CONTEXT AND PURPOSE OF THE CONFERENCE

This Conference, hosted by the Central Statistical Office of Poland, is organised by the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) and the Network for the analysis of EU-SILC (Net-SILC). Net-SILC is funded by Eurostat and consists of a group of researchers from 18 institutions using the comparative EU data source Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (“EU-SILC”). It brings together expertise from European Statistical System bodies and academics, and it is coordinated by the Luxembourg-based research institute CEPS/INSTEAD. The aims of Net-SILC are to develop methodologies for the analysis of EU-SILC and to carry out in-depth comparative research on incomes and living conditions.

The papers presented at the Conference are the first results of the research carried out by Net-SILC partners. The findings, which will be elaborated for publication in the light of the conference discussion, will feed into the development of the EU-SILC instrument and of the EU indicators of poverty and social exclusion. They will also contribute to the wider appreciation of the uses that can be made of EU-SILC data in the context of the European Statistical System and the aim to “go beyond GDP” in assessing economic and social performance.


FORMAT OF THE CONFERENCE

At each session there will be brief presentations of 3 or 4 papers (15 minutes each), with a single discussant (15-20 minutes), followed by a general discussion. The role of session chairs will be important during the conference, not only for carefully managing the timing but also for ensuring an active discussion. As to the discussants, their role will be important at two stages of the Net-SILC project: 1) at the conference, they will provide a 20 minute commentary on the papers; and 2) after the conference, they will provide written comments that will guide the editorial decisions related to the Net-SILC monograph. At the end of the Conference, a panel will reflect on “The future of EU-SILC in the wider context of EU statistics”. Each panellist will be given 5 minutes for making up to 3 major concrete suggestions. The panel will be followed by a discussion with the audience. Finally, the overall Conference conclusions will be drawn by Mrs. Inna Steinbuka, Eurostat Director in charge of “Social and Information society Statistics”.

25 March 2010

• Józef Oleński, Central Statistical Office of Poland
• Carin Lindqvist-Virtanen, Chair of the EU Social Protection Committee's Indicators Sub-Group
• Antonia Carparelli, Directorate-General “Employment, Social Affairs and Equal opportunities” , European Commission
• Inna Steinbuka, Eurostat, European Commission

• Anthony B. Atkinson (Nuffield College, Oxford and London School of Economics, UK), Eric Marlier and Anne Reinstadler (both CEPS/INSTEAD Research Institute, Luxembourg): Income distribution and financial poverty:EU-SILC in national and international context;


• Anne Reinstadler (CEPS/INSTEAD) and Jean-Claude Ray (University of Nancy, France): Macro determinants of individual income poverty in 93 regions of Europe;


• Philippe Van Kerm and Maria Noel Pi Alperin (both CEPS/INSTEAD): Inequality, growth and mobility: The inter-temporal distribution of income in European countries;


• Alessio Fusco (CEPS/INSTEAD), Anne-Catherine Guio (IWEPS, Belgium) and Eric Marlier (CEPS/INSTEAD): Income poverty and material deprivation in European countries.

Session 2: Income, Poverty and Deprivation II

• Matthias Till and Franz Eiffe (Statistics Austria): Towards an inclusion balance - Accounting for gross change in European’s living conditions;


• Merle Paats and Ene-Margit Tiit (Statistics Estonia): Income from own consumption; | 


• Sophie Ponthieux (French Statistical Office (INSEE)): In-work poverty in the EU.

• Martina Mysíková (Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University and Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic) and Martin Zelený (Czech Statistical Office): The EU-SILC rotational design and annual trends of cross-sectional indicators;


• Vijay Verma and Gianni Betti (University of Siena, Italy): Sampling and non-sampling errors in EU-SILC;


• Veli-Matti Törmälehto, Anneli Juntto, Marie Reijo, Hannele Sauli (Statistics Finland): The distributional impact of imputed rent in EU-SILC ; | 


• Vijay Verma and Gianni Betti (University of Siena, Italy): Robustness of some EU-SILC based indicators at regional level.

• Cristina Hernández-Quevedo, Cristina Masseria, Elias Mossialos (London School of Economics, UK): Analysing the socio-economic determinants of health in Europe: new evidence from EU-SILC; | 


• Orsolya Lelkes (European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Austria): Social participation in European countries;


• Maria Iacovou and Alexandra Skew (ISER, University of Essex, UK): Household structure in the UE.

26 March 2010

• Marco Di Marco (Italian Statistical Office (ISTAT)): Employment and social inclusion in the EU; | 


• Johannes Giesecke, Kathrin Leuze, Rita Nikolai (Social Science Research Centre Berlin (WZB), Germany): Labour market returns to education in Europe - the potentials of analysis with EU-SILC;


• Andrea Brandolini, Alfonso Rosolia and Roberto Torrini (Bank of Italy): Distribution of earnings in the Euro-area and the EU;


• Donald R. Williams (Kent State University, USA): Educational intensity of employment and polarization in Europe and the U.S.

• Rolf Aaberge, Audun Langørgen and Petter Lindgren (Statistics Norway): The impact of public services on the distribution of income in European countries;
• Vaska Atta-Darkua and Andrew Barnard (Office for National Statistics (ONS), UK): Distributional effects of direct taxes and social transfers (cash benefits);
• Francesco Figari, Andrea Salvatori and Holly Sutherland (ISER, University of Essex, UK): Economic downturn and stress testing European welfare systems.

Chair:

• A.B. Atkinson, Nuffield College, Oxford and London School of Economics;
• Isabelle Engsted-Maquet, Directorate-General “Employment, Social affairs and Equal opportunities”, European Commission and EU Social Protection Committee's Indicators Sub-Group;
• Michael Forster, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD);
• Stefan Lollivier, Statistics France (INSEE);
• Inna Steinbuka, Eurostat, European Commission.