Tim Goedemé

University of Antwerp | UA · Department of Sociology

This report describes the development of the TAKE questionnaire which was used in the TAKE Survey. The main goal of the TAKE questionnaire was twofold: 1) to measure the size of non-take-up of a range of social benefits in Belgium; and 2) to better describe and understand non-take-up among Belgian low-income households. The questionnaire was develo...

This report describes the setup of the TAKE sample design and its implementation in practice. The TAKE sample consists of a random sample of 10,000 low-income households in Belgium, selected from a unique combination of administrative registers. In addition, a subsample has been invited for face-to-face interviews. The key purpose of the TAKE surve...

Context: This issue of non-take up (NTU) of social rights has been a longstanding concern amongst scholars and policy makers, as it undermines the effectiveness of social policies. In the case of Belgium, only a handful of large-scale studies are available which study non-take-up from a quantitative perspective. Objectives: The TAKE project, which...

In this chapter we make use of the TAKE Survey and the TAKEMOD model to estimate non-take-up of three means tested benefits benefits in Belgium. We focus on the population at active age, living in a household with a (very) low income. We also discuss the variation in non-take-up levels between socio-economic groups, and the degree to which non-take...

The methodology currently used to measure poverty in the European Union faces some important limitations. Capturing key aspects of poverty is done using a dashboard of indicators, which often tell conflicting stories. We propose a new income-based measure of poverty for Europe that captures in a consistent way in a single indicator the level of rel...

Non-take-up of means-tested benefits is a widespread phenomenon which undermines the effectiveness and fairness of social policies. The digitalisation of the welfare state creates new opportunities for proactively contacting people who are potentially entitled to benefits, but do not take up their social rights. In this study, we report on how new...

While there is renewed interest in earnings differentials between social classes, the contribution of social class to overall earnings inequality across countries and net of compositional effects remains largely uncharted territory. This paper uses data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions to assess earnings differenti...

This article studies earnings inequality between social classes across 30 European countries. Class inequality in earnings is found across the board although there are some exceptions. However, the degree of class inequality varies strongly across countries being larger in Western and Southern European countries and smaller in Eastern and Northern...

Een belasting op broeikasgassen die rechtstreeks door huishoudens worden uitgestoten bij verwarming en privétransport is een belangrijke ontbrekende schakel in de strijd tegen klimaatopwarming. Aan de hand van vijf stellingen bespreek ik enkele voorwaar-den waaraan een koolstofbelasting moet voldoen om er een maatregel van te maken die zowel de CO...

In this chapter we document some implications of the limitations of the ESeC measure in EU-SILC for the estimated size of social class and the monitoring of poverty by social class from a comparative perspective.

With this pilot study we add new information on the accessibility of (primary and secondary) compulsory education in Europe, a topic that stands out for lacking comparable accessibility indicators. We first assess data requirements for better documenting and understanding school-related costs and provide an overview of available comparative data. N...

It is a well-known feature of social protection systems that not all persons who are entitled to social benefits also claim these benefits. The costs people face when claiming benefits is considered an important cause of this phenomenon of non-take-up. In this paper, we developed and examined the psychometric properties of a new scale, the Claiming...

In dit hoofdstuk belichten we de verschillende manieren waarop ongelijkheid is verweven in het klimaatvraagstuk, en tonen we aan dat vicieuze dynamieken plaatsgrijpen tussen klimaatverandering en sociale ongelijkheid, die elkaar neigen te versterken. De brede noemer van sociale ongelijkheid omvat een patroon van ongelijkheden dat zich aftekent lang...

In dit hoofdstuk gaan we op zoek naar de concrete betekenis van klimaatrechtvaardigheid tussen en binnen landen, en naar beleidsmaatregelen die een bijdrage kunnen leveren tot meer klimaatrechtvaardigheid. Zowel de klimaatverandering als de mogelijke antwoorden erop zijn nauw verweven met hoe we het menselijke samenleven op aarde organiseren. Hoe w...

Understanding the demand-side drivers and the distribution of greenhouse gas emissions is key to designing fair and effective environmental policies. In this study, we quantify the relationship between the carbon footprint of consumption and socioeconomic characteristics of Belgian households. We use a dataset that combines household-level consumpt...

The methodology currently used to measure poverty in the European Union faces some important limitations. Importantly, capturing the major aspects of poverty is done using a dashboard of indicators, which often tell conflicting stories. We propose a new income-based measure of poverty for Europe that captures in a consistent way the level of relati...

In Europe, food insecurity is still a serious concern for individual and public health. Although progress has been made in reducing undernourishment, other types of malnutrition such as obesity and overweight are on the rise. Policies that aim at improving healthy eating and addressing food insecurity tend to focus on food aid, nutritional educatio...

This chapter discusses Tim Goedemé's cross-national research work in order to establish reference budgets for EU member states and facilitate the European Commission's (EC) task of monitoring income adequacy in Europe. It focuses on the “Improving Poverty Reduction in Europe” (ImPRovE) project that worked closely with six country teams based in Ant...

Non-take-up is generally recognised as an important policy problem, which co-determines the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of social programmes. In this paper we aim to shed some light on how non-take-up is usually conceptualised and measured. More in particular, we review existing concepts of non-take-up and introduce a new framework which c...

Nous examinons l’effet de l’automatisation totale de l’octroi de l’intervention majorée sur la réduction du non-recours. Nous nous concentrons sur certains groupes de bénéficiaires pour lesquels l’intervention majorée est un droit dérivé. Au cours de la période d’analyse, ces personnes avaient en principe toutes droit à l’intervention majorée. Pour...

In dit artikel kijken we naar automatische rechtentoekenning binnen het systeem van de verhoogde tegemoetkoming in de ziekteverzekering. Dit is een erg interessante uitkering om het effect van automatische rechtentoekenning te onderzoeken. Bij deze tegemoetkoming werd de voorbije 20 jaar immers op verschillende manieren werk gemaakt van automatiser...

EU-SILC is the most important microdata source for studying income and living conditions across the European Union. In this paper, we study variations between countries with respect to how individual income components are aggregated into the EU-SILC target variables. In particular, we look at compliance with Eurostat guidelines, misclassifications...

In sociology and political science, social class is among the most commonly used indicators of command over economic resources. However, we know relatively little about how the nature of the relationship between social class and earnings varies across countries. In this paper, we utilize data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living...

In this report, we document and analyse how individual income components are aggregated into the EU-SILC target variables. Even though general and country-specific descriptions of income target variables are available in the EU-SILC methodological guidelines and in the national quality reports, it is often not clear how exactly each of the national...

The EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) is one of the principal datasets for studying income and living conditions in Europe. In this database, we document how individual income components are aggregated into the EU-SILC target variables. Even though general and country-specific descriptions of income target variables are availa...

In this paper we present the PEACH2AIR database which links household characteristics, household income, expenditures and greenhouse gas emissions at the household level for a representative sample of households living in Belgium. We study the distribution of both direct and indirect emissions by income decile and expenditure decile and some underl...

The European SocioEconomic Classification (ESeC) is quite popular in social science research, especially as an indicator of social class. The EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) provides the opportunity to study the relation between ESeC and a long list of socioeconomic variables (including income, employment, material deprivati...

This paper introduces the Hypothetical Household Tool (HHoT), a new extension of EUROMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for the european Union. With HHoT, users can easily create their own hypothetical data, which enables them to better understand how policies work for households with specific characteristics. The tool creates unique possib...

The MetaSILC 2015 database is a new addition to the toolbox of EU-SILC users and producers. It documents how individual income components are aggregated into the EU-SILC target variables. Even though general and country-specific descriptions of income target variables are available in the EU-SILC methodological guidelines and in the national qualit...

In Europe, food insecurity is still a serious concern for individual and public health. Although progress has been made in reducing undernourishment, other types of malnutrition such as obesity are on the rise. Policies that aim at improving healthy eating and addressing food insecurity tend to focus on public education, and financial incentives, s...

In this chapter we discuss (in Dutch) the importance of social inequality in relation to climate change and climate related policies. The chapter is part of a book on the topic of climate and social justice, which can be accessed here: https://www.denktankminerva.be/studies/klimaat-en-sociale-rechtvaardigheid

In order to alleviate child poverty, contemporary European welfare states have shifted their focus increasingly towards child-centred investment strategies. However, studies examining the generosity of welfare states to families with children focus mainly on cash benefit packages, or on government expenditure, while not taking into account the actu...

Background: The purpose of this article is to report on a comparative analysis of the official food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) that were applicable in 2015 in 25 EU Member States. We assess FBDG in relation to the main guidelines established by the FAO/WHO, the EURODIET project and the EFSA, with a particular focus on identifying strengths an...

In this paper (in Dutch) we study the distribution of greenhouse gas emissions associated with consumption of Belgian households. We account for both direct (e.g. heating) and indirect (e.g. consumption of food) emissions. Among other things, we find that the top 10% incomes emit four times more than the bottom 10%. However, the emission intensity...

This chapter examines trends at the lower tail of the EU-wide distribution of disposable household incomes. Using EU-SILC data from 2008 to 2014, it compares income levels across countries, after accounting for average price differences, focusing on levels and trends of the EU-wide low-income proportion and the EU-wide low-income gap. The analysis...

This chapter makes use of the first effort to construct cross-country comparable reference budgets in Europe to show what the large cross-national differences in living standards imply in practice for the adequacy of incomes at the level of the at-risk-of-poverty threshold. The budgets show that, in the poorest EU Member States, even adequate food...

This final chapter summarizes the main findings of the book and concludes with a discussion of the implications for realizing progress in terms of poverty reduction and guaranteeing a decent minimum income to all. It stresses the inadequacy of current minimum income schemes and highlights trade-offs with other policy objectives. It argues that empl...

Available evidence suggests that social investment and employment strategies are important but not sufficient for poverty reduction. Thus, European Union countries must not only develop effective employment policies but also ensure adequate social protection. This would require increasing social transfers for working and nonworking households, whil...

In this chapter we study trends at the lower tail of the EU-wide distribution of disposable household income. In contrast to most studies, we take a pan-European perspective and compare income levels across countries, after accounting for average price differences. More in particular, we make use of EU-SILC 2008 – 2014 to study trends and levels in...

The aim of this article is to present the development of cross-country comparable food reference budgets in 26 European countries, and to discuss their usefulness as an addition to food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) for tackling food insecurity in low-income groups. Reference budgets are illustrative priced baskets containing the minimum goods an...

In dit jaarboek zoemen we eerst in op recente beleidsontwikkelingen, niet alleen op Vlaams en federaal niveau, maar ook binnen de Europese Unie. Daarna bekijken we enkele klassieke domeinen van sociale uitsluiting, zoals de (minimum)inkomens en ongelijkheid, ons onderwijssysteem, de ongelijke arbeidsmarktpositie van vrouwen met migratieroots en de...

Across Europe, despite high social spending and work-related welfare reforms, poverty remains a largely intractable problem for policymakers and the persistent reality for citizens. In Decent Incomes for All, the authors shed new light on recent poverty trends in the European Union and the corresponding responses by European welfare states. They an...

De afgelopen kwarteeuw is het systeem van inkomensherverdeling in België vaak hervormd. We gaan in dit hoofdstuk na in welke mate veranderingen in het beleid van belastingen en uitkeringen tussen 1992 en 2018 de inkomensverdeling hebben beïnvloed. We maken daarvoor gebruik van een microsimulatiemodel, waarbij we het beleid laten veranderen door de...

This paper aims to show how the newly developed Hypothetical Household tool of the EUROMOD microsimulation model can be used to generate institutional minimum income protection indicators. It does so by updating the CSB's Minimum Income Protection Indicators dataset using HHoT and EUROMOD. We discuss the necessary assumptions for this exercise, and...

This paper introduces the Hypothetical Household Tool (HHoT), a new extension of EUROMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for the European Union. With HHoT, users can easily create their own hypothetical data, which enables them to better understand how policies work for households with specific characteristics. The tool creates unique possib...

Few data sources in developed countries contain for a representative sample of households information on water expenses alongside a rich set of reliable information on individual and household characteristics. In this Data in Brief we describe the Belgian EU-SILC data, which we used for 'Measuring water affordability in developing economies. The ad...

In order to alleviate child poverty, contemporary European welfare states have shifted their focus increasingly towards child-centred investment strategies. However, studies assessing the generosity of welfare states to families with children focus mainly on the role of cash benefit packages, or on government expenditure, disregarding the actual co...

In developed countries, water affordability problems remain up on the agenda as the increasing financial costs of water services can impede the realisation of an equal access to water. More than ever, public authorities that define water tariffs face the challenge of reconciling environmental and cost recovery objectives with equity and financial a...

We evaluate how a simple letter and flyer sent to a low-income group stimulates the participation in a beneficial health insurance plan. Using a large-scale randomized field experiment we study the effect of contacting potential beneficiaries on the take-up of the Increased Reimbursement (IR) for healthcare in Belgium. We find a fourfold increase i...

Armoede, energie en wonen: creatieve ideeën voor een toekomst zonder energiearmoede Onderzoeksdag Universitaire Stichting Armoedebestrijding 18 oktober 2017

In this paper we study trends at the lower tail of the EU-wide distribution of disposable household income. In contrast to most studies, we take a pan-European perspective and compare income levels across countries, after accounting for average price differences. More in particular, we make use of EU-SILC 2008 – 2014 to study trends and levels in t...

Given that all the indicators based on EU‐SILC are sample estimates, they should be reported along with estimates of standard errors and confidence intervals, particularly if the indicators are used for policy decisions. It is crucial to take the sampling variance into account when using sample estimates to monitor poverty and social exclusion, oth...

Social cohesion in the EU (European Union) is usually assessed on the basis of GDP per capita and relative poverty rates. These indicators show that the ‘European convergence machine’ led to greater social cohesion between old and new Member States (EU-15 and NMS) until the onset of the crisis. In this article we offer an alternative perspective by...

Providing adequate housing at affordable prices remains a challenge for all welfare states. As part of a pilot project for developing a common methodology for reference budgets in the European Union, reference rents and other housing costs (energy, taxes, maintenance) corresponding to adequate dwellings for four hypothetical households living in ni...

Pilot project, developing a common methodology on reference budgets in Europe Proposal for a method for comparable reference budgets in Europe : final report This is the final report of the ‘Pilot project on developing a common methodology on reference budgets in Europe’, financed by the European Commission. Reference budgets are illustrative pric...