Polarization or "Squeezed Middle" in the Great Recession? : A Comparative European Analysis of the Distribution of Economic Stress
This paper analyses variation in the impact of the Great Recession on economic stress across income classes for a range of advanced European countries. Our analysis shows Iceland, Ireland and Greece to be quite distinctive in terms of increases in their multidimensional income, material deprivation...
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ftunivcolldublin:oai:researchrepository.ucd.ie:10197/6874 2023-05-15T16:48:41+02:00 Polarization or "Squeezed Middle" in the Great Recession? : A Comparative European Analysis of the Distribution of Economic Stress Whelan, Christopher T. Nolan, Brian Maitre, Bertrand 2015-09-02T15:55:08Z http://hdl.handle.net/10197/6874 en eng University College Dublin. Geary Institute UCD Geary Institute For Public Policy Discussion Paper Series WP2015/12 http://hdl.handle.net/10197/6874 Great Recession 'Middle class squeeze' Polarization Income class Economic stress Working Paper 2015 ftunivcolldublin 2022-04-08T14:18:39Z This paper analyses variation in the impact of the Great Recession on economic stress across income classes for a range of advanced European countries. Our analysis shows Iceland, Ireland and Greece to be quite distinctive in terms of increases in their multidimensional income, material deprivation and economic stress profiles. Between 2008 and 2012 these countries moved from being predictably located within anticipated welfare regimes to becoming clear outliers. For this set of counties, each of which was exposed to different but severe forms of economic shock, trends in income class polarisation versus middle class squeeze were variable. Each exhibited substantial increases in levels of economic stress. However, changes in the pattern of income class differentiation were somewhat different. In Iceland a form of middle class squeeze was observed. For income class polarization did not exclude middle class squeeze. Greece came closest to fitting the polarization profile. Changes in the distribution of household equivalent income had no effect on stress levels once the impact of material deprivation was taken into account. Changes in levels of material deprivation played a significant role in accounting for changing stress levels but only for the three lowest income classes. These findings bring out the extent to which the impact of the Great Recession on the distribution of economic stress across classes varied even among the hardest-hit countries. They also serve to highlight the advantages of a multidimensional approach that goes beyond reliance on income in seeking to understand the impact of such shocks. 2016-04-04 JG: PDF updated at author's request. Siginificant updates to text incl. title/abstract reflected in metadata Report Iceland University College Dublin: Research Repository UCD |
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University College Dublin: Research Repository UCD |
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language |
English |
topic |
Great Recession 'Middle class squeeze' Polarization Income class Economic stress |
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Great Recession 'Middle class squeeze' Polarization Income class Economic stress Whelan, Christopher T. Nolan, Brian Maitre, Bertrand Polarization or "Squeezed Middle" in the Great Recession? : A Comparative European Analysis of the Distribution of Economic Stress |
topic_facet |
Great Recession 'Middle class squeeze' Polarization Income class Economic stress |
description |
This paper analyses variation in the impact of the Great Recession on economic stress across income classes for a range of advanced European countries. Our analysis shows Iceland, Ireland and Greece to be quite distinctive in terms of increases in their multidimensional income, material deprivation and economic stress profiles. Between 2008 and 2012 these countries moved from being predictably located within anticipated welfare regimes to becoming clear outliers. For this set of counties, each of which was exposed to different but severe forms of economic shock, trends in income class polarisation versus middle class squeeze were variable. Each exhibited substantial increases in levels of economic stress. However, changes in the pattern of income class differentiation were somewhat different. In Iceland a form of middle class squeeze was observed. For income class polarization did not exclude middle class squeeze. Greece came closest to fitting the polarization profile. Changes in the distribution of household equivalent income had no effect on stress levels once the impact of material deprivation was taken into account. Changes in levels of material deprivation played a significant role in accounting for changing stress levels but only for the three lowest income classes. These findings bring out the extent to which the impact of the Great Recession on the distribution of economic stress across classes varied even among the hardest-hit countries. They also serve to highlight the advantages of a multidimensional approach that goes beyond reliance on income in seeking to understand the impact of such shocks. 2016-04-04 JG: PDF updated at author's request. Siginificant updates to text incl. title/abstract reflected in metadata |
format |
Report |
author |
Whelan, Christopher T. Nolan, Brian Maitre, Bertrand |
author_facet |
Whelan, Christopher T. Nolan, Brian Maitre, Bertrand |
author_sort |
Whelan, Christopher T. |
title |
Polarization or "Squeezed Middle" in the Great Recession? : A Comparative European Analysis of the Distribution of Economic Stress |
title_short |
Polarization or "Squeezed Middle" in the Great Recession? : A Comparative European Analysis of the Distribution of Economic Stress |
title_full |
Polarization or "Squeezed Middle" in the Great Recession? : A Comparative European Analysis of the Distribution of Economic Stress |
title_fullStr |
Polarization or "Squeezed Middle" in the Great Recession? : A Comparative European Analysis of the Distribution of Economic Stress |
title_full_unstemmed |
Polarization or "Squeezed Middle" in the Great Recession? : A Comparative European Analysis of the Distribution of Economic Stress |
title_sort |
polarization or "squeezed middle" in the great recession? : a comparative european analysis of the distribution of economic stress |
publisher |
University College Dublin. Geary Institute |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10197/6874 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_relation |
UCD Geary Institute For Public Policy Discussion Paper Series WP2015/12 http://hdl.handle.net/10197/6874 |
_version_ |
1766038761832972288 |