European Union Extended Working Life Policies: On Pension Systems, Public Finances and Biopolitical Disciplining

July 6, 2020
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This paper takes three key European Union documents on extended working lives (EWL) and looks at them from the perspective that policies are not entirely shaped by problems: in fact, problems are often shaped, in narrative terms, around policies. It concludes that the ‘problem’ which shapes much EU policy on EWL is questionable – the … Read more

Life Course Trajectories and Wealth Accumulation in the United States: Comparing Baby Boomers and Millennials

July 6, 2020
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This paper empirically assesses the widespread belief that Millennials are economically worse off than their parents’ generation, the Baby Boomers. The research used US data from the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth to analyse the work and family life courses of Millennials and Baby Boomers from age 18 to 35, and then … Read more

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on inequality

June 30, 2020
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Researchers from the HUCIAW -project have studied inequality and the potential long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on it. HuCIAW investigates the role of human capital in shaping inequalities over the life course. The project aims to shed new light on the process of human capital formation during adolescence and adulthood, by examing three inter-related … Read more

DIAL EU stakeholder meeting: Tackling gender inequality in Europe

June 30, 2020
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16 June 2020 DIAL organized a virtual EU stakeholder meeting with a topic of gender equality on June 16, 2020. Representatives from the European Commission’s gender equality unit (DG Justice and Consumers) and the social investment strategy unit (DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion), the Democracy and European values unit (DG Research & Innovation), and … Read more

Lectures on multidisciplinary inequality research 17-19 August 2020

June 26, 2020
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As part of the Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course (DIAL) summer school, three lectures on multidisciplinary inequality research will also be open for a broader audience. These lectures are sponsored by DIAL (Dynamics of Inequality Across the Lifecourse: structres and process research programme), INVEST (Inequalities, Interventions, and New Welfare State research flagship centre) and … Read more

Sources of change in the primary and secondary effects of social class origin on educational decisions: evidence from Denmark, 2002–2016

June 16, 2020
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It is well-known that pupils from poorer backgrounds are more likely than their peers to take vocational rather than academic routes in upper secondary school – but what drives this? Does social class status itself lead to these decisions, or is there a mediating factor at play: that pupils from less well-off homes tend to … Read more

Heterogeneity in unemployment dynamics: (Un)observed drivers of the longitudinal accumulation of risks

June 11, 2020
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We know those in unemployment are at increased risk of being unemployed again, but is this a causal relationship between past and future risks? This paper, based on large-scale data from four European countries, answer to this question disentangling the effect of past unemployment from the effect of other factors which may also be at … Read more

Union dissolution and income inequality among separating women

June 3, 2020
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This study looks at women’s standard of living immediately after divorce or separation. It finds that women who had a higher standard of living tend to lose more from divorce or separation. At the same time, overall income inequality among separated women increases. The researchers compared the household incomes of separated women to a hypothetical … Read more

Heterogeneous unemployment dynamics of ancestral Swedes and second-generation immigrants

April 29, 2020
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This paper uses Swedish registry data for almost 450,000 people born in Sweden between 1977 and 1981 to compare the experience of unemployment over the working careers of second-generation immigrants (children born in Sweden with at least one foreign-born parent) and ancestral Swedes (individuals born in Sweden with two parents born in Sweden). It finds … Read more

Inequality of socio-emotional skills: a cross-cohort comparison

April 21, 2020
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This paper shows that inequality in a crucial dimension of human capital – socio-emotional skills at age five – increased dramatically between two cohorts of British children born in 1970 and 2000. The authors used data from the British Cohort Study and the Millennium Cohort Study, which followed two cohorts of children born in 1970 … Read more

Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course (DIAL) is a multi-disciplinary research programme consisting of thirteen European projects. The projects examine the sources, structures and consequences of inequalities in contemporary societies. The programme is funded by NORFACE for the period 2017–2021.

EU flag shown in acknowledgment of EU funding

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 724363

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