The Distribution of Welfare and Household Production
International Perspectives

This book uses a range of approaches to measure living standards and economic welfare.

Stephen P. Jenkins (Edited by), Arie Kapteyn (Edited by), Bernard M. S. van Praag (Edited by)

9780521623025, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 April 1998

446 pages
23.6 x 15.8 x 3.2 cm, 0.76 kg

When the overall economic pie is not growing, then how it is shared out becomes more important. This book is a collection of empirical and theoretical papers by a distinguished set of international authors about the personal distribution of welfare and household production. Comparisons of poverty, income inequality and income capacity across countries in Europe and North America are the basis of Part I. Three chapters introduce subjective (non-monetary) approaches to the assessment of personal economic welfare. In Part III new results about the measurement of inequality and poverty are derived. Part V explores topics examining interactions between personal welfare and the resources derived from one's household, the labor market, and from the government through the tax and benefit system. The book reflects the interests of, and is a memorial to, the late Aldi Hagenaars.

1. Introduction S. Jenkins, A. Kapteyn, and B. van Praag
2. Escape from citadella neoclassica: reflections of the work of Aldi Hagenaars J. Hartog
Part I. Cross-National Comparisons of the Distribution of Welfare: 3. Patterns of poverty in Europe A. J. M. Hagenaars, K. de Vos, and M. A. Zaidi
4. Comparing poverty rates across countries: a case study of France and the United Kingdom A. B. Atkinson, K. Gardiner, V. Lechene, and H. Sutherland
5. The distribution of welfare: inequality, earnings capacity, and household production in a comparative perspective P. Saunders, I. O'Connor, and T. Smeeding
6. Mobility and inequality in the 1980s: a cross-national comparison of the United States and Germany R. V. Burkhauser, D. Holtz-Eakin, and S. E. Rhody
Part II. Subjective Approaches to Welfare Measurement: 7. Poverty perceptions and the poverty line Y. Amiel and F. Cowell
8. Using subjective information in macroeconomic modeling: an application to vacation behavior P. Kooreman
9. Well-being and labor market status I. Woittiez and J. J. M. Theeuwes
Part III. Summarizing Welfare: 10. Do inequality measures measure inequality? G. S. Fields
11. Deprivation profiles and deprivation indices A. F. Shorrocks
12. Poverty orderings for the Dalton utility-gap measures J. E. Foster and Y. Jin
13. Changing welfare in a changing world? Income and expenditure inequalities in the Czech and Slovak Republics T. I. Garner
Part IV. The Household, Income, and Welfare: 14. The distribution of income, wealth, and economic security: the impact of unemployment insurance reforms in Canada L. Osberg, S. Erksoy, and S. Phipps
15. A structural model of the determinants of educational success R. Haveman, K. Wilson, and B. Wolfe
16. Equivalence scales and the distribution of well-being across and within households D. S. Johnson
17. The incomes of UK women: limited progress towards equality with men? S. P. Jenkins and N. C. O'Leary
18. Equivalence scales and household welfare: what can be learned from household budget data? R. Blundell
Index.

Subject Areas: Social issues & processes [JFF]