 The Role of Minimum Income Schemes in Poverty Alleviation in the European UnionVanda Almeida, Silvia De Poli and Adrián Hernández Review of Income and Wealth, 2025, vol. 71, issue 1 Abstract: Assessing the effectiveness of Minimum Income (MI) schemes in poverty alleviation is challenging. Studies based on survey microdata are usually subject to bias because households tend to underreport benefit receipts. Studies based on microsimulation models tend to overestimate these benefits mainly due to high non‐take‐up rates. In this paper, we tackle these challenges by calibrating the simulation of MI schemes in the microsimulation model EUROMOD to match official expenditure results for each European Union (EU) Member State's scheme. We use this calibrated model to evaluate the poverty‐alleviating effects of existing MI schemes and explore the impacts of possible reforms toward eradicating extreme poverty. Our results show that MI support varies widely across EU countries, with most failing to reach half of households in extreme poverty or provide adequate support, particularly for larger families. Reforms aimed at improving coverage and adequacy could eradicate extreme poverty at a relatively low budgetary cost. Date: 2025 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:revinw:v:71:y:2025:i:1:n:e12728 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Review of Income and Wealth is currently edited by Conchita D'Ambrosio and Robert J. Hill More articles in Review of Income and Wealth from International Association for Research in Income and Wealth Contact information at EDIRC. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.