Economically Insecure Research Articles

Economic insecurity in the 2022 Italian general election: mobilization or withdrawal?

A right-wing coalition led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) emerged as the clear winner of the 2022 Italian general election, with voter turnout reaching its lowest level in the history of the Italian Republic. This result unfolded amidst a long-standing sense of economic stagnation, escalating inequality, and rising inflation. The article explores the relationship between individual economic insecurity and the 2022 election results. There is an assumption in both public and scholarly discourse that economic insecurity is responsible for the rise of populist and, particularly, populist radical-right (PRR) parties. Does the 2022 Italian general election represent a case of mobilization or withdrawal of the economically insecure electorate? Building on the literature on populist success and the economy’s effects on political behavior, we find that economic insecurity was not behind the success of the PRR parties (the League and FdI) in the 2022 election. It was also not associated with the vote for the main populist non-radical-right party in the Italian political landscape: the 5-Star Movement. On the contrary, in this election, economic insecurity mostly deterred voters from casting their ballots, and the success of the PRR can mostly be explained by anti-immigration attitudes.

Perception of uncontrollable mortality risk is associated with food insecurity and reduced economic effort among resource-insecure college students during COVID-19.

In the framework of the uncontrollable mortality risk hypothesis, resource scarcity intersects with mortality risk, shaping resource allocation strategies with enduring impacts on human health and wellbeing. Despite rising economic and food insecurity among US college students, little is known about how these insecurities relate to mortality risk, or how scarcity and mortality risk interact to shape college students' resource allocation strategies. We examine perceptions of resource scarcity and mortality risk and their associations with food insecurity and resource allocation strategies among economically insecure college students during COVID-19 lockdowns. Participants were recruited through an economic crisis response center at a major public university in the United States. A total of 118 participants completed an online Qualtrics survey assessing sociodemographic characteristics, perceptions of mortality risk and resource availability, food security, economic effort, and time perspective; a subset (n = 51) also participated in a telephone interview assessing psychological distress. In general, participants reported more environmental adversity and economic effort during COVID-19 lockdowns compared to before. Students experiencing higher levels of uncontrollable (and not controllable) mortality risk report lower levels of economic effort, and the association was strongest among students perceiving the fewest resources. We also found significant associations between uncontrollable mortality risk and food insecurity. Our results highlight uncontrollable mortality risk's influence on human well-being. Public health efforts should target the experiences and root structural causes of uncontrollable mortality risk, which among economically insecure college students increasingly involves food insecurity.

Associations between mothers' economic insecurity and mood and thoughts on life with children at infants' 3-month check-ups: A cross-sectional study using data from infant health check-ups

Objectives We aimed to clarify the relationship between economic insecurity and the psychological profiles of mothers raising infants by analyzing data from three-month health check-ups in relation to the birth population in order to generate basic data that can be used to consider support for families facing economic insecurity.Methods The study area was a neighborhood in a major Japanese city. The survey focused on 1013 mothers who had received health check-ups for children aged 18 months between November 2017 and October 2019. The data included in the analysis were data from the children's three-month health check-ups and survey data from 908 mothers who responded to the questionnaire and consented to the use of their health check-up data. After excluding data from potential participants who were not mothers or had multiple births, data from 847 participants were analyzed (valid response rate: 93.3%). The objective variables were mothers' mood and thoughts about life with their children at the time of the three-month check-up as the mothers' psychological profiles. The explanatory variable was the presence or absence of maternal economic insecurity, and logistic regression analysis was conducted, adjusted for the children's sex and birth order, presence or absence of maternal counselors, and the mothers' educational attainment.Results A total of 60 (7.1%) mothers were economically insecure. Of the mothers' moods, 122 (14.4%) reported feeling anxious, followed by 36 (4.3%) who reported feeling lonely. Of their thoughts on life with their children, 776 (91.6%) mothers reported that they enjoyed it, and 567 (66.9%) reported that they were happy to be parents. On the other hand, 157 (18.5%) reported feeling frustrated, and 75 (8.9%) reported that the lack of time for themselves was painful. Economically insecure mothers had an odds ratio of 5.59 (95% confidence interval, 2.49-12.55) for feeling lonely, 4.77 (2.67-8.54) for feeling anxious, and 2.70 (1.50-4.86) for feeling frustrated, all significantly higher than in mothers not facing economic insecurity.Conclusion Economic insecurity among mothers at the time of the three-month check-up was associated with the psychological states of loneliness, anxiety, and frustration about living with their children. It was suggested that to solve economically insecure mothers' problems, they need support, including connecting them with social welfare services, so that they will be able to raise their children in a more stable environment.

Safe at Last? Late Effects of a Mass Immunization Campaign on Households' Economic Insecurity

We study the effects of receiving immunization from COVID‐19 on households' economic insecurity. To provide causal estimates we use a fuzzy regression discontinuity design which takes advantage of the UK's immunization plan. The plan was primarily based on age, granting differential eligibility to proximate cohorts. Our estimated local average treatment effect indicates that the share of households who declared being economically insecure dropped by 41 percentage points among those who received the vaccine due to the eligibility criteria. Using a difference‐in‐discontinuity design we next document that immunization was more salient for women as well as for large households and those with children. Our results suggest that the mass immunization campaign against COVID‐19 had relevant short‐run economic effects, well beyond its expected impact on people's health.

Economic Insecurity, Institutional Trust and Populist Voting Across Europe

AbstractThis study revisits the drivers of populist voting in Europe, focusing on the interplay between economic insecurity and institutional trust. Specifically, it examines the degree to which the decision to vote for a populist party is driven by economic insecurity, while explicitly accounting for the moderating role of two types of institutional trust: trust in national institutions and trust in the European Parliament. The paper tests this moderating effect primarily using the European Social Survey (ESS), but also combining it with data from the World Inequality Database (WID). It finds support for the view that trust in institutions moderates the effect of economic insecurity on populist voting, with greater trust associated with less populist voting, except for the most economically insecure members of the population, whose propensity to vote for populist parties is unaffected by institutional trust.

Additional income support buffers the demand for child protection services at the municipality level

AbstractThis study explored in the Finnish context whether additional income support for economically insecure households reduces the demand for child protection services at the municipality level. The data were retrieved from the Official Statistics of Finland from 294 municipalities in 2017–2019. Mediation and moderation analyses were used for testing the hypotheses. According to the results, household economic insecurity was associated with the demand for child protection services. The more economically insecure households there were in a municipality, the greater the demand for child protection services. On the other hand, additional income support has a buffering effect between household economic insecurity and the demand for child protection services. However, the effect of additional income support depends on the proportion of economically insecure households in a municipality. The degree of buffering effect was increasing when the proportion of household economic insecurity was also increasing.

Exploring spatial heterogeneity and environmental injustices in exposure to flood hazards using geographically weighted regression

This study explores flood-related environmental injustices by deconstructing racial, ethnic, and socio-demographic disparities and spatial heterogeneity in the areal extent of fluvial, pluvial, and coastal flooding across Canada. The study integrates JBA Risk Management's 100-year Canada Flood Map with the 2016 national census-based socioeconomic data to investigate whether traditionally recognized vulnerable groups and communities are exposed inequitably to inland (e.g., fluvial and pluvial) and coastal flood hazards. Social vulnerability was represented by neighbourhood-level socioeconomic deprivation, including economic insecurity and instability indices. Statistical analyses include bivariate correlation and a series of non-spatial and spatial regression techniques, including ordinary least squares, binary logistic regression, and simultaneous autoregressive models. The study emphasizes the quest for the most appropriate methodological framework to analyze flood-related socioeconomic inequities in Canada. Strong evidence of spatial effects has motivated the study to test for the spatial heterogeneity of covariates by employing geographically weighted regression (GWR) on continuous outcome variables (e.g., percent of residential properties in a census tract exposed to flood hazards) and geographically weighted logistic regression on dichotomous outcome variables (e.g., a census tract in or out of flood hazard zone). GWR results show that the direction and statistical significance of relationships between inland flood exposure and all explanatory variables under consideration are spatially non-stationary. We find certain vulnerable groups, such as females, lone-parent households, Indigenous peoples, South Asians, the elderly, other visible minorities, and economically insecure residents, are at a higher risk of flooding in Canadian neighbourhoods. Spatial and social disparities in flood exposure have critical policy implications for effective emergency management and disaster risk reduction. The study findings are a foundation for a more detailed investigation of the disproportionate impacts of flood risk in Canada.

Who and Where? The Spatial Context of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Economic Security among Older Adults

Many older adults experience challenging financial circumstances and do not have sufficient income to afford a basic budget in their home communities. Far higher proportions of racial and ethnic minority older adults live on incomes that fall short of what is needed to make ends meet relative to their White counterparts. We describe racial/ethnic disparities in late-life economic insecurity, which occurs when an older person lacks sufficient financial resources to cover necessary expenses in their home community. Although nationwide half of older singles are economically insecure, Massachusetts (62%), New York (65%), Vermont (57%), and Mississippi (57%) have the highest shares of older adults who experience economic insecurity. Compared to Whites, minority older adults have higher rates of economic insecurity in nearly every state, but racial/ethnic disparities are higher in some locations (Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Louisiana) and lower in others (Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, West Virginia). Disparities in economic insecurity reflect the precarious financial situations experienced by many older adults, rooted not only in risks and disadvantages accumulated over time, but also in the variable and uncertain social and economic contexts that accompany the aging experience. By situating older adults in their places of residence, we observe that the cost of remaining in community intersect with life-course experiences associated with social identities to produce disparities in economic security at older ages. The geographic variation in cost of living calls for context-specific assessment of economic security to evaluate the adequacy of economic resources and the associated risk of hardship.

A-6 Cognitive Impairment and SES-Related Differences in Affective Traits

Abstract Objective Recent research has suggested that positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) may be sensitive markers of early pathological changes in Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, mechanisms underlying this relationship are poorly understood and likely reflect diverse etiological factors. Method The present study aimed to determine whether individual differences in NA and PA were related to group differences in global cognition and socioeconomic status (SES). We collected data from a group of adult participants aged 57–87 (N = 120). Participants were categorized as cognitively normal (CN) or MCI based on Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) measured PA and NA. Information on SES including education level and household income were collected via interview. Results Results indicated that those with psychometrically-defined MCI statistically differed in PA but not in NA compared to CN adults. Additionally, economically insecure older adults were higher in NA than economically secure older adults. Further, examination of this effect suggested that this economically-related group difference was significantly greater in those with evidence of cognitive impairments than CN. Older age was associated with greater positive affect (r = 0.170, p < 0.050) and lower negative affect (r = −0.296, p = 0.001). Conclusions Results highlight the combined effect of economic insecurity and cognitive impairment on NA, suggesting that economically insecure adults with cognitive impairments may benefit from additional support to reduce its harmful effects on mood. Future research is needed to examine whether heightened NA is a sensitive predictor of depression and MCI.

Do We Stand Together? The Role of Perceived Personal and Group Threats in Predicting the Majority's (Un)willingness to Confront Injustice on Behalf of a Minority.

Purpose: By utilizing data from Estonia, Finland, and Norway, this study explores how the perceptions of personal and group realistic threats, namely perceived ethnic discrimination and economic insecurity among national majorities, predict their unwillingness to confront injustice on behalf of Russian-speaking minority groups.Background: Previous research on collective action to promote minorities’ rights and social standing has focused either on minorities’ own actions or factors promoting the willingness of majority group members to engage in collective action on behalf of minorities. In contrast, factors explaining the reluctance of majority group members to engage in collective action on behalf of minority groups have remained less explored. For example, studies have then ignored that the majority members may also feel threatened and may be economically insecure. Furthermore, the possible discrepancy between perceived personal vs. in-group’s situation may influence majority group members’ (un)willingness to confront injustice on behalf of a minority group.Method: We employed polynomial regression with response surface analysis to analyze data gathered among national majority members in three countries (N = 1,341).Results: Perceived personal and group realistic threats were associated with heightened unwillingness to confront injustice on behalf of the Russian-speaking minority. Furthermore, participants were more unwilling to confront injustice when they perceived more group than personal threat.Conclusion: We found that majority group members’ (un)willingness to confront injustice on behalf of the minority is related to how secure they perceive their own and their group status. Our results contribute to previous research by pointing out the important drawbacks of majorities’ support for minorities’ wish for social change.

Heterogeneity in preventive behaviors during COVID-19: Health risk, economic insecurity, and slanted information

The present study examines whether people respond heterogeneously to statewide social distancing mandates as a function of factors that proxy for health risk, economic insecurity, and media consumption. Using longitudinal data of 7400 American adults between March 10 and June 23, 2020, the study examines social-distancing and mask-wearing behaviors. We use a staggered difference-in-difference model to explore whether state policies lead to preventive behaviors. We further examine heterogeneity in individual responses to state mandates by including interaction terms with health risk, economic insecurity, and media consumption. The study finds that state policies lead to increased adoption of these behaviors. Our findings also suggest that old age and living with the elderly are key predictors of preventive behavior adoption in the presence or even absence of state mandates. However, the economically insecure, such as the unemployed, those with low incomes and net worth, or without health insurance, are less likely to adopt preventive behaviors regardless of the mandates. The adoption of the behaviors is also polarized between CNN users and Fox News/Social Media users, with greater compliance by the former.

Measuring Economic Insecurity Using a Counting Approach. An Application to Three EU Countries

In this paper, we propose the use of a multidimensional approach to the measurement of economic insecurity in three European countries. We combine six different unidimensional indicators proxying the subjective and objective determinants of economic insecurity into a single index based on a counting approach method, which allows us to measure the incidence and the intensity of the phenomenon. Using longitudinal data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU‐SILC) from 2008 to 2016, we find that the incidence of insecurity falls as income grows, being significantly present in middle‐income households both in Spain and France but not in Sweden. Interestingly, in all three countries, the contribution of different dimensions to insecurity changes as household income grows, while for all income levels a higher education and being employed in a non‐fixed term contract are strongly related to a lower probability of being economically insecure.

Persistent economic insecurity and harsh parenting: A latent transition analysis

Harsh parenting is more likely among economically insecure families, yet it is unclear how persistent economic insecurity, including material hardship and income transfers from friends, family, and social assistance programs like Medicaid, are related to harsh parenting. Using a sample of mothers from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (Age 3 & 5 N = 4, 523), we investigated these hypotheses: 1) Unique combinations, or classes, of economic insecurity are differentially associated with harsh parenting at ages three and five, 2) classes of economic insecurity persist over time, and 3) persistent economic insecurity heightens the likelihood for harsh parenting. We found support for the first two hypotheses and mixed support for the third hypothesis. The four latent classes of economic insecurity were differentially associated with harsh parenting, with economically insecure mothers perpetrating more harsh parenting. Most mothers retained their class of economic insecurity over time. Finally, the relationship between persistent economic insecurity and harsh parenting is not straightforward: Persistent economic insecurity was related to moderate amounts of harsh parenting at age five, yet also buffered mothers from classes 1, 2, and 4 from even harsher parenting practices.

Economic insecurity and the distribution of income volatility in the United States

We examine inequalities in the distribution of income volatility in two ways using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) in order to improve our understanding of economic insecurity. First, we use a variance function regression to jointly quantify the relationship between changes in average levels of volatility as they relate to changes in the distribution of volatility. The results indicate that inequalities in the distribution of volatility rise much faster than the overall level of volatility. Therefore, what are often perceived to be rising levels of volatility for everyone are better understood as rising levels of volatility for households at the top of the volatility distribution. Second, we use a linear probability model to better understand changes in who experiences high income volatility over time. Rising inequalities in the distribution of volatility turn out to be the result of a rising probability of experiencing high volatility among households that would not typically be classified as economically insecure.

Migration politics: Mobilizing against economic insecurity in the United States and South Africa

From the mid-2000s, the United States and South Africa, respectively, experienced significant pro-migrant and anti-migrant mobilizations. Economically insecure groups played leading roles. Why did these groups emphasize politics of migration, and to what extent did the very different mobilizations reflect parallel underlying mechanisms? Drawing on 41 months of ethnographic fieldwork and 119 interviews with activists and residents, I argue that the mobilizations deployed two common strategies: symbolic group formation rooted in demands for recognition, and targeting the state as a key source of livelihood. These twin strategies encouraged economically insecure groups to emphasize national identities and, in turn, migration. Yet, they manifested in different types of mobilization due to the varying characteristics of the groups involved, and the different national imaginaries and organizing legacies they had to draw upon. The analysis demonstrates the capacity of economically insecure groups to make collective claims. It also shows that within the context of anti-migrant nationalism, economic insecurity amplifies the significance of national belonging, citizenship, and migration as important terrains of collective struggle.

Determining risk for child physical harm through the classification of economic insecurity

Children in economically insecure families are more likely to experience physical harm compared with children in economically secure families. It is unclear, however, if particular combinations of economic insecurity are more or less predictive of child physical harm. This study aimed to 1) identify and describe the prevalence of distinct combinations, or classes, of economic insecurity (public and private income transfers, bill-paying, housing, food, and medical hardships), 2) and to associate these classes with child physical harm (spanking, hitting, slapping, shaking, pinching). We employed latent class analysis with age 5 data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (N=4133), finding that four latent classes of economic insecurity differentially predict the prevalence and chronicity of physical harm behaviors. Mothers who reported hardship perpetrated more child physical harm than mothers who received income transfers but reported no hardship. Implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed.

Family formation and economic insecurity among youth in South Africa

ABSTRACTYouth unemployment continues to be a burden and concern for the South African government. Being economically insecure, the situation is dire with the government needing to provide resources to a population who should be economically independent. There is a need to look at the social determinants of economic insecurity among youth in South Africa. Family formations could either promote or inhibit economic well-being. This article aims to assess whether economic security improves as youth enter into unions and/or have children. The South African National Income Dynamics Study is used. Unmarried youth with no children are measured at baseline (2008) and followed up over time to examine whether economic security status changes as union status changes. Results show that while economic security, employment (from 7.61% to 25.67%) and net income per month (from 19.48% to 32.79%) increase over time, youth who marry but have no children have the lowest risk of economic insecurity (relative risk ratio = 0.02, p < 0.05) compared with those who remain unmarried but have children. Special attention needs to be given to youth who have children and are unmarried and among those who marry and have children soon after.

Employment Insecurity, Incumbent Partisanship, and Voting Behavior in Comparative Perspective

We argue that occupational unemployment rates, by informing perceptions of economic insecurity, serve as a salient and powerful heuristic for aggregate economic performance. Consequently, high and rising occupational unemployment leads to negative evaluations of the economy and reduces the probability of supporting the incumbent government. Simultaneously, however, such changes shift support toward left-wing parties. Thus, economic insecurity serves as a valence issue, but is also inherently a positional issue, due to the distributional consequences of welfare policies. This brings about a potential conflict as under left-wing incumbent governments the economically insecure are cross-pressured, which increases their likelihood of exiting the electoral arena completely. We test our hypotheses using a Bayesian hierarchical multinomial model, with individual-level data from 43 elections in 21 countries. We find support for the hypothesized effects of employment insecurity on voting behavior, with a follow-up analysis supporting the posited informational mechanism.

Economic Insecurity Increases Physical Pain

The past decade has seen a rise in both economic insecurity and frequency of physical pain. The current research reveals a causal connection between these two growing and consequential social trends. In five studies, we found that economic insecurity produced physical pain and reduced pain tolerance. In a sixth study, with data from 33,720 geographically diverse households across the United States, economic insecurity predicted consumption of over-the-counter painkillers. The link between economic insecurity and physical pain emerged when people experienced the insecurity personally (unemployment), when they were in an insecure context (they were informed that their state had a relatively high level of unemployment), and when they contemplated past and future economic insecurity. Using both experimental-causal-chain and measurement-of-mediation approaches, we also established that the psychological experience of lacking control helped generate the causal link from economic insecurity to physical pain. Meta-analyses including all of our studies testing the link from economic insecurity to physical pain revealed that this link is reliable. Overall, the findings show that it physically hurts to be economically insecure.

Economic Insecurity and Political Trust in the United States

Extant research demonstrates that citizens’ evaluations of national economic performance play an important role in determining trust in politicians and political institutions, whereas evaluations of their own economic situation play a lesser or even negligible role. Utilizing American National Election Studies data and more apposite measures of personal economic privation during an age of globalization and de-industrialization, this article finds that the extent to which citizens perceive themselves and their families to be economically insecure has a statistically significant and substantial negative effect on political trust. Indeed, the effect at least matches those of macro-economic evaluations and party identification. This article therefore adds a new dimension to our understanding of the economy–trust nexus and contributes to the small but growing body of scholarship on insecurity’s effects on political behavior.