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The Paradox of Belgian Inequality Studies
Belgium less unequal than others?
De paradox van ongelijkheid in België
Inégalités en Belgique. Un paradoxe?
De paradox van ongelijkheid in België
Inégalités en Belgique. Un paradoxe?
We have summarized the results of our research project in a book published in Dutch and French by Lannoo-Campus and Racine, respectively.
With contributions of André Decoster, Koen Decanq, Bram De Rock, Paula Gobbi, Ella-Marie Assal, Bart Capéau, Micael Castanheira, Laurens Cherchye, Gerard Domènech-Arumí, Sarah Kuypers, Giovanni Paolo Mariani, Sakura Panagamuwa Gamage, Erik Schokkaert, Stijn Van Houtven, Jonas Vanderkelen, Gerlinde Verbist, Frederic Vermeulen, Kobe Wolfs.
The book will be available from December 3.
A brief summary of our project results is available here (in Dutch).
The Paradox of Belgian Inequality
Workshop - 3 December 2024
The Paradox of Belgian Inequality
Workshop - 3 December 2024
The BE-PARADIS research consortium – financed by BELSPO – organizes its final workshop “The Paradox of Belgian Inequality” on Tuesday 3 December at the University Foundation (Egmontstraat, 11 1000 Brussels).
In this workshop we present the research results of a 4-year research project funded by BELSPO and carried out by the University of Leuven, the University of Antwerp and the ULB.
The project started from the observation that the consistently low and stable level of Belgian income inequality, as reported in official statistics, seems at odds with how the public at large experience inequality and its evolution, and this is framed in the public debate. We have called this the Belgian Paradox of Inequality Studies (BE-PARADIS). To shed light on this paradox, we not only thoroughly reviewed the data used, we also tapped new data sources and broadened the concept of ‘inequality’ to include dimensions other than just income.
We have summarized the results of this research in a book published in Dutch and French by Lannoo-Campus and Racine, respectively. The book is included in the registration fee (€30) of the conference.
Registrations are closed.
Members of the BE-PARADIS research contributed to the IFS Deaton Review Country Studies project. The aim of the project is to examine a broad set of inequalities in a coherent framework across the major economies of Europe and North America and how they have changed in recent decades. The project is led by Richard Blundell, Jonathan Cribb, and James Ziliak. Each country has written a comprehensive report into the evolution of labour market and income inequalities, and their interactions with education and gender in particular.
The Belgium study was conducted by Bart Capéau André Decoster, Bram De Rock Jonas Vanderkelen and Toon Vanheukelom. The report Inequality in Belgium: 1985 – 2020 analyses economic inequalities in coherent framework, which can be easily compared to, and read alongside, other similar report produced for other countries in this project.
In September 2024, (the second part of) a special issue of Fiscal Studies was published. This contains short papers setting out and explaining key patterns on working-age inequalities in countries from Western and Southern Europe, among which Belgium. Our paper can be found here:
Capéau, B., Decoster, A., De Rock, B., & Vanderkelen, J. (2024). Did Belgium withstand the storm of rising inequalities? Income inequality in Belgium, 1985–2020. Fiscal Studies, 45(3), 285-308. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12383
BE-PARADIS WP23.7 - Well-being convergence in the European Union
BE-PARADIS WP23.6 - Distributional National Accounts for Belgium
BE-PARADIS WP23.5 - Poor and wealthy hand-to-mouth household in Belgium
We presented our findings on income inequality in Belgium, the Belgian distributional national accounts, and the importance of real estate valuation for wealth inequality. Prof. Antoine Bozio (Paris School of Economics, Institut des Politiques Publiques) and prof. Koen Caminada (Leiden University) presented new insights on inequality in France and the Netherlands respectively.
The slides and presentations can be found here.
We send out regular emails about research and events.
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