The Last Safety Net

Minimum income protection provides the last social safety net for people in need. The book provides a systematic comparative and longitudinal analysis of minimum income protection systems in 17 EU countries based on a newly developed dataset. Country-specific chapters providing institutional overviews are combined with comparative quantitative indicators on issues such as benefit levels, expenditures and beneficiaries. The book will be of major interest to researchers, scholars and experts in income protection, poverty and the welfare state.

Thomas Bahle is senior researcher at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES). He has extensive experience in the comparative analysis of family policies, social services and minimum income protection.

Vanessa Hubl studied social sciences at the Universities of Mannheim and Utrecht. She currently works as a researcher at the MZES.

Michaela Pfeifer is a lecturer and researcher in sociology at the University of Siegen and PhD Candidate at the University of Mannheim.