'Reconciling Work and Poverty Reduction' examines the link between poverty and labor market participation and the distributive capacity of welfare states. Focusing on the working-age population and the evolutions in Europe during the 'good economic years' before the financial crisis, this book...

The aim of this chapter is to highlight some key aspects of recent economic research on the welfare state and antipoverty policy in rich countries and to explore their implications. We begin with the conceptualization and measurement of poverty before sketching out some core features and...