Mapping redistribution in terms of family: A European comparison

Abstract

Redistribution is one of the fundamental characteristics of developed societies. While societal redistribution between working and non-working citizens has been studied intensively, redistribution in terms of family has been analysed mainly as private redistribution. In this contribution, we study societal redistribution in terms of family by systematically analysing its regulation and simulating its results. We map family-related redistribution in Europe by analysing to whom financial resources are granted (benefits) and from whom resources are demanded (obligations) to identify the degree and logic of family-related redistribution. We compare 68 family forms in 27 European countries based on the micro-simulation model EUROMOD. The findings show that there are clear country-clusters of redistribution in terms of family. They differ, though, as to benefits and obligations. The degree of redistribution reveals that in most countries, societal redistribution is highest towards low-income, single-parent families and lowest towards low-income family forms without children.

Family in societal redistribution: a theoretical inquiry

“…And their redistributive logics in terms of families, i.e. the lines of inequalities as set down in their redistributive regulations, need to be grasped by analysing very different family forms (Frericks and Gurín, 2023; Frericks et al ., 2023). But how to adequately integrate these differences into this theoretical approach is still a puzzle to this author.…”

“…This, however, is not necessarily the case, and therefore a theoretical distinction has to be made (on seeming dichotomies see Frericks, 2007). The different social entitlements that explicitly [3] foresee redistribution in terms of family depend on a variety of conditions, among which are labour market participation, material need as identified in means-tests, and the type of family membership (Frericks et al. , 2023), and the concrete redistribution depends on the particular conditions that states formulate for access to, level and duration of social rights.…”

“…Here, family is only implicitly part of the analysis of welfare state differences, as a unit that is more or less relevant in, for example, tax regulations, means-tests or derived rights. A systematic analysis of family in welfare state redistribution, though, has hardly been tried (for first attempts – from different angles – see Frericks, 2022; Frericks and Gurín, 2023, Frericks and Höppner, 2019; Frericks et al. , 2023).…”

“…In these latter concepts, both human and real contributions, or paid and unpaid labour (mostly provided by the family), are interpreted as entitling a person to resources in societal redistribution as part of an equal exchange. And in fact, in all European welfare states (albeit to different degrees), family is interpreted as a societal resource that legitimates entitlements to resources in societal redistribution (Frericks et al. , 2023).…”