The Young and the Elderly at risk

Individual outcomes and contemporary policy challenges in European societies

The young and the elderly are among the most vulnerable groups in contemporary societies, especially in times of economic slowdown. The current retrenchment of the welfare states is buffering the growing demographic and economic pressures ...

The young and the elderly are among the most vulnerable groups in contemporary societies, especially in times of economic slowdown. The current retrenchment of the welfare states is buffering the growing demographic and economic pressures in European countries at the expense of the young and the elderly, and particular subgroups with intersecting high-risk characteristics. However, investing in the young, who determine a society’s future, and providing public support for the elderly, the most deserving needy group, are seen as musts. How well young people fare in their early stage of life is related to their success in the labour market and later well-being, which in turn impacts the sustainability of the welfare state. Challenges for the welfare state are as well that the elderly are being pushed and pulled too early into (pre-)retirement schemes and that many of them find themselves in precarious situations despite their pension income.

This book reflects on when and why the young and the elderly are at risk in European welfare states, as well as whether and how specific welfare policies respond to their needs. It also identifies particularly vulnerable groups who cumulate being young or old with other risk characteristics, such as being a woman or having a migration background, and investigates how these disadvantages could be tackled.

About the book

The book is a collection of ten selected peer-reviewed scientific papers presented at the international conference “Building blocks for an inclusive society: empirical evidence from social policy research”, hosted by LISER (Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research, formerly CEPS/INSTEAD) in April 2013, and organized by LISER and IMPALLA (the International Master in Social Policy Analysis by Luxembourg, Leuven and Associated Institutes) in collaboration with ESPAnet (the Network for European Social Policy Analysis). The conference brought together the alumni of the IMPALLA program with European welfare state scholars and experts from various countries, disciplines and policy domains, with a scientific focus on the welfare state’s objective of contributing to an inclusive society.

This book is dedicated to Professor Jos Berghman (1949–2014), initiator and director of IMPALLA (2002 – 2014), vice-president and president of the scientific council of LISER (formerly CEPS/INSTEAD) (2010 – 2014).

Empirical research, as it is presented in this book’s contributions, can add much to our understanding  of how this social contract, and by extension also others, like the social contracts between the active  and inactive, the healthy and the sick, and the rich and the poor, can be sustained, economically,  politically, as well as socially

Wim van Oorschot,
Professor of Social Policy at KU Leuven and Honorary President of ESPAnet

More information

For more information about the chapters and the ordering procedure of the book, please visit the INTERSENTIA webpage