We investigate the impact of the Romanian and Czech family policy systems on the income distribution and poverty risk of families with children. We focus on separating out the effects of the policy design itself, size of the benefits and the interaction between policies and population...

This paper uses data from 14 Middle Income Countries in the Luxembourg Income Study database to examine the position of children in the income distributions, and to calculate child poverty prevalence, to assess how far children receive transfers from state social protection systems compared to...

In 2016 the Polish government introduced a large new child benefit, called "Family 500+", with the aim to increase fertility from a low level and reduce child poverty. The benefit is universal for the second and every further child and means-tested for the first child. Increasing out-of-work...

In 2016, the Polish government introduced a large child benefit, called "Family 500+", with the aim to increase fertility and reduce child poverty. It is universal for the second and every further child and means-tested for the first child. We study the impact of the new benefit on female labor...

Families with children receive support from the tax-benefit system to a different extent across countries. In Spain, child poverty remains high as compared to other EU countries, possibly pointing to a weaker role of the public sector in providing income support to families with children. In...

This paper considers the case for universal child allowances in Ghana. It follows findings from an earlier study of 14 middle income countries that examined optimal approaches to reduce child poverty using universal categorical child allowances. The paper describes the demographic profiles that...

The enhancements in the child tax credit (CTC) in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) signed by President Biden on March 11 are a targeted child-centered, economic stimulus. Economists estimate that the 2021 CTC enhancements will increase consumer spending by $27 billion to $37 billion,...

Children represent the largest indirect beneficiaries of the U.S. social welfare system. Yet, many questions remain about the direct benefits of cash aid to children. The current understanding of the impacts of cash aid in the U.S. is drawn primarily from studies of in-kind benefits, tax...

Social protection programs aim to secure individuals' incomes from socioeconomic shocks and provide access to social services for developing human capital and alleviating poverty. In Indonesia, the Family Hope Program (PKH - Program Keluarga Harapan) is a social protection program that focuses...

Lesotho is a small Southern African country that has introduced two national cash transfer programmes, the Old Age Pension and the Child Grant Programme. Although Lesotho has followed what has been called the 'Southern African model', the introduction of the Old Age Pension was not the result of...