Country differences in material deprivation in Europe. E. Bárcena-Martín*, B. Lacomba†, A. I. Moro-Egido‡ and S. Perez-Moreno§ 26 enero 2011 Abstract This paper evaluates to what extent differences between countries in the composition of their population and in structural characteristics can explain country differences with respect to material deprivation. Our study aims to advance research on the structural dimension to the predominantly individually oriented study field of material deprivation. To facilitate an integrated approach of individual and structural context dimensions we took advantage of multilevel techniques to test differences among a large number of countries in the intensity of material deprivation. We make use of the European Union Survey on Income and Living Conditions. From our analyses, we can conclude that structural effects seem to be more relevant than individual effects to explain country differences in material deprivation. Keywords: Material Deprivation, Multilevel Analysis, European Union Survey on Income and Living Conditions. JEL Codes: J16, I32, O57 * Corresponding author: University of Málaga, Dpto. Estadística y Econometría 68, C/ El Ejido 6, E-29006 Málaga, Spain. Phone: +34-952 131191. Fax: +34-952 131294. E-mail:
[email protected] † University of Málaga, Dpto. Estadística y Econometría 68, C/ El Ejido 6, E-29006 Málaga, Spain. E-mail
[email protected] ‡ University of Granada, Dpto. Teoría e Historia Económica, C/Campus Cartuja s/n E-18011 Granada, Spain. E-mail:
[email protected] § University of Málaga, Dpto. Economía Aplicada (Política Económica), C/ El Ejido 6, E-29006 Málaga, Spain. E-mail:
[email protected] 1 1. Introduction Nowadays, it is widely agreed that poverty has a multidimensional nature.