Las rentas mínimas de inserción en época de crisis. ¿Existen diferencias en la respuesta de las comunidades autónomas?

Abstract

This article examines the recent evolution of the minimum insertion income (MII) pro - grammes in all of Spain’s autonomous communities. The autonomous communities are clas - sified according to the specifications of their MII programme policies at the beginning of the crisis (2008) and their evolution until 2014. For this purpose, variables related to resources, coverage, basic features and access requirements are analysed to determine the characteristics, recent development and ability of these programmes to respond to the economic crisis. The results reveal that although MII programmes as a whole show some improvement, major differences remain between autonomous communities, as well as some social inequalities regarding access to the programmes, thus suggesting that they have a limited impact as a tool to reduce poverty and social exclusion. Keywords: minimum incomes; crisis; social inequalities; social welfare; welfare state