European Policy Issues

Abstract

Shaver, S. (1988) ‘Universality or selectivity in income support to older people? A comparative assessment of the issues’, Journal of Social Policy, 27 (2), 231–254.

Reynaud, E. (1998) ‘Pensions in the European Union: adapting to economic and social changes’. International Social Security Review, 51 (1), 31–47.

These two articles are highlighted as both offer the reader some insights into the ongoing debate on the level of income in later life from a cross-national and comparative perspective. Recently the focus of this attention, particularly within the European Union (EU), relates to one of the myths of modern times, the devastation that will result because of the demographic time-bomb. I was pleased to see another refutation of this in Reynaud's article (p. 34). Thus the framework for this European-wide discussion has been as much about ideological and political issues as about economic ones, such as level of public provision of support in old age.

These two articles approach the issue of income in later life from different angles. The Reynaud article is essentially a review of the current debate on public pensions within the EU. It focuses upon the manner in which pension policy has adapted to social and economic change in recent years. No statistical or quantitative analysis is presented and this limits the analysis somewhat. Shaver on the other hand adopts a classic quantitative approach, using a well-established dataset, the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), to revisit the longstanding debate about the merits of universalism and selectivism within the context of income in later life.