The contributions of this collected volume are the result of a call for papers. The authors met and discussed their drafts at the workshop "Inequality in Europe", organized by the editors. The workshop was sponsored by the "Population Economics" section of the German Association for Demography ("Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Bevoelkerungs- wissenschafl" - DGBw) and by the "Josef-Popper-Naehrpflicht" Foundation. The aim of this foundation, located at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-University of Frankfurt am Main, is to support research dealing with problems of achieving a "reasonable" standard of living. Originally the aim of the foundation was to further the notion of a guaranteed minimum income ("allgemeine Naehrpjlicht"). The publication of this book is also sponsored by this foundation. The workshop was held at the "Evangelische Akademie Arnoldshain", near Frankfurt am Main. The helpful discussions during the workshop benefitted greatly from the friendly atmosphere of the academy. Some of the articles were financially supported by the "Panel Comparability" Project (PACO), located at CEPS (Centre d'Etudes de Populations, de Pauvrete et de Politiques Socio-Economiques) in Luxembourg. PACO is a joint activity of the German Institute for Economic Research (DrW) in Berlin, CEPS and some other institutions in European countries. It is sponsored by grant No. ERBCHRX-CT92- 0037 ("European Network on Longitudinal Household Panel Studies Meeting Technology Requirement for Comparative Research") of the "Human Capital and Mobility" program of the Commission of the European Community.