Minimum Income Standards and Reference Budgets: International and Comparative Policy Perspectives(Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy)

Research into minimum income standards and reference budgets around the world is compared in this illuminating collection from leading academics in the field.

From countries with long established research traditions to places where it is relatively new, contributors set out the different aims and objectives of investigations into the minimum needs and requirements of populations, and the historical contexts, theoretical frameworks and methodological issues that lie behind each approach.

For policymakers, practitioners and social policy and poverty academics, this essential review of learnings to date and future prospects for research is all the more relevant in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, testing health and social protection systems around the globe.

Foreword ~ John Veit-Wilson

Part I: Introduction

An introduction to minimum income standards and reference budgets: International and comparative policy perspectives ~ Christopher Deeming

Part II: Case Studies

From normative budget standards to consensual minimum income standards in the UK ~ Jonathan Bradshaw

Minimum Essential Standards of Living research in Ireland ~ Bernadette Mac Mahon and Robert Thornton

The French experience of reference budgets ~ Pierre Concialdi

Minimum income research in Japan: its development and political implications ~ Aya K. Abe

Measuring needs and setting standards in Singapore ~ Kok-Hoe Ng, Yu-Wei Neo, Youyenn Teo, Ad Maulod and Yi-Ting Ting

A South African pilot of the Minimum Income Standards approach ~ Gemma Wright, Matt Padley and Wanga Zembe-Mkabile

Reference budgets as tools for everyday life, evaluation and policymaking in Finland ~ Anna-Riitta Lehtinen and Kristiina Aalto

Belgian reference budgets for social participation and there use for policy purposes ~ Bérénice Storms

The development, value and application of budget standards: reflecting on the Australian experience ~ Peter Saunders

Estimating the cost of raising a child in Catalonia through the reference budgets approach ~ Irene Cussó-Parcerisas, Elena Carrillo Álvarez and Jordi Riera Romaní

Measuring poverty in the Netherlands: the generalised reference budget approach ~ J. Cok Vrooman, Benedikt Goderis, Stella Hoff and Bart van Hulst

The Norwegian reference budget ~ Marthe Hårvik Austgulen and Elling Borgeraas

Minimum budgets for Danish families ~ Jens Bonke and Anders Eiler Wiese Christensen

The Swedish Consumer Agency’s calculations of reference values for some of the most common household expense categories ~ Malin Lindquist Skogar and Ingrid Eriksson

Part III: Cross-national and comparative perspectives;

The Slovenian experience with three methods for defining the minimum income ~ Nada Stropnik

Applying the Minimum Income Standard in diverse national contexts ~ Matt Padley and Abigail Davis

The steep and winding road to comparable reference budgets in Europe ~ Tim Goedemé

Adequate income in Portugal: a comparison of two estimation methods ~ José A. Pereirinha, Elvira Pereira, Francisco Branco, Dália Costa and Inês Amaro

Part IV: Policy and practice

Basic needs budgets in policy and practice ~ Gordon M. Fisher

Establishing a national standard: the role of the UK's Minimum Income Standard in policy and practice ~ Donald Hirsch

Minimum Income Standards in the Basic Income debate ~ Malcolm Torry

Part V: Conclusions

Minimum income standards and reference budgets: past, present, future? ~ Christopher Deeming.