Why is Relative Income Poverty so High in Ireland?. ESRI Policy Series No. 53. September 2004

Callan, Tim and Keeney, Mary and Nolan, Brian and Maitre, Bertrand (2003) Why is Relative Income Poverty so High in Ireland?. ESRI Policy Series No. 53. September 2004. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

Although relative income poverty rates vary from year to year, the rankings of different industrialised countries according to these poverty measures tend to be rather stable. Ireland is consistently among a group of countries with relative income poverty rates considerably above the European Union average (though not as high as the USA). This has not changed over the course of Ireland’s recent economic boom, since our relative income poverty rates themselves have not fallen – indeed they have generally risen – over that period. This study asks why Ireland has higher relative income poverty rates than many of our EU partners? More specifically, it explores what we can learn from an in-depth comparison with a number of other European countries, including some of the best performers in the European Union in terms of that indicator.

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