Longer-term Consequences of the Great Recession on the Lives of Europeans

Uses SHARELIFE micro data across 13 European countries to analyse the effects of financial hardship Provides a dynamic analysis of how income distribution changes over time Shows the impact of recessions on earnings, living standards, and health Investigates the very long term effects of negative shocks to financial resources Examines what past recessions can teach us about how negative shocks affect individuals in different economies The great recession is changing the way many people live and the way they perceive their prospects for the near and more distant future. Its longer term consequences will not be known for some time, but something can be learned from the effect on individuals and households who experienced financial hardship. This volume is the first to use innovative survey data on the lives of Europeans to investigate the long term impact of financial hardship on earnings, standards of living, and health. The data provide a detailed account of the key events that have taken place over the course of the recession. It compares the well-being of individuals who were lucky to escape negative shocks to their income or their circumstances to the less fortunate who may have lost their job, faced divorce, or serious illness. The wide array of welfare state and social support provisions across different European countries adds an important policy angle to the analysis: has the welfare state, currently under heavy pressure, been able to provide an adequate safety net in the face of extended periods of financial difficulties, or has the family instead proven the ultimate source of support in difficult times?

Agar Brugiavini and Guglielmo Weber: Introduction 1: Olympia Bover, Agar Brugiavini and Guglielmo Weber: Anatomy of Financial Hardship 2: Orazio Attanasio, Agar Brugiavini, Elisabetta Trevisan and Guglielmo Weber: The Consequences of Financial Hardship and Recessions on Income and Welfare 3: Orazio Attanasio, Margherita Borella and Torben Heien Nielsen: Characterizing Income Shocks and their Transmission to Household Consumption 4: Agar Brugiavini and Guglielmo Weber: Conclusions