Inequality In Europe Research Articles

Potentials for Reducing Spatial Inequalities in Innovation: A Spatial Econometric Perspective

ABSTRACTThis study explains disparities in regional innovation through specific features of regional knowledge bases, including recently discussed concepts such as, technological relatedness, knowledge complexity, and technological complementarity among neighboring regions and regions connected in R&D networks. We employ a spatial autoregressive panel model for 405 European regions to estimate the effects of these characteristics. While being connected to complementary regions and having a high region‐internal technological relatedness are conducive to regional innovation, knowledge complexity has no positive effect interestingly. In illustrative convergence scenarios, we demonstrate the potential of increasing relatedness and complementarity to reduce inequalities in Europe, pointing to important policy implications.

Everyday Life Infrastructure Impact on Subjective Well-Being in the European Union: A Gender Perspective

This paper processes the 2015 Benefits of Gender Equality through Infrastructure Provision (BGEIP) Survey, a representative survey for the EU-28, to estimating the impact of everyday life infrastructure access on subjective well-being (SWB) from a gender perspective in Europe. Our estimations prove that accessing everyday life infrastructure in Europe indeed increases SWB, but it contributes to increasing more the SWB of women than that of men. Women’s well-being is positively affected for all kinds of everyday life infrastructures, but the differences with respect to men are larger for the Nursery category for children up to 3 years and for the Centers category for people with long term disabilities. In contrast, men’s well-being is only sensitive to the Health infrastructure and to the Gym and Workout places. Clearly, targeting infrastructure investment helping women in caring children, and other dependents in the family constitute an excellent vehicle for increasing women’s SWB and reducing gender inequality in Europe.

Changing inequalities in Europe and North America: part two

Changing inequalities in Europe and North America: part two

Time to reap the fruits of EU-SILC's new way of measuring unmet needs.

A change in the methodology of the EU-SILC questionnaire on health needs, implemented from 2015 onwards, made it possible to distinguish the probability of a person saying they needed care from the probability that they received it. However, datasets taking advantage of this change were not published by Eurostat until the end of 2023 and offered only limited possibilities for disaggregation. In this article, we show how useful these results can be, despite their limitations. In order to facilitate more and better research into health inequalities in Europe, Eurostat should give priority to publishing more datasets as soon as possible.

Trade and inequality in Europe and the US

Abstract Low-income countries’ share of global exports nearly tripled between 1990 and 2015, largely due to China’s emergence as an exporting powerhouse. Evidence from several European countries and the US shows that import competition from China differentially reduced employment and earnings for workers in more trade-exposed industries and regions. We show that manufacturing employment declined most dramatically in countries where import growth was not matched by a commensurate expansion of exports. We also provide new results for the UK which indicate that imports from China contributed to substantial declines in consumer prices alongside job losses in manufacturing. However, while the adverse labour market impacts were concentrated on specific groups of workers and regions, consumer benefits from trade were widely dispersed and of similar magnitude for high and low-income households. We argue that assistance targeted towards displaced workers and depressed areas would better help the losers of globalization than new import tariffs.

Changing labour market and income inequalities in Europe and North America: a parallel project to the IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities in the 21st century

Changing labour market and income inequalities in Europe and North America: a parallel project to the IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities in the 21^st century

HOW DO DIFFERENT FORMS OF DIGITALIZATION AFFECT INCOME INEQUALITY?

This article examines how different forms of digitalization affect inequality in Europe. Using a cross-national dataset of economic development and digitalization across a range of regression specifications including country and time fixed effects, this article explores the heterogeneous relationships of disparate forms of digitalization – human capital, broadband connectivity, integration of digital technology into small and medium enterprises, and digital public services – with income inequality. Fixed country and time effects models show that only the digitalization of human capital and integration of digital technology by SMEs are associated with decreases in income inequality. Causal mediation analysis reveals that tertiary education, despite its oft-cited connection to digital technology uptake, has no causal effect on the pathways through which digitalization of labour and SME operations lower inequality, which are direct. The findings tentatively suggest that there exist informal sources of digital skills training apart from formal tertiary education and point to SMEs as a potentially impactful area for investing in digitalization as pathways for income redistribution.

Cultural Practices and Socio-Digital Inequalities in Europe: Towards a Unified Research Framework in Cultural Participation Studies

In this article, we propose a unified research framework for studying the impact of social and digital inequalities on four types of cultural practices: offline art-related practices, offline everyday cultural practices, online art-related practices, and online everyday cultural practices. In contrast to the research traditions that study them separately, we argue that the subject of further research should be the interplay between cultural practices in offline and online domains and that the impact of social and digital inequalities on cultural participation should be studied jointly. Based on empirical evidence from a large-scale research project carried out in nine European countries, we demonstrate the benefits of sidestepping what we see as a strange disconnect between the research traditions studying cultural practices and inequalities in the offline and online spheres separately. The results of our research show that only the inclusion of online and everyday cultural practices in the analysis does justice to the complexity of contemporary cultural participation and its relation to what we refer to as socio-digital inequalities.

Rural-Urban Inequalities and Spatial Justice in Europe

This paper examines patterns of rural-urban inequality in Europe. Econometric analysis of quantitative data, new large-n survey data, and stakeholder interviews are utilised, revealing a broad trajectory of convergence between rural and urban areas that is cross-cut by pockets of persistent disadvantage and by contrasts between different parts of Europe. The paper employs the concept of spatial justice to consider the factors shaping these patterns and their political effects. It shows that while EU programmes have had some impact on material measures of inequality, perceived spatial injustice remains, creating opportunities for disruptive political movements.

Post-socialist restauration of capitalism, deindustrialization, and precarization of labor: The case of Serbia

In this paper the author analyzes the relationship between deindustrialization and the increase in labor precarity in Serbian society amidst the conditions of post-socialist restauration of capitalism. Given that Serbia is among the societies with the highest income inequalities in Europe which are disproportionately affecting the unemployed and those engaged in non-standard (precarious) forms of employment, the author argues that the structural cause of this situation lies in the destruction of the economy, particularly industrial production, during so called transition from socialist to capitalist economic relations. The author distinguishes two different yet interconnected phases within the process of restauration of capitalism in the case of Serbia. Therefore, in this paper, the author takes a historical overview of the development and destruction of industry in Serbian society over the past hundred years to understand the extent of the reserve army of labor in Serbian society, which forms the foundation of existing social inequality and labor precarity.

Wage inequality in Europe: The institutional and economic factors supporting workers

Wage inequality in Europe: The institutional and economic factors supporting workers

Monitoring inequalities in cancer prevention and care in Europe

Abstract The European Cancer Inequalities Registry (ECIR), a flagship initiative of the Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, was launched by EC President Ursula Van der Leyen in February 2022. The aim of the registry is to identify, communicate and monitor inequalities in cancer prevention and care across Europe. The ECIR data tool presents cancer-related indicators on cancer burden, from prevention, screening and early detection, to diagnosis, treatment and quality of life of patients and survivors. Where possible, the indicators are presented along six inequality dimensions: country, sex, age, education, employment status and urbanisation. Furthermore, this data tool is complemented with regular reporting mechanisms, factsheets, and a roadmap that presents data quality criteria and future, planned enhancements of the data tool. Stakeholders can always submit suggestions for additional indicators. The data already reveals important socio-economic and demographic inequalities in cancer prevention and care. For example, in most EU countries obesity, low intake of fruits and vegetables or physical inactivity tend to be more prevalent for groups with lower education, income, or those living in rural areas. The same applies to participation in cancer screening. For example, the EU average for women eligible for breast cancer screening that reported not to have ever had a mammography is 11%. However, in some EU countries, this percentage is more than double. It is highly likely this contributes to the unacceptable differences in breast cancer 5-year survival. In conclusion, there are still striking geographical and socio-economic disparities observed for cancer prevention, screening or treatment indicators. By transparently communicating such observed inequalities in Europe, the ECIR data tool can help guide future financial EU investments, identify best practices to effectively tackle these inequalities and also monitor the effectiveness of the new cancer policies. Key messages • Inequalities in cancer prevention and care are observed among EU countries. • ECIR helps to monitor cancer inequalities in Europe and guide financial investments.

Epilogue: Chicken or Egg? The Role of Newcomer Migrants in the Revitalization of ‘Left-Behind’ Areas

This contribution questions the common assumptions and practices concerning the hosting of newcomers in depopulated, remote and disinvested places in order to revitalize these places. While newcomers can contribute to new socioeconomic vitality in marginalised areas, they should not be taken as the only or main solution. Drawing on the debate surrounding the migration–development nexus, which has mainly been applied in global South contexts, I advocate demigrantizing our thinking and debunking the divide between newcomers and locals. Rather than focusing on the integration of migrants, emphasis should be put on how diverse members of these changing communities, regardless of their length of residence, can attract the right (e.g. sustainable and inclusive) projects and investors. I argue that the reallocation of public funding, new (translocal) solidarities and people-based investment plans are imperative if we are to solve the problem of growing poverty and inequality in Europe.

Cardiovascular diseases and health inequalities in Europe—a pressing public health challenge

Cardiovascular diseases and health inequalities in Europe—a pressing public health challenge

Gender (in)equality in (European) society

The subject is gender inequality in Europe from 2020 to 2030. What are the measures to problem solving or the Gender Equality Strategy (2020 – 2025) challenges? The scientific goals are scientific description, understanding and causal explanation of problem, based on secondary data by international organizations, EU statistical institutions and measures of the Strategy, from the scientific theory of liberal feminism. The methodology refers to the analysis of problem indicators and the synthesis of proposals for its solutions. The results relate to the expanding the scientific knowledge of European society and its problems, and a pragmatic explanation with an overview of solutions.

The Impact of the Crisis on Poverty and Socio-Economic Inequalities in Europe

We want to investigate the factors that have had an impact on poverty rates and inequalities in Europe and enquire about the possibility to reduce them in the future. Our enquiry is largely novel in the literature on the topic. The immediate causes of the increase in poverty rates and inequalities have certainly been the financial crisis, the pandemic and the increase in unemployment that derived from them in almost all European countries. In a nutshell, the underlying novel factors that we underline can be attributed to the EU institutions and policies, the ensuing asymmetries and the situation in “core” and “peripheral” countries, more specifically: 1) The “credit-led” strategy of growth pursued by peripheral countries. 2) The “export-led” strategy of growth pursued by core countries. These strategies implicated pernicious imbalances that reflected on poverty rates and inequalities. We find also that only the welfare state has succeeded in mitigating the negative impact on poverty and equity, but at the cost of further burdening public finances, especially in peripheral countries, casting a shadow on the ability to perform the same role in the future. In the future what is needed to avoid asymmetries and imbalances in the European Union is a common strategy of growth.

Life-course Factors and Later Life Health in Eastern and Western Europe

Human development and ageing are lifelong processes, where earlier life conditions and events are interlinked with later life outcomes. Patterns of inequality within and among cohorts emerge over time as products of the interplay between institutional arrangements and individual life, often dependent on childhood or earlier life circumstances. The life conditions and experiences of older adults in Eastern and Western Europe differ significantly, but whether their cumulative effects on later life outcomes vary across these two regions has not been compared. We explore the effects of socioeconomic position, the experience of a period of hunger, the dispossession of assets, and discrimination suffered by parents in respondents’ life courses on later life health inequalities in Europe. Self-reported health, everyday activity limitations, and cognitive functioning are the main outcomes that provide an adequate overview of different health domains. We mainly use data from the seventh wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE 2017) and restrict our sample to respondents aged 65 and older from 26 European countries (N=41,566). We find that older people in Eastern Europe fare worse in self-rated health and everyday activity limitations than Western Europeans, while Eastern Europeans indicate somewhat better outcomes in cognitive functioning. A disadvantaged socioeconomic position in childhood and adulthood has the strongest association with all health outcomes, followed by the experience of hunger over the life course for the whole of Europe. However, we do not find diverging associations between life-course factors and health outcomes in Eastern and Western Europe. We argue that self-reported health, everyday activity limitations and cognitive functioning have to be analysed within their own frameworks and cannot yield conclusions that are uniform for all health outcomes. Moreover, major generalisations either about Eastern or Western Europe must be treated with caution as the regions have very different historical as well as demographic developments and thus cannot be treated as uniform. * This article belongs to a special issue on “Demographic Developments in Eastern and Western Europe Before and After the Transformation of Socialist Countries”.

The socioeconomic profile of alcohol use in Europe: findings from 33 European countries

Background: Alcohol’s detrimental health effects do not affect everyone equally but accumulate in people with low socioeconomic status (SES). Using data from the 2021 Standard European Alcohol Survey, we explore gender- and SES-specific consumption patterns, and COVID-19 related changes in consumption across Europe.
 Methods: Cross-sectional population-based survey data from 54,354 adults from 33 European countries plus Spain-Catalonia were analysed. Five alcohol indicators were of interest: prevalence of past-year alcohol use; and, among past-year alcohol users, prevalence of monthly/more frequent risky-single-occasion-drinking (monthly+ RSOD); prevalence of high-risk alcohol use (40+/60+ grams pure alcohol daily for women/men); mean daily grams of pure alcohol consumed; and self-reported consumption changes during COVID-19. Alcohol indicators were age-standardised and decomposed by gender and SES (education attainment), and analysed using regression models with location-specific random intercepts.
 Results: Across jurisdictions, past-year alcohol use, monthly+ RSOD, and high-risk drinking were all commonly reported, with distinct gender-specific socioeconomic profiles. While high-SES men and women were generally more likely to report past-year alcohol use, monthly+ RSOD and high-risk drinking were more prevalent among currently drinking low/mid-SES compared to high-SES men. No such SES differences in risky drinking were observed among women, however, female alcohol users with high SES reported higher mean daily drinking levels. High-SES women but not men were more likely to both increase and decrease their drinking during COVID-19 compared to their low/mid-SES counterparts.
 Conclusion: High consumption levels and distinct socioeconomic profiles among men and women highlight the need for effective alcohol policies to reduce health inequalities in Europe.

Addressing health inequalities in Europe: key messages from the Joint Action Health Equity Europe (JAHEE)

Health inequalities within and between Member States of the European Union are widely recognized as a public health problem as they determine a significant share of potentially avoidable mortality and morbidity. After years of growing awareness and increasing action taken, a large gap still exists across Europe in terms of policy responses and governance. With the aim to contribute to achieve greater equity in health outcomes, in 2018 a new Joint Action, JAHEE, (Joint Action Health Equity Europe) was funded by the third EU Health Programme, with the main goal of strengthening cooperation between participating countries and of implementing concrete actions to reduce health inequalities. The partnership led by Italy counted 24 countries, conducting actions in five policy domains: monitoring, governance, healthy living environments, health systems and migration, following a three-step implementation approach. Firstly, specific Policy Frameworks for Action (PFA) collecting the available evidence on what practice should be done in each domain were developed. Second, different Country Assessments (CAs) were completed to check the country’s adherence to the recommended practice in each domain. The gap between the expected policy response (PFA) and the present policy response (CA) guided the choice of concrete actions to be implemented in JAHEE, many of which are continuing even after the end of JA. Final recommendations based on the best results achieved during JAHEE were elaborated and agreed jointly with the representatives of the involved Ministries of Health. The JAHEE initiative represented an important opportunity for the participating countries to work jointly, and the results show that almost all have increased their level of action and strengthened their capacities to address health inequalities.

Identifying a Human Rights Approach to Roma Health Vulnerabilities and Inequalities in Europe: From Concept to Action.

Roma communities across Europe still remain a neglected population group by way of the social and economic disadvantage that largely characterizes their lives. Roma communities continue to experience structural socioeconomic health inequalities on the grounds of their ethnic origin, alarmingly unveiling a pattern of systematic discrimination and ethnic marginalization. Without any doubt, such a highly worrying situation calls for States to incorporate Roma health rights within their law and policy agendas in a manner consistent with right to health requirements. Against this background, this paper seeks to identify an operational human rights framework for States as a driver for better informed policies and implementation as well as for Roma engagement in the deliberations about their life prospects. The paper argues that continuing, concerted, and proactive State engagement is required for effectively addressing the structural obstacles impeding Roma socioeconomic health rights realization and maximizing Roma opportunities for well-being.