Shaping economic inequality: the starring role of the household in the 'welfare triad'

The present thesis analyses the role of household in producing and reproducing inequality in contemporary societies. While individual and macro level factors influencing economic inequality have been widely investigated, meso level factors have received much less attention so far. This thesis, thus, investigates how the employment behaviour of individuals and their sorting into households, and their dynamics in time and space contribute to deepen inequality. Firstly, it contributes to the still open debate on the consequences of changes in households for economic inequality focusing on four European countries and the United States over two decades. Increases in single-headed households, in female labour market participation, and in the employment and earnings similarity of partners are changes of primary interests for economic inequality. In addition, the thesis investigates how market, state, and family produce and redistribute economic resources and shape the distribution of income and its stratification across household types. Secondly, the thesis moves then towards a dynamic perspective and merges three different lines of research: the life course research, stratification research, and comparative research. It does so studying how life course events affect income trajectories of different social groups in different countries/contexts. Specifically, this thesis investigates the consequences of job loss across different social strata. The idea is that social risks may strengthen or weaken social stratification if risks, and their consequences, are unevenly distributed across social groups. Finally, these aspects are investigated for two countries, Germany and the United States, characterized by relevant variations in those institutions – the market, family and welfare state – which have the capacity to affect the risk of experiencing job loss, and to buffer its economic consequences.