension in the steering framework for EU social and economic integration. Here, the EU Member States have agreed to define economic poverty in terms of household income below 60 percent of median household income in total national population. The significance of social assistance for combating relative economic poverty of this kind is often addressed in EU policy discourse. We have in this project showed that social assistance in European countries fails to provide income levels above this threshold. Therefore, social assistance has limited effects on aggregate levels of relative income poverty and associated cross-country differences. Inadequate levels of social assistance may also be in opposition to common ideas of social justice, particularly concerning the most recent development when meager benefits have been combined with increased work-related requirements of beneficiaries.

We have also analyzed social policy in Sweden and the Nordic countries from a European perspective. Also here important results appeared. Social assistance was in focus in this study as well, showing that the Nordic social welfare model is characterized both by changes and stability. One example of the former is increased social assistance outlays and reduced benefit levels. Other examples include higher poverty rates among beneficiaries and less redistributive social assistance benefits. Particularly, Swedish social assistance has been reduced. Sweden had very generous social assistance benefits in the early 1990s, and Swedish benefit rates were much higher than in many other European countries. A couple of decades later, this position of Sweden has changed considerably. Nowadays, countries such as Germnay, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have more generous social assistance benefits than Sweden.

New research questions

This project has resulted in several new research questions about the interplay between social benefits programs and public services, and its consequences on poverty and social inclusion.

The two most important publications

Nelson, K. 2011. 'Social Assistance and EU Poverty Thresholds 1990-2008. Are European Welfare Systems Providing Just and Fair Protection Against Low Income?', European Sociological Review (In Print).
Here I show that social assistance benefits in European countries are insufficient to effectively reduce poverty. I also show that social assistance benefits in Europe have been seriously eroded in recent decades, something that is linked to an increased emphasis on labor market activation. I argue that this development may pose conflicts to fundamental ideas of social justice.

1. Nelson, K. 2012. 'Counteracting material deprivation: the role of social assistance in Europe', Journal of European Social Policy 22(2):148-163.
In this study I show that there is link between social assistance and material deprivation. Countries with higher benefit levels tend to have lower deprivation rates, something that holds although confounding factors are brought into the empirical analysis. This result is important considering the new steering wheel for EU economic and social integration, where material living conditions are central. In EU discourse, however, the redistributive effects of social assistance are still very much portrayed in terms of relative economic poverty. I argue that this discussion on social assistance and poverty in Europe is misleading. In terms of relative economic poverty, social assistance fails to explain the substantial differences across Europe. Instead, social assistance seems to be more crucial for explaining cross-country variation in material deprivation.

Publications

Montanari, I. and K. Nelson. 'Health Care Determinants in Comparative Perspective: The Role of Partisan Politics for Health Care Provision', International Journal of Comparative Sociology (Revised and Resubmitted).

Ferrarini, T., Nelson, K., Sjöberg, O. 'When it rains, it pours? Social rights, inequality and multiple deprivation in Europe', European Sociological Review (Submitted).

Marx, I., Nelson, K. 2012. Minimum Income Protection in Flux. HoundMills: Palgrave MacMillan.

Montanari, I. and K. Nelson. 2012. 'Social service decline and convergence: How does health care fare?', Journal of European Social Policy 22(5): 504 - 518.

Nelson, K. 2012. 'Counteracting material deprivation: the role of social assistance in Europe', Journal of European Social Policy 22(2):148-163.

Nelson, K. 2012. 'Individuell ofärd, ojämlikhet och socialpolitik. Sverige i ett bredare europeiskt perspektiv', i Kön, klass och etnicitet. Jämlikhetsfrågor i socialförsäkringen (Sex, class and ethnicity: Questions of equality in social insurance), Socialförsäkringsrapport 2012:4. Stockholm: Försäkringskassan.

Montanari, I., Nelson, K. 2012. 'Health care governance', in E. Pavolini and A.M. Guillén Public Health Care Systems between Restructuring and Retrenchment. Institutional reforms and performance in EU countries. HoundMills: Palgrave MacMillan (In Print).

Marx, I. and K. Nelson. 2012. 'A New Dawn for Minimum Income Protection?', in Marx, I and Nelson, K. (eds.) Minimum Income Protection in Flux. HoundMills: Palgrave MacMillan.

Ferrarini, T. and K. Nelson. 2012. 'From Universalism to Selectivity. Old wine in New Bottles for Child Benefits', in Marx, I and Nelson, K. (eds.) Minimum Income Protection in Flux. HoundMills: Palgrave MacMillan.

Fritzell, J., Hertzman, J.B., Bäckman, O., Borg, I., Ferrarini, T., Nelson, K. 2012. Country Report on Growing Inequality and its Impacts in Sweden. Country report of the Growing Inequalities' Impacts (GINI) Project. Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS), University of Amsterdam.

Nelson, K. 2011. 'Social Assistance and EU Poverty Thresholds 1990-2008. Are European Welfare Systems Providing Just and Fair Protection Against Low Income?', European Sociological Review (In Print).

Nelson, K. 2010. 'Social assistance and minimum income benefits in old and new EU democracies', International Journal of Social Welfare, 19(4): 1-12.

Kuivalainen, S. and K. Nelson. 2010. 'Eroding Minimum Income in the Nordic Countries and Abroad? Reassessing the Typical Character of Nordic Social Assistance', in Kvist, J., Fritzell, J., Hvinden, B., Kangas, O. (eds.) Changing Social Equality - The Nordic Welfare Model in the 21st Century. Bristol: Policy Press.

Kuivalainen, S. and K. Nelson. 2010. The Nordic welfare model in a European perspective. Working Paper 2010: 11. Stockholm: Institute for Futures Studies.

Montanari, I. and K. Nelson. 2010. Health Care Developments in EU Member States: Regressing Trends and Institutional Similarity? Working Paper 2010: 7. Stockholm: Institute for Futures Studies.

Nelson, K. 2009. 'EU behöver en mer ambitiös socialpolitik (EU needs more ambitous social policies)', Framtider 1/2009.

Nelson, K. 2009. Minimum Income Protection and Low-Income Standards: Is Social Assistance Enough for Poverty Alleviation? Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics 9/2009. Stockholm: Swedish Institute for Social Research.

Nelson, K. 2009. Social Assistance and Minimum Income Protection in the EU: Vulnerability, Adequacy, and Convergence. LIS Working Paper No. 511. Luxembourg: Luxembourg Income Study.

Nelson, K. 2008. 'Minimum Income Protection and European Integration: Trends and Levels of Minimum Benefits in Comparative Perspective 1990-2005', International Journal of Health Services 38(1): 103-124.

Montanari, I., Nelson, K., Palme, J. 2008. 'Towards a European Social Model? Trends in Social Insurance among EU countries 1980-2000', European Societies 10(5): 787-810.

Nelson, K. 2008. Adequacy of Social Minimums: Workfare, Gender and Poverty Alleviation in Welfare Democracies. LIS Working Paper 474. Luxembourg: Luxembourg Income Study.

Presentations

Due to consideration of space I have only reported occasions where I have specifically been invited to present research findings. A large number of conference presentations and seminars are therefore not reported.

European Commission, DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, speech on best ways to secure active inclusion made at the Second Convention of the European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion, 6 December 2012, Brussels.

European Commission, DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Seminar on European Welfare Systems: Recent Characteristics and Developments. 17 September 2012, Brussels.
Conference speech on "Social Transfers and Poverty: a global perspective" at the Catholic University of São Paulo, October 1st, 2012. En tyst revolution - Hur kan sociala trygghetssystem bidra till att utrota fattigdomen? Svenska kyrkan,

Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Föreningen för utvecklingsfrågor (FUF) och Arbetsgruppen för Pensionärer utan gränser, onsdagen den 23 maj, Medelhavsmuseet.

The Institute for European Studies (IES), Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences, 17 April, 2012.

European Commission, DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, 22 February, 2012. Forskarseminarium i Umeå på temat Kön, klass och etnicitet: Jämlikhetsfrågor i socialförsäkringen. Onsdag 18 januari, Försäkringskassan, Umeå, 2012.

International Seminar on Social Protection and Citizenship: Challenges to Overcome Extreme Poverty, Brazil Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management, Ministry of Social Development and Hunger, Brasilia, Brasilien, 2011.

UCL Nordic/Baltic Research Seminar on Health and Welfare in the Nordic and Baltic States'. School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, London, England, 2010.

East Asian Database Project (EADP) meeting on social indicator construction for comparative research on family and social care in East Asia. National Taiwan Normal University, Tapei, Taiwan, 2010.

Lea Roback Research Centre on Social Inequalities in Health conference on Breaking the link between Single-Parent Families and Poverty: Public policies from here and abroad, Montreal, Canada, 2010.

Internacional Seminário Proteção social não contributiva e vulnerabilidade social: modelos e desafios para a intervenção pública, Escola de Governo/Fundação João Pinheiro, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2009.

European Commission conference on the measurement of extreme poverty in the EU, Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Brussels, Belgium, 2009.

Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, presentation on multiple deprivation and social rights, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium, 2009.

Léa Roback Research Centre workshop on Single-parent Families and Poverty, Montreal, Canada, 2009.