The United States government recently passed legislation and stabilization packages to respond to the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) outbreak by providing paid sick leave, tax credits, and free virus testing; expanding food assistance and unemployment benefits; and increasing Medicaid...

We complement the institutional literature on gender and the welfare state by examining how taxes and transfers affect the incomes of men and women. Using microsimulation and intra-household income splitting rules, we measure the differences in the level and composition of individual disposable...

Previous sociological research has overlooked the fact that a welfare state’s tax system does not solely redistribute from rich to poor (vertical) but also between family types (horizontal). Different types of families are treated differently due to (de-)familialization policies in the tax...

Since redemocratization in 1985, Brazil’s system of social protection became more focused on the neediest while at the same time emphasizing universal access, especially focusing education and healthcare. In a traditional context of severe inequality, the sub-national units of government...

Is the Czech Republic a welfare state? This question is to be answered through this article, whose purpose is to classify Czechia into one of the types of the welfare state. The introduction of the article describes the creation of the welfare state and the main factors influencing its origin....

This paper is a comparison between two programs implemented to combat poverty in Latin America: Prospera (Prosper) in Mexico and Asignación Universal por Hijo (Universal Assignment for Child) in Argentina. The first section offers a review of the emergence of the welfare state, examining...

Non-take-up of means tested benefits is a wide spread phenomenon in European welfare states. The paper assesses whether the reform that replaced the monetary social assistance benefit by the minimum income benefit in Austria has succeeded in increasing take up rates. We use EU-SILC register data...

Canada's centennial anniversary in 1967 coincided with a period of transformative public policymaking. This period saw the establishment of the modern welfare state, as well as significant growth in the area of cultural diversity, including multiculturalism and bilingualism. Meanwhile, the...

This paper presents non-take-up rates of benefits from the German Income Support for Job Seekers scheme, called Unemployment Benefit II (Arbeitslosengeld II ). Eligibility to these benefits is simulated by applying a microsimulation model based on data from the Socio-economic Panel for the years...

This paper presents non-take-up rates of benefits from the German Income Support for Job Seekers scheme, called Unemployment Benefit II (Arbeitslosengeld II). Eligibility to these benefits is simulated by applying a microsimulation model based on data from the Socio-economic Panel for the years...

Die Partei Bündnis 90/Die Grünen hat eine umfangreiche Agenda arbeitsmarkt- und sozialpolitischer Forderungen erarbeitet. Diese reichen von Maßnahmen mit geringer Reichweite wie dem weitgehenden Verbot der Arbeit auf Abruf bis hin zu Maßnahmen, die einem kompletten Systemwechsel gleichkommen...

This paper discusses the development of Indonesia's health insurance programme as a lens through which to understand Indonesian social policy development. The Indonesian health insurance programme has experienced considerable development despite fluctuating economic growth and political...

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...

Prominent research has claimed that work-family reconciliation policies trigger "tradeoffs" and "paradoxes" in terms of gender equality with adverse labor market consequences for women. These claims have greatly influenced debates regarding social policy, work, family, and gender inequality....

Tax-benefit microsimulation models are typically used to assess the impact of policy changes on the income distribution based on micro data representative of the population. Such analysis assesses the effects of tax-benefit policies by considering their interaction effects and the 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...

This article provides empirical evidence on the relation between institutional characteristics of labour markets that frame allocation processes, and optimal skill matching at the individual level. We investigate the extent to which skill-based job-worker matches are associated with employment...

Despite little to no academic attention, widespread perception of the welfare state policies is a critical aspect of its evaluation, existence and the validity processes; especially that amongst youth and the new generations. This paper discusses welfare or the quality of life perceptions in...

We complement the institutional literature on gender and the welfare state by examining how taxes and transfers affect the incomes of men and women. Using microsimulation and intra-household income splitting rules, we measure the differences in the level and composition of individual disposable...

This paper examines the case for randomized controlled trials in economics. I revisit my previous paper "Randomization and Social Policy Evaluation" and update its message. I present a brief summary of the history of randomization in economics. I identify two waves of enthusiasm for the method...

Soziale Kohäsion ist eine Voraussetzung für friedliche und wirtschaftlich erfolgreiche Gesellschaften. Die Frage, was Gesellschaften zusammenhält und welche Politik soziale Kohäsion stärkt, wird auf nationaler und internationaler Ebene immer prominenter diskutiert. In diesem Briefing Papier...

This paper explores a new theoretical and empirical approach to the assessment of human wellbeing, relevant to current challenges of social fragmentation in the presence of globalization and technological advance. We present two indexes of well-being - solidarity (S) and agency (A) - to be...

Social cohesion is an important precondition for peaceful and economically successful societies. The question of how societies hold together and which policies enhance social cohesion has become a relevant topic on both national and international agendas. This Briefing Paper stresses the...

Our goal is to investigate the pathways that link welfare receipt across generations. We undertake a mediation analysis in which we not only calculate the intergenerational correlation in welfare, but also quantify the portion of that correlation that operates through key mechanisms. Our data...

We study the relationship between a key early intervention policy designed to support families with children up to the age of four and the rate at which children are taken into social care. The gradual build-up of over 3,600 Sure Start Children's Centres (SSCC), operated by Local Authorities...

This paper explores a new theoretical and empirical approach to the assessment of human well-being, relevant to current challenges of social fragmentation in the presence of globalization and technological advance. We present two indexes of well-being - solidarity (S) and agency (A) - to be...

This paper offers a new way of assessing government cash transfers using a social welfare function framework. It demonstrates how one can use social welfare functions to measure the efficiency of such program s without requir ing the specif ication of a poverty line or particular poverty...

The rapidly expanding corona pandemic in 2020 has largely brought the world to an economic stagnation. The impact on the environment, especially on air quality, from almost suspended air traffic, idle industry and economic lockdown is enormous, but also the economic and social consequences of...

This text aimed to provide an analytical framework about the recent repertoire of public policies to combat poverty and income inequality, its most central characteristics and how productive inclusion programs are part of this strategy. To this end, an overview was drawn up that characterizes...

Italy, which is sometimes considered a laggard in terms of social and economic reforms, can boast a pension system that is, by and large, functioning sufficiently well in terms of ensuring an adequate purchasing power to retirees and a financially sustainable outlook in the long term, even when...

Das FIS-geförderte Projekt "Die Akzeptanz sozial- und arbeitsmarktpolitischer Maßnahmen und Regelungen" befragt Bürgerinnen und Bürger zu ihrer Einschätzung konkreter Ausgestaltungsalternativen der Sozial- und Arbeitsmarktpolitik in Deutschland. Dieser Bericht beschreibt das Design und die...

Capital income subsidies, and reliance on indirect consumption taxes have created an increasingly regressive overall tax system in the UK, US and elsewhere, with proportionately much greater impact on the poor than on the rich, and welfare cuts under ten years of austerity have had the largest...

The aim of this study is to analyze redistribution within the Austrian tax-benefit system. In this work we take a comprehensive view and include not only direct taxation and cash benefits, but also indirect taxes and in-kind transfers. We look at two kinds of redistribution: between the...

Given the prevalence of informal labor, most countries have combined contributory social insurance programs (pensions, unemployment benefits, and health insurance), with non-contributory insurance programs and several types of "safety nets." All of these programs involve different types of...

This study consists of an effort to analyze the process of constitution of the paradigm of the public employment system (SPE) in Brazil, having as a reference the programmatic model proposed from the deliberations of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Therefore, it is a matter of...

This text has two objectives that complement each other. First, to investigate the behavior of social policy and its consequences. Then to assess whether Brazilians became more conservative, despite the progress seen in social actions. As a methodology, a descriptive analysis of data from...