What does it mean to have a right to a minimum income? And how did Southern Europe, long reliant on fragmented, charity-based assistance, attempt to transform that reality? These are the key questions Mafalda Escada, PhD researcher at the EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences, seeks to unpack in her research.
"I focus specifically on the largest Southern European welfare states – Portugal, Italy, and Spain – and how the political dynamics of poverty have evolved since the 1990s," Mafalda explains. These countries had established social insurance systems, such as pensions and unemployment benefits, but were "laggards in terms of social assistance policy." This meant that working-age individuals who did not fit into predefined vulnerable categories, like the elderly or disabled, were often left without any state support.
The turning point came in the 1980s and 1990s, when a shift began: These states introduced what Mafalda calls ‘universal social safety nets’. That is, minimum income schemes that recognised poverty not as a failure of character or charity, but as a condition deserving of a social right. "It’s a turn from categorical, arbitrary charitable practices to a social right to a minimum income," she says. But progress was uneven. "Portugal and Spain achieved national coverage. Italy’s approach remained patchy and inconsistent," Mafalda notes. And even now, disparities continue: "while Spain has been increasing its benefit adequacy, Portugal’s has been decreasing."
Her interest in these questions was shaped by lived experience. Growing up in Portugal during the 2008 financial crisis, she recalls watching the impacts of austerity unfold in real time. "People that I usually took as having a guaranteed job were suddenly unemployed and facing hardships. I was still in high school at the time, and that’s really when I had what I’d call my political awakening." That moment sparked her path into political science and sociology, and a lasting concern with how societies define and respond to poverty.
For Mafalda, the issues at the heart of her research go beyond technical or economic considerations. "We might classify people as 'poor' based on income thresholds, but their life circumstances can be very different. That makes it harder to mobilise collectively around these policies – and harder for their interests to be represented." Minimum income schemes, she says, are often politically vulnerable because the people who depend on them aren’t easily organised and lack the resources to do so. "That’s why research on poverty shouldn’t just be sociological or economic – politics plays a crucial role in shaping people’s chances. My work tries to bring that dimension to the forefront."
Her research also considers how labour market changes, such as job precarity and informal work, intersect with these policies. And while crises like COVID-19 have brought new attention to social protection gaps, social assistance remains fragile. "Even when minimum income schemes exist, they’re rarely funded at a level that actually brings people up to the poverty line," she says.
And yet, Mafalda sees glimmers of hope. "I think there’s a bigger commitment to minimum income protection now, or at least there can be, because we’ve seen that this is beneficial – not just for the people themselves, but for the economy as a whole."
Mafalda’s work is as much about identifying the barriers to effective policy as it is about understanding the conditions that make success possible. "In the midst of all this uncertainty, how can we identify the factors that actually lead to policy success?" she asks. "I think looking at the Southern European cases is particularly useful for that, because these are where introduction and implementation were thought to be difficult, but progress still happened – at least in some places."
Being at the EUI has shaped not only how she tackles these questions, but how she situates them within broader global debates. "I feel like being in a department that has people from so many different countries and also who work on a wide range of topics has pushed me to question my assumptions and see my own research from different angles," she reflects. "It’s also made me more confident in stepping outside of my disciplinary comfort zone, and dip into other kinds of fields I wouldn’t have dared to before."
At the EUI, Mafalda says her thinking has evolved in new and unexpected ways. "If I look back at my initial research proposal or earlier work and compare it to what I’m doing now, there’s been a real evolution. Sometimes, someone asks a question or shares something I’d never thought of, and it challenges me to rethink my topic or refine my research question." Some of that growth has come through formal academic exchange, but much of it, she says, "happens over coffee – just having conversations with people who see the world differently."
This openness extends to her everyday life on campus. "A typical day at the EUI? I head to the Badia in the morning, hoping to find the best desk and chair available – everyone has their favourite!” she laughs. “There’s a wholesome rhythm to it, even when the work feels tough." Days are structured, but never rigid. Between writing, seminars, lunch on the terrace, and evening football matches, there’s space for both focus and community.
"You might spend the morning in the library, stumble across a book you didn’t even know you needed, and then grab coffee with a friend or drop by your supervisor’s office. Everyone is accessible, and that creates a really supportive atmosphere."
The conversations with other researchers and exposure to new perspectives has also helped her move beyond her initial questions, and broaden the scope of the different ‘stages’ where poverty plays out as a political problem. "Sometimes, especially if we’re fortunate enough not to be directly affected, we think of poverty as something from the past – something that the welfare state already addressed. But that’s just not true," she says. "Poverty hasn’t disappeared, and in-work poverty is actually growing. The nature of the problem is changing, and that means we need to rethink how we design social protection systems."
Mafalda Escada is a researcher at the EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences, specialising in inequality, welfare, and social justice. Her thesis title is ‘The politics of poverty: minimum income in Southern Europe’. Her supervisor is Hemerijck Anton.