This article examines whether persistent income poverty increases the risk of transitioning into deep poverty across European countries. Spending a long time in poverty can deplete material and human resources and create demoralisation, thus increasing potential risk of deeper income poverty. This article seeks to explore this potential relationship. For this purpose, we analyse country-level pooled longitudinal EU-SILC data covering the years 2012-20, and several European countries with distinct socio-economic development and social welfare regimes. The results show that, although most persistent poor are immune to deep poverty risk, a non-trivial share of them transition to deeper forms of poverty in subsequent periods. This association is robust to controlling for observed heterogeneity. The results highlight the protective role of labour market participation in reducing deep poverty risk among individuals who have experienced persistent poverty in the past. Moreover, substantial variation across household types is observed, with certain groups facing a higher risk of deep poverty, particularly following episodes of persistent poverty. Overall, the findings suggest the effectiveness of anti-poverty policies across countries, with important implications for the targeting and timing of social policy interventions and variation in the effectiveness of labour market participation in protecting against (deepening) poverty. Taken together, results emphasise the importance of stable and better-paying jobs with flexible work arrangements that would also benefit households with particularly high risk of deep poverty.
This article develops a dynamic zakat-based redistribution model within an overlapping-generations framework to examine domestic poverty alleviation. The model incorporates four endogenous income classes and formalises transfers from surplus-income individuals to economically vulnerable retirees and structurally poor groups. Zakat is evaluated against intergenerational, universal, and targeted poverty transfers under identical demographic structures and fiscal effort. Within the modelled framework, zakat outperforms alternative redistribution mechanisms. Its surplus-based structure targets absolute poverty while limiting fiscal pressure on near-threshold groups. It achieves the highest utility improvement-to-disruption ratio and generates pronounced reductions in income inequality and poverty depth under baseline conditions, with outcomes remaining robust across alternative macroeconomic and demographic environments. By formalising zakat as a surplus-conditioned redistribution rule, the article contributes a theoretical framework for evaluating targeted poverty alleviation under fiscal and administrative constraints. The findings offer policy-relevant design insights for reducing persistent poverty while preserving efficiency and social sustainability.
This study examines the multidimensional determinants of welfare dependency among single mothers in South Korea, integrating economic, demographic, early-life structural, and psychological factors. Despite activation-oriented policies, welfare reliance remains high, raising questions about its underlying drivers. Using 19 waves of nationally representative Korean Welfare Panel Study data (N = 1,248), this study employs a Heckman sample selection model to jointly estimate both the likelihood of welfare participation and the amount of public assistance received. Results show that active labor market engagement-such as employment or job training-and higher education reduce both welfare entry and benefit amounts, while having more children increases both. Crucially, early-life structural disadvantages-such as lower maternal education and childhood residence in small or rural communities-significantly raise the probability of entering the welfare system. Additionally, lower self-efficacy and higher depressive symptoms also increase the probabilities of welfare participation, even after controlling for economic and structural conditions. The findings underscore that welfare dependency is not a mere short-term economic challenge but a cumulative outcome of intergenerational inequalities and depleted psychological resources over the life course. Policy makers should therefore move beyond strict workfare incentives, adopting integrated approaches that combine structural investments, flexible childcare, and psychosocial empowerment to foster sustainable self-sufficiency.
Council tax bills and arrears are on the rise. In England alone, council tax arrears have hit a record £6 billion; nearly double that owed in 2019/20 and a figure increasing by as much as £10 million every week. While much scholarly attention has focused on the design and burden of council tax, this article explores the largely overlooked front-line decision-making of Local Authority staff tasked with recovering arrears. In the context of an ongoing funding crisis in Local Government, these front-line decision-makers are under huge pressures to maintain high levels of council tax recovery. Drawing on interviews with council tax collection staff across 20 English Local Authorities, we explore a routinely adopted distinction that shapes enforcement action: whether a debtor ‘can’t pay’ or ‘won’t pay’. We argue that front-line decision-making on this ‘can’t pay’/‘won’t pay’ distinction mirrors similar dynamics in the literature on the ‘deserving’ and ‘underserving’ poor. Our findings highlight four key themes: the use of ‘engagement’ as a proxy for a household’s willingness to pay; the impact of scarcity pressures on recovery processes; the detailed (and often subjective) assessment of household expenditure; and a belief in debt collection as a tool for behavioural change.
Nigeria's poverty experience over the past decade reveals a persistent paradox: despite periods of economic growth and expanded social protection, many households remain vulnerable. The article draws on qualitative life-history research conducted in 2023 under the Better Assistance in Crises (BASIC) programme across multiple Nigerian states representing diverse rural, urban, agrarian and conflict-affected settings to examine the limits of poverty reduction strategies centred on macroeconomic growth and short-term social protection. It argues that 'growth from below' - through smallholder agriculture, informal investments and more asset-secure women's livelihoods - has been central to household resilience and upward mobility. The findings show that poverty trajectories are often characterised less by linear 'graduation' from poverty than by oscillation between recovery and setback within a polycrisis environment. Households frequently rely on informal investment, agricultural activity and social networks to manage risk and rebuild livelihoods, yet policy frameworks often treat informality primarily as a source of taxation or regulation rather than support. The evidence also highlights how women's livelihood strategies are constrained by unequal asset ownership, insecure work and unpaid care responsibilities. While social protection programmes can help smooth consumption during crises, they often do not adequately support asset protection, livelihood diversification or longer-term resilience, particularly in contexts of chronic risk. The article therefore calls for anti-poverty policy to move beyond short-term relief towards asset protection, support to informal livelihoods and asset-secure pathways for women. Recognising growth from below does not replace social protection; rather, it strengthens it by aligning policy with lived economic realities.
