Welfare consequences of the crisis in Europe

In this chapter, authors Stefán Ólafsson and Kolbeinn H. Stefánsson provide a general comparative overview of the welfare consequences of the 2008 crisis, using the financial hardship indicator as well as a number of others, such as unemployment, income developments, and poverty. They compare the outcomes between different welfare regimes and by depth of the crisis. They then go on to explore the development of financial hardship within socio-economic groups across Europe and indicate where the increase was largest. Hence the chapter provides an important insight into how burdens were shared and which groups bore the brunt of the crisis.