Johan Fritzell: Rich and poor in the Nordic welfare states
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Transcript of Johan Fritzell: Rich and poor in the Nordic welfare states
Rich and poor in the Nordic welfare states
Johan Fritzell, [email protected]
Professor of Sociology, CHESS, Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet
Research director, Institute for Futures Studies, Stockholm
To be presented at “Inequality and the Nordic welfare model” seminar,
THL-auditorium, Helsinki 2011-11-07
Rich and poor in the Nordic Welfare States: Table of content
• Background: Two key outcomes of the Nordic model
– Low income inequality
– Low poverty rates
• Are the Nordic countries still a family of their own in these respects?
– More or less similar
– More or less distinct from other
Rich and poor in the Nordic Welfare States: Table of content (2)
• „New‟ and „old‟ social risks
– Nordic countries especially successful vs. old risks
– Also new social risk categories?
• Top income trends
– For whosoever hath, to him shall be given
– Is that important?
Johan Fritzell, Olof Bäckman and Veli-Matti Ritakallio: “Income inequality and poverty: do the Nordic countries still constitute a family of their own?”; in Changing Social Equality, Policy Press
Johan Fritzell, ”Fattig och rik i Sverige”; in Utanförskap, Dialogos förlag & Institutet för Framtidsstudier
+ Of course a lot of other sources
Data + income and poverty measurements
• Data sources: – National data sources,
– Luxembourg Income Study,
– EU-SILC
• Income: – Equivalised disposable income (mostly)
• Poverty: – Income-based
– 60% per cent threshold
Overall income inequality and poverty trends
• I. Income inequality trends
– Yearly changes ~mid80s to late00 within Nordic countries (incl. Iceland)
• II. Poverty trends and comparisons with Non-Nordic countries
– ~mid90s to ~mid00s
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GIN
I 1995 =
100
Sweden
Finland
Denmark
Norway
Iceland
Sweden
Finland Denmark Iceland
Norway
Changes of income inequality (Gini) in the Nordic countries from 1985 to 2008. The Gini has been set to 100 in 1995 for each country. Source: Fritzell, Bäckman, Ritakallio, 2011; Data National income distribution
surveys
At-risk of poverty 1995 and 2005. Data source: The Luxembourg Income Study
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Percent
1995 2005
Poverty rates and profiles in old and new social risk categories
EU-SILC data (2007)
New risk groups: young adults and immigrants
At-risk-of-poverty (%) in 2007, Old risks: Children, large families, single mothers, old age. Source: EU-SILC
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
DK FI IS NO SE DE IT NL UK EUR
17
Children Large families Single mothers Old age
At-risk-of-poverty (%) in 2007, New risks: young single adults and migrants (born inside-outside EU)
Source: EU-SILC
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
DK FI IS NO SE DE IT NL UK EUR
17
Young single adults Immigrants - inside EU Immigrants - outside EU
At-risk-of-poverty migrants born outside EU relative to country
average(=1) Source: Fritzell, Bäckman & Ritakallio 2011; Data: EU-SILC 2007
0,5
1
1,5
2
2,5
3
Belgien
Finlan
d
Sverig
e
Luxem
burg
Holland
Norge
Danm
ark
Frankr
ike
Öster
rike
Grekla
ndIrl
and
Italie
n
Spanien
Storb
ritan
nien
Portugal
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given: Trends among high income earners
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Top 1% income share in Sweden between 1991 and 2008. Equivalent disposable income
Top 1% income share in Finland between 1980 and 2004. Source: Jäntti, Riihela, Sullström, and Tuomala
Increases at the top of the tops: The Icelandic example Source: Stefan Olafsson and Arnaldur Solvi Kristjansson, 2010
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given: Is it important?
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given: Is it important?
• The empirical facts
– Similarity in trends but of course, Nordic countries are much more equal but not immune to the trends
• Legitimation
– The possibilities for universalism
– The possibilities for high quality public services
– The possibilities for national politics
• Can income inequalities at the top spread to injustices in other spheres?
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given: Is it important?
• From an Anglo-saxon perspective:
• “I believe that the recent concentration of wealth at the very top of the income distribution in the United States (and other English speaking countries) is a serious threat to well-being, through its possible long-term effects on health, education and democracy”
• Angus Deaton (2011)
Conclusions
• Many similarities within the Nordic countries in trends and many subgroup-analyses
• Increasing income inequalities and poverty rates in the Nordic countries also lately. The Nordic countries less different thereby
• The Nordic countries not immune against the increases of top incomes
• The Nordic countries seem to have difficulties (less ambitious?) in fighting poverty among new social risk groups