The Philippines aspires to become a predominantly middle-class society by 2040. Significant strides have been achieved in the reduction of extreme poverty. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of recent gains and the vulnerability of many households to economic shocks. This study...

When do people identify with their class? Evidence from social psychology shows that individuals are more likely to identify with a group if they are similar to its members. We study early 20th century Britain and show that regional cultural heterogeneity combined with internal migration...

The rise of the middle classes in the Global South plays a key role in global development arguments characterized by "converging divergence," where there are decreasing inequalities between countries and increasing inequalities within countries. The concept of the middle class in the social...

This paper examines the potential for automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to induce a broader economic decline, impacting not only labor but also the owners of capital and advanced technology. While automation has traditionally favored skilled over unskilled workers, recent advancements...

Die Einbindung der Mittelschicht in den deutschen Sozialstaat ist ambivalent: Während öffentliche Diskurse sie als geplündert darstellen, verweisen Analysen zugleich auf ihre strukturellen Privilegien. Der Beitrag untersucht diese Ambiguität am Beispiel des Elterngeldes, das trotz...

Seit Jahresbeginn 2024 finden deutschlandweit Proteste gegen Rechtsextremismus großen Zulauf. Doch ist es tatsächlich eine "schweigende Mehrheit", die hier für Demokratie aufsteht? In diesem Policy Paper stellen wir die Ergebnisse einer Befragung dreier Protestveranstaltungen vor und...

This report provides a comprehensive examination of trends in income inequality within and between the EU Member States from 2006 to 2021. The study also aims to answer the related question of whether the middle class is becoming smaller because of developments in respect of disparities in...

This report provides a comprehensive examination of trends in income inequality within and between the EU Member States from 2006 to 2021. The study also aims to answer the related question of whether the middle class is becoming smaller because of developments in respect of disparities in...

Seit Jahresbeginn 2024 finden deutschlandweit Proteste gegen Rechtsextremismus großen Zulauf. Doch ist es tatsächlich eine "schweigende Mehrheit", die hier für Demokratie aufsteht? In diesem Policy Paper stellen wir die Ergebnisse einer Befragung dreier Protestveranstaltungen vor und...

This study examines the impact of international economic sanctions, imposed on Iran due to its nuclear program, on the development of the middle class. Specifically, it investigates how the middle class in Iran would have developed in the absence of these sanctions post-2012. To address this...

As gender equality is the basis for realizing social-environmental-economic sustainability, inequality in gender can significantly hamper economic productivity and negatively affect individuals' lives. This study examines the desired attitudes towards gender norms that can be used to improve...

The purpose of this study is to create a representative socio-economic profile of entrepreneurs operating in the former Soviet Union (FSU) states as a pillar of the new middle-class stratum. This study explored middle-class entrepreneurship from multiple perspectives, encompassing statistical...

The Philippines has set an ambitious goal of becoming a predominantly middle-class society free of poverty by 2040. However, this aspiration comes at a time of significant global headwinds that pose risks to the country's development trajectory. Growing the middle class is more closely related...

When do people identify with their class? Evidence from social psychology shows that individuals are more likely to identify with a group if they are similar to its members. We study early 20th century Britain and show that regional cultural heterogeneity combined with internal migration...

This note, addressing the often ambiguous definition of "middle classness," offers the concept of "quasi-middle classness" to the end of helping clarify the issue. What distinguishes quasi-middle classness from middle classness in this analysis is that quasi-middle classness is more narrowly a...

This paper evaluates the importance of middle class vulnerability to poverty for subjective well-being (happiness) in European countries. Using the special module of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions micro-data on well-being and national aggregates from the World...

The growing middle classes in middle-income countries may play a key role in current trends of democratic backsliding, online activism and lifestyle politics. This contribution uncovers which modes of political participation are prevalent among the middle classes in Peru and the Philippines,...

Middle class incomes in the EU are highest in Luxembourg, Denmark, Finland, Austria, and Sweden, and lowest in Eastern European countries. The middle class in Bulgaria and Romania are at the bottom of EU nominal incomes, but their living costs are just half of the EU average. When accounting for...

This study aims to investigate the mediating effect of socio-religious behavior on consumption pattern changes of middle-class Muslims in the new normal era. In terms of methodology, this study is a correlational survey research. Research data were collected through questionnaires as many as 553...

In the 24 years since its introduction, the euro has experienced a financial crisis, a government debt crisis, a global pandemic, and an energy crisis-and survived. Using a model focusing on households, this Weekly Report shows that the monetary union’s stability is rooted in the fact that the...

The objectives of the study are to develop an understanding of major changes such as the effectiveness of government, economic growth, religion, and the socio-political role of the middle-class people that have taken place in the society and politics of Bangladesh over the last few years. Apart...

In summer 1923, pursuant to the 'full powers' granted him by the Parliament to balance the budget, Alberto De Stefani - appointed in October 1922 as Mussolini's Treasury Minister - announced the abolition of inheritance tax. The most iconic act of Fascist 'financial restauration' of 1922-25, the...

This study combines pre-COVID-19 household surveys with 2020 macro data to simulate changes in household economic welfare and poverty rates through job losses, labor income changes, and non-labor (remittance) income changes during 2020 in Brazil, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, South Africa, and...