This Call for Proposals centres on how economic ‘fairness’ is constructed. What are the relevant variables for comparison (income, education, socio-economic status, poverty, etc.)? What is the relevant (income) reference group for specific groups of persons? Does the perception of fairness depend on future or past economic trends? Does my judgement of societal fairness depend on, for example, income comparison between generations (my father or mother at my age), within generations (peers) or the future (e.g. my child’s income). Does this vary across different socio-economic groups defined by, for example, gender, age, educational level, ethnicity, nationality and income groups?

While the research note could take form of country studies, it should preferably explore how these reference groups change across EU countries. 

The proposal should include significant detail on data sets, methodology and analytical techniques. It should take into account, and build on, and add value to, available work notably by the JRC (Fairness Community of Practice), the OECD (recent and upcoming reports on social mobility, the middle class and wealth) and the World Inequality Lab.  Authors are expected, when applicable, to make statistical routines available, preferably in STATA.

This Call for Proposals focuses on the distribution of access to high-quality services. The European Commission has advocated access to high-quality services as a key social investment, in particular for people in vulnerable situations. Access to high-quality services is one of the three strands of the Commission’s Active Inclusion Recommendation (2008). As highlighted in the Social Investment Package (2013) they support inactive people to get in employment and enable them to cope with challenges. 

This CfP covers three related but distinct research questions:

1) What are the determinants of access to high-quality social and personal services such as healthcare, training, housing, energy or transport in all Member States? The Research Note should explore relevant divides, such as urban-rural and regional disparities. The proposal should include significant detail on data sets (e.g. SILC ad-hoc modules) methodology and analytical techniques. Authors are expected to use quantitative techniques and, when applicable, to make statistical routines available, preferably in STATA.

2) To what extent is the use of social services limited by its availability? This question could be addressed by exploring administrative data on availability and costs of social services in a number of EU countries.

3) What are the effects of access to high-quality social services as defined above?This Research Note will aim to evaluate to what extent access to such services are a means in reducing poverty and more generally examine how and to what extent such access (or lack thereof) contributes (or not) to the development of individual or regional capabilities. Any of the following services could be covered: health care, professional training, housing and transport. The research note should explore, in particular, the Eurostat SILC ad hoc module on Access to Services and the Eurofound 4th European Quality of Life Survey. This research note will support the Commission in the context of the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights.

The proposal should include significant detail on data sets, methodology and analytical techniques. Authors are expected to use quantitative techniques and, when applicable, to make statistical routines available, preferably in STATA.

One of the aims of the EU is to increase access to high-quality, energy-efficient affordable housing for all social groups. This may require supporting Member States to ensure functioning housing markets and adequate provision of social housing as well as targeted support, appropriate incentives and fair burden-sharing to stimulate investments enhancing energy efficiency and insulation.

The aim of this Call for Proposals is to invite applicants with projects on any (combination) of three questions:

1) What are the factors that determine access to energy-efficient, affordable housing? The note should cover both dwellings/homes/buildings and their quality, notably energy efficiency; and households, and (in)ability to cover housing related costs. Social housing should also be covered.  What are the factors acting as disincentives?

2) What are the rights of tenants in relation to remaining in energy-efficient and affordable housing? What are the minimum norms for the (private) rent market? What are the most appropriate models promoting fair cost–sharing and regulatory stability?

3) Analysis of policies that support and increase stable and equitable access to energy-efficient and affordable housing.

The proposal should include significant detail on data sets, methodology, and analytical techniques. Authors are expected to use quantitative techniques and, when applicable, to make statistical routines available, preferably in STATA.

This Call for Proposals deals with working time and effects of working time reduction. There is some evidence that inequality may induce people to work longer (as they tend to compare to people who are better-off), while reducing their (non-work related) well-being. There are, therefore, three related but analytically distinct questions in this area:

1) What is the evidence on (excessive) working time (number of hours; paid or unpaid; sectors and occupations concerned; based on social partner agreements; etc.)?

2) What are the socio-economic and income related determinants of (excessive) working time?

3) What are the effects of excessive working time and of working time reduction on subjective well-being? Are lower working hours related to more “socially meaningful” activities? Are they supportive to retraining and/or acquisition of new skills transferable to other jobs?

These questions could be explored by analysing the European Quality of Life Survey (2003, 2007, 2012, 2016), the 2018 EU-SILC ad-hoc module on well-being, the (under-used) Harmonised European Time Use Surveys (2000 and 2010), etc. (European Social Survey, Eurobarometer).

The proposal should include significant detail on data sets, methodology, and analytical techniques. Authors are expected to use quantitative techniques and, when applicable, to make statistical routines available, preferably in STATA.

This Call for Proposals is related to the relation between poverty and actual material deprivation. While intuitively this relation should be strong, there is some evidence of a weaker link and only limited overlap between these two groups.

This Research Note would identify how the overlap between the income poor and the materially deprived change (is expected to increase) if we consider persistent poverty and material deprivation in different countries.

The analysis is expected to be based on the longitudinal SILC, and identify the main socio-economic characteristics of this group, changes in trends, etc. The analysis is also expected to build on a previous Research note “Micro and macro drivers of material deprivation rates” and on a DG EMPL working paper “Poverty Dynamics in Europe: From What to Why”. 

Unlike the 2015 note, the new note would focus more on persistently low income instead of income increases and decreases. It should also take due account of ongoing work by the JRC and DG EMPL on measuring and monitoring absolute poverty.

The proposal should include significant detail on data sets, methodology, and analytical techniques. Authors are expected to use quantitative techniques and, when applicable, to make statistical routines available, preferably in STATA.

This Call for Proposals focuses on the determinants, including incentives and disincentives of intra-EU mobility in light of access to crucial public services, especially access to healthcare, minimum wages and the quality of institutions in both sending and receiving countries.

The analysis is expected to be a case study of two or three member states with a high share of intra-EU mobile workers (of which at least one with a high outflow of workers), and examine the use of the healthcare systems and social security systems (total fraction of contributions to social security or pension contributions) .

It should be based on administrative data of that member state, which requires quick access by the researcher. The proposal should include significant detail on access to data sets, methodology, and analytical techniques. Authors are expected to use quantitative techniques and, when applicable, to make statistical routines available, preferably in STATA.

This Call for Proposals is related to the growth and quality of ‘green’ jobs. It builds on a taxonomy of green jobs developed in a recent Research Note (2019), subject to further refinements of that taxonomy if possible. It examines two aspects of this broader question:

1) How do green(able) jobs as defined in the Research note (2019) measure up in terms of job quality such as earnings, contract status, working time and working conditions, equal opportunities, health and safety at work, career opportunities, etc.?

2) Develop scenarios of green(able) job (as defined in the Research note (2019)) growth in the future, based on existing macroeconomic scenarios for the low-carbon transition, like the 'Global Energy and Climate Outlook' by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, the FOME projections by Eurofound and Cambridge Econometrics (including evidence on projected job creation by job quality), or similar studies. Model specifications and simulations need to include explicit assumptions of future production and consumption patterns and value chains, as well as the future evolution of sectors, occupational change, shifts in skill composition, tasks, etc.

The proposal should include significant detail on access to data sets, methodology, and analytical techniques. Authors are expected to use quantitative techniques and, when applicable, to make statistical routines available, preferably in STATA.

The SSM team requires access to:

• All datasets
• All command files

Applicants are required to include a Data Management Plan (DMP) to their proposal. The DMP should explain how applicants intend to comply with Eurostat’s data management requirements. LSE Consulting can provide advice.

Authors of Research Notes are entitled to reuse or republish their work as long as they:

• Make clear that the work, and the copyright on it, will continue to be fully owned by the European Union;
• Make clear that exclusive licenses in relation to the Note cannot be assigned, transferred or granted;
• Acknowledge that the work was funded by the European Commission;
• Make clear that the opinions contained in it are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the points of view of the European Commission;
• Received a confirmation from the European Commission that the content of the Note does not undermine the European Commission’s decision-making process.

In practice, this means that the work cannot be republished verbatim in an academic journal that requires a transfer of rights and exclusive license. 

Authors are advised to consult LSE Consulting before making any decision to republish their Research Note.

The maximum budget for each Research Note is €15,750.