ABSTRACT
In the last chapter, I highlighted the potential of the trigger events perspective for understanding the real-life implications of welfare state provisions. My review of recent mobility research suggests that three factors are crucial in shaping income trajectories around adverse trigger events: institutions that cushion the financial consequences of adverse events such as welfare state programs; the opportunity structure for compensatory countermobility; and family insurance provided by the actual income and earnings potential of other household members. So far, I have only discussed these three factors in very general terms. This chapter provides a more concrete account of relevant differences between the us and Germany and of changes between the 1980s and early 2000s.
