Publication
Title
Towards cross-country comparable reference budgets in Europe : first results of a concerted effort
Author
Abstract
In Europe, reference budgets are increasingly recognised as a helpful tool for policy making and monitoring. If developed in a cross-country comparable way, reference budgets could, in addition, prove to be useful for cross-national learning and contextualising the EU social indicators. However, current reference budgets are not comparable across countries. In this article we report on the rst results of a concerted e ort to construct comparable reference budgets for adequate social participation in Antwerp, Athens, Barcelona, Budapest, Helsinki and Milan. We start from a single theoretical and methodological framework and carefully track di erences in institutional settings, climate, culture, and the availability and prices of goods and services that justify cross- country variations in the contents and levels of reference budgets. Results indicate that adequate social participation requires access to di erent goods and services in the six cities, but that, at the same time, the needs to be ful lled are rather similar, such that the variation in the level of reference budgets is less than what would be expected on the basis of di erences in median household incomes. Results also show that constructing comparable reference budgets requires substantial and intensive coordination. We suggest directions in which our approach to their construction could be improved.
Language
English
Source (journal)
European journal of social security. - The Hague, 1999, currens
Publication
The Hague : Kluwer Law International , 2015
ISSN
1388-2627 [print]
2399-2948 [online]
Volume/pages
17 :1 (2015) , p. 3-30
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
VABB-SHW
Record
Identifier
Creation 06.03.2015
Last edited 07.10.2022
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