The determinants of subjective poverty in Europe: the role of household socioeconomic characteristics and social capital and the implications for public policies

This paper aims at showing to what extent self-perceived poverty in Europe is associated with specific household socioeconomic characteristics and particular aspects of household/ community social capital endowment, in order to disclose the primary risk factors of family poverty status. Such evidence would help central and local governments to define those economic and social goals which should receive more attention by policies aiming at poverty eradication. In particular, the paper focuses on the associations between a proxy of subjective poverty (Ability to make ends meet) and two sets of variables describing, respectively, the household socioeconomic characteristics and the household/community social capital endowment. In order to pursue this aim, a Multiple Correspondence Analysis and a Generalized Ordered Logit Model are carried out. The empirical analysis is based on the 2008 EU-SILC survey and the Eurostat statistic database. The results show a relevant association between self-perceived poverty and both household socioeconomic characteristics and social capital. Implications for public policies are also discussed.