Towards cross-country comparable reference budgets in Europe: a methodological note on the development of food baskets
Towards cross-country comparable reference budgets in Europe: a methodological note on the development of food baskets
Author
Other authors
Publication date
2023-01Abstract
An adequate minimum income is imperative for the fight against poverty and for the realization of
human rights (Cantillon et al., 2019; Van Lancker et al., 2020). A safety net that secures a decent level
of minimum income is not only imperative for the fulfilment of other rights but is also a right in itself.
The right to an adequate minimum income has been a long-standing commitment of the EU and its
Member States and is one of the key principles in the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) endorsed
by all EU institutions and the Member States (European Commission, 2017). Principle 14 specifically
addresses the right to an adequate minimum income that ensures a life in dignity, emphasizing the
importance of labor market participation and access to enabling goods and services. Recently, this has
been further elaborated and supported by the European Commission and Council by means of a
Recommendation on adequate minimum income (Council of the European Union, 2022). While these
EU initiatives are important steps forward towards adequate minimum incomes in Europe, we have
argued (Storms et al. 2023) that besides the income-based AROP-indicator, there is a need for a
benchmark that represents the costs that households face to access necessary goods and services.
More specifically, we advocate the development and use of high-quality reference budgets (RBs) as a
benchmark providing a sound multi-dimensional understanding of what social safety nets should
entail in order to guarantee a life in dignity at all stages of life. RBs are priced baskets of goods and
services that illustrate what households need in order to be able to live a dignified life. If the adequacy
of minimum incomes is to be monitored at the European level, there is a need for RBs that are
comparable across the member states.
In previous EU projects {Goedemé, Storms, Penne & Van den Bosh, 2015a; Goedemé, Storms,
Stockman, Penne, Van den Bosch, 2015b; Menyhért et al., 2021) first attempts have been made
towards the development of cross-nationally comparable RBs (RB) in Europe. In the context of the
current EuSocialCit project, additional steps have been taken towards more comparability. More
specifically, the methodology to develop and price cross-nationally comparable food baskets
representing a healthy and sustainable diet has been further elaborated and implemented in four
European countries (Belgium, Finland, Hungary and Spain). In the current methodological note, we
outline the methodological choices and considerations and the necessary steps for the future
development of RBs across Europe. More specifically, we investigated how the methodology of
developing comparable food baskets can be enhanced. Besides adding a layer of common guidelines
and improving the pricing strategy, we have also investigated the feasibility of including sustainability
criteria at different levels to construct the food budgets. Although food budgets alone are insufficient
to fully assess the adequacy of minimum incomes, the note aims to illustrate how these comparable
food baskets are a first step for measuring both affordability of necessary goods and services and
income adequacy in a comprehensive way across Europe.
Document Type
Report
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
316 - Sociology
613 - Hygiene generally. Personal health and hygiene
Keywords
Renda mínima -- Europa
Ajuda alimentària -- Europa
Dret a l'alimentació -- Europa
Alimentació -- Working Papers
Nutrició -- Working Papers
Pages
125 p.
Publisher
EuSocialCit
Grant agreement number
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EU/H2020/870978
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
Rights
© L'autor/a
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/