Richard Breen : Annual Report 2003-2004

Richard Breen (Official Fellow) finished work on his edited collection, Social Mobility in Europe, which should be published by OUP before the end of 2004. Papers deriving from this research were presented at the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin in April 2004, at the RC28 conference in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, in May 2004, and at the University of Leipzig in July 2004. It also formed the basis of an address given at the graduation ceremony of the Juan March Institute, Madrid. As usual, completion of the book does not mean the end of the research, and at present work is continuing with Ruud Luijkx (University of Tilburg), Janne Jonsson (Swedish Institute for Social Research), and other colleagues, analysing social mobility using a cohort perspective, as opposed to the period perspective taken in the book. First results are very encouraging. Further work on social mobility includes an invited review article, co-authored with Jonsson, for the Annual Review of Sociology. Work on poverty dynamics has continued in collaboration with Pasi Moisio (Stakes, Helsinki) and Chris Whelan (ESRI, Dublin). The Breen-Moisio paper mentioned in last year's report has now been accepted for publication in the Journal of Economic Inequality. One of his EUI students successfully defended their doctorates during 2003-4: two remain. He continues as a member of the Scientific Committee of the Juan March Institute, Madrid.