külső tanácsadó
Michael Förster is a senior researcher and policy analyst in the fields of economic inequality and social policy. He has lead OECD work in this area for 10+ years, resulting in a series of flagship publications: "Divided We Stand - Why Inequality Keeps Rising" (2011), "In It Together- Why Less Inequality Benefits All" (2015), A Broken Social Elevator? How to Promote Social Mobility" (2018), "Under Pressure: The Squeezed Middle Class (2019), "Does Inequality Matter? How people perceive economic disparities and social mobility" (2021). Since September 2022 Michael has been lecturing on "inequality and policy" as a guest professor at the University of Antwerp. Since September 2023, he is also teaching at SciencesPo Paris. In the past, he has been working with international research institutes, notably the Luxembourg Income Study (1994-1996) and the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna (2000-2004). Michael studied economics at the Universities of Vienna, Austria (M.A.) and Saarbrücken, Germany and holds a Ph.D. from University of Liège, Belgium.
Selected publications
Ladaique, M. and Förster, M. (2024), “Trends in Economic Inequality and Poverty in OECD Countries” in : Regards n°63, Inégalités et pauvreté en comparaison internationale, edited by EN3S-École nationale supérieure de Sécurité sociale. Paris. link
Ladaique, M. and Förster, M.F. (2022), « Les modèles sociaux face à la pauvreté », in: Constructif No. 62, Juin 2022, pp. 50 – 56, Paris Juin 2022. link
Förster, M.F. (with an authors’ team) (2021), Does Inequality Matter? How people perceive economic disparities and social mobility, link
Förster, M. and A. Vindics (2021), “The impact of demographic and family structure changes on income distribution in Hungary and OECD countries”, in: Demografia Vol 62 No 5 (2019), pp. 77-105. link
Förster, M.F. and S. Königs (2020), "Promoting Social Mobility in Austria", OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 251, OECD Publishing, Paris, link
Verbist, G. and Förster, M. (2019), "Accounting for Public Services in Distributive Analysis", in: Decancq, K. and Kerm, P. (Ed.) What Drives Inequality? (Research on Economic Inequality, Vol. 27), Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 69-87. link
Förster, M.F. (with an authors’ team) (2019), Under Pressure : The Squeezed Middle Class, Paris, OECD. link
Förster, M.F. and B. Nolan (2018), "Inequality and Living Standards: Key Trends and Drivers", in: Brian Nolan (ed.), Inequality and Inclusive Growth in Rich Countries: Shared Challenges and Contrasting Fortunes, pp. 11 - 40. Oxford University Press. link
Förster, M. and C. Thevenot (2018), "Inégalités de salaires et revenus", in: Dictionnaire des inégalités et de la justice sociale (ed. P. Savidan), pp. 732 – 741, PUF (PUF, presses universitaires de France) link
Förster, M.F. (2018), contributing author to “Economic Inequality and Social Progress”, chapter 3 (eds. S. Klasen, G. Cornia, R. Grynspan, L. Lopez-Calva, N. Lustig) in Rethinking Society for the 21st Century – Report of the International Panel on Social Progress. CUP 2018. link
Förster, M.F. (with an authors’ team) (2018), A Broken Social Elevator? How to Promote Social Mobility, Paris, OECD. link
Förster, M.F. and K. Heitzmann (2017), "Entwicklung von Spitzeneinkommen in OECD-Ländern", in: Handbuch Reichtum in Österreich (Hg. N. Dimmel, J. Hofmann, M. Schenk und M. Schürz), pp. 51-67, Studienverlag Innsbruck, Wien, Bozen. link
Förster, M.F. and H. Levy (2017), " La classe moyenne est sous pression dans les pays de l’OCDE", La vie économique, Novembre 2017. link-fr link-de
Förster, M. and C. Thevenot (2016), "Les inégalités de revenu dans les pays de l’OCDE: tendances, facteurs explicatifs et rôle des politiques sociales", in: Revue Française des Affaires Sociales 2016 No.1, pp. 65-94, link
Förster, M. and I. Tóth (2015), “Cross-country evidence of the multiple causes of inequality in the OECD area”, in: Handbook of Income Distribution (eds. F. Bourguignon and A.B. Atkinson), pp. 1729-1844, Elsevier. link
Förster, M.F. (with an authors’ team) (2015), In It Together – Why Less Inequality Benefits All, Paris, OECD. link
Förster, M., A. Llena-Nozal and V. Nafilyan (2014), "Trends in Top Incomes and their Taxation in OECD Countries", OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 159, OECD Publishing. link
Chen, W-H., Förster, M. and Llena-Nozal, A. (2013), “Demographic or labour market trends: What determines the distribution of household earnings in OECD countries?”, in: OECD Journal: Economic Studies, Volume 2013, pp.1-29, link
Chen, W-H., Förster, M. and Llena-Nozal, A. (2013), “Globalisation, technological progress and changes in regulations and institutions – which impact on the rise of earnings inequality in OECD countries?”, Luxembourg Income Study Working Paper, No. 597. link
Förster, M. and G. Verbist (2012), “Money or Kindergarten? Distributive Effects of Cash Versus In-Kind Family Transfers for Young Children”, OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 135, OECD Publishing. link
Förster, M.F. and M. Mira d’Ercole (2012), “The OECD Approach to Measuring Income Distribution and Poverty”, in: Counting the Poor – New Thinking About European Poverty Measures and Lessons for the United States (eds. D. Besharov and K. Couch), pp. 27-58. Oxford University Press. link
Förster, M.F. (with an authors’ team) (2011), Divided we Stand: Why Inequality keeps rising, Paris, OECD. link
Verbist, G., M.F. Förster and M. Vaalavuo (2011), “The Impact of Publicly Provided Services on the Distribution of Resources: Review of New Results and Methods”, OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 130, OECD Publishing. link
E. Arnal and M.F. Förster (2010), Tackling Inequality in Brazil, China, India and South Africa: the Role of Labour Market and Social Policies, Paris, OECD. link
Förster, M.F. (2010), “Poverty in the OECD Area: Patterns and Longer-Term Trends“, in: P. Saunders and R. Sainsbury (ed.), Social Security, Poverty and Social Exclusion, International Studies on Social Security volume 16, pp. 35 – 62.
Förster, M.F. and P. Whiteford (2009), “How much redistribution do Welfare States achieve? The role of cash transfers and household taxes”, in: CESifo DICE REPORT- Journal for Institutional Comparisons, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 34-41. Munich. link
Förster, M.F. (2008), “Prestaciones ligadas a la incapacidad y estrategias preventivas y de reintegración de la incapacidad laboral: experiencia comparada”, in: Revista del Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, No. E 2008, Madrid, pp. 287-315 link https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2685558
Förster, M.F. (2005), “The European Social Space Revisited: Comparing Poverty in the Enlarged European Union”, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Vol. 7, n° 1, pp. 29-48, Routledge Journals. link http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13876980500084394
Förster, M.F. and M. Mira d’Ercole (2005), “Tackling Poverty”, OECD Observer No. 248, March 2005 link
Förster, M.F., D. Jesuit and T. Smeeding (2005), “Regional Poverty and Income Inequality in Central and Eastern Europe: Evidence from the Luxembourg Income Study”, in: R. Kanbur and A.J. Venables (eds.), Spatial Inequality and Development, pp. 311-347. Oxford University Press. link
Förster, M.F. and K. Vleminckx (2004), “International Comparisons of Income Inequality and Poverty: Findings from the Luxembourg Income Study”, in: Socio-Economic Review Vol. 2, Nr. 2, pp. 191-212, Oxford University Press. link
Förster, M.F. and M. Pearson (2002), “Income Distribution and Poverty in the OECD Area: Trends and Driving Forces”. OECD Economic Studies, No.34, pp. 7-39. Paris. link Also in French.
Förster, M.F. and I. Tóth (2001), “Child Poverty and Family Cash Transfers in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland”. Journal of European Social Policy 11.4, pp. 324-341. London. link
