Theodore Mitrakos Bank of Greece & Panos Tsakloglou Athens University of Economics and Business & IZA INEQUALITY, POVERY AND WELFARE IN GREECE: FROM THE RESTORATION OF DEMOCRACY TO THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS Bank of Greece Conference on “Social policies and social cohesion in Greece in light of the current economic crisis” Athens, 13 May 2011
Theodore Mitrakos Bank of Greece & Panos Tsakloglou Athens University of Economics and Business & IZA INEQUALITY, POVERY AND WELFARE IN GREECE: FROM THE RESTORATION OF DEMOCRACY TO THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS. Bank of Greece Conference on - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Theodore MitrakosBank of Greece
&Panos Tsakloglou
Athens University of Economics and Business & IZA
INEQUALITY, POVERY AND WELFARE IN GREECE:
FROM THE RESTORATION OF DEMOCRACY TO THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS
Bank of Greece Conference on“Social policies and social cohesion in Greece
in light of the current economic crisis”Athens, 13 May 2011
Introduction
• Distributional issues almost always in the centre of Greek public discourse.
• In recent years, many empirical investigations• However, many assertions made in the public
discourse, not substantiated, sometimes contradictory and/or not supported by the findings of empirical studies– Greek society characterized by acute class differences /
Greek society dominated by middle classes– The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer– The “new poor”
• Objective of the paper: To provide a detailed picture of structure and inter-temporal trends in inequality and poverty until the current crisis, using all available HBSs
Data
• Household Budget Surveys (HBSs): Provide detail information on consumption expenditures, disposable income, socio-demographic characteristics of the population, material conditions of living, etc.
• Only seven with national coverage: 1974, 1982, 1988, 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2008
• Large sample; Quality of the data• Consumption of own production (incl. imputed
rent)• Results using both distributions (consumption
expenditure, income). Usually, not different• Comparisons with ECHP / EU-SILC
Trend decomposition of poverty (, FGT2, 1974-2008)
Consumption expend. Income
Grouping criterion Within
groups
poverty
Population
shares
Within
groups
poverty
Population
shares
Locality 70.3 29.7 84.7 15.3
HH type 105.8 -5.8 101.8 -1.8
Occupational group HH Head 89.6 10.4 103.5 -3.5
Educational group HH Head 17.4 82.6 55.5 44.5
Percentage change in poverty -57.5 -69.0
Inter-temporal trends in welfare indices1974-2008 (HBSs)
Consumption Expenditure Income
100
50
100
150
200
250
300
1974 1982 1988 1994 1999 2004 2008
Gini Atkinson (A, ε=0.5) Atkinson (Α, ε=2.0)
100
50
100
150
200
250
300
1974 1982 1988 1994 1999 2004 2008
Gini Atkinson (A, ε=0.5) Atkinson (Α, ε=2.0)
International comparisons: Inequality
International comparisons: poverty
Qualifications
• Population groups under-represented in the HBS samples (homeless, institutionalized, immigrants)
• Changes in indirect taxes (only consumption expenditure)
• No inclusion of capital gains (only income)• No inclusion of public transfers in-kind
(education, health care, etc)
Qualifications
• Population groups under-represented in the HBS samples (homeless, institutionalized, immigrants)
• Changes in indirect taxes (only consumption expenditure)
• No inclusion of capital gains (only income)• No inclusion of public transfers in-kind
(education, health care, etc)
Conclusions
• Inter-temporal trends– Inequality– Poverty (in relative terms)– Poverty (in absolute terms)– Welfare
• Structure of inequality• Poverty risk groups• Structure of poverty• International comparisons• Rather “positive” results• And, then, the crisis arrived!