Intersectional Disparities in Benefit Receipt: A Capital-Based Approach

Abstract

In contemporary welfare states, social insurance and means-tested benefits play a vital role in providing income security against unemployment, illness, and other risks, yet considerable inequalities in benefit receipt persist. While research has long documented how gender, age, and migration background each influence welfare dependency, the ways in which these characteristics combine to create multiplicative disadvantages remain poorly understood. Therefore, this dissertation employs a quantitative intersectional framework - using administrative and longitudinal survey data from the Netherlands and Norway - to map which intersections of gender, migration background, and age exhibit disproportionately high or low rates of social assistance and unemployment insurance receipt. It further investigates three capital-based mechanisms - resource deficits, unequal returns on resources, and “Matthew effects” in benefit persistency - to uncover the structural processes driving these intersectional disparities.