Family policies’ long-term effects on poverty: a comparative analysis of single and partnered mothers

This study investigates whether generous family policies at the transition to parenthood reduce single and partnered mothers’ economic disadvantages later in the life course. Previous research usually focused on the immediate effects of family policies and disregards potential longer-term effects. In this study, we suggest taking a life-course perspective to study the relationships between family policy and mothers’ poverty risks. We empirically investigate how investment in child benefits, childcare services and parental leave measures at the transition to parenthood are associated with poverty outcomes at later life stages and whether these associations hold over time. We draw on pooled EU-SILC data, and an original policy dataset based on OECD expenditure data for child benefits, childcare and parental leave from 1994 to 2015. We find that mothers’ observed increase in poverty over time is slower in countries with high levels of spending for childcare at the transition to parenthood than in lower spending countries. The gap between partnered and single mothers was also diminishing in contexts of high childcare expenditure. For the other two policies, we did not find these links. These results do lend support to the claim that childcare is a prime example of a social investment policy with returns later in the life course and represents a life-course policy that seems to be able to disrupt economic path dependencies. The results for the other two policies suggest, however, a limited potential of family policy spending at transition to parenthood to reduce the poverty gap between partnered and single mothers over the course of life.

Polityka w cieniu koronawirusa

Politics in the Shadow of COVID-19: Parliamentary Election in the Kingdom of the Netherlands On March 15-17, 2021, the first parliamentary elections in the European Union during the pandemic took place in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The political authorities of the Kingdom of the Netherlands decided to hold the elections despite severe sanitary restrictions and curfew. On January 15, 2021, the outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, chairman of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), handed over the resignation of the entire government to the King. The immediate cause was the report of the parliamentary investigative commission announced in December 2020 on the extremely restrictive operation of local tax offices in connection with government child benefits. Mark Rutte has been running the country efficiently since 2010 and was also a favorite in the upcoming parliamentary elections. The elections were conducted without any disturbances. 37 parties were admitted to elections, the largest number in the post-war history of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The election winners were ruling party VVD party and progressive liberals from D’66. The discussion on the formation of the new government has already started and is accompanied by great emotions. It is going to be a long period of negotiations and their results are difficult to be predicted. The article presents the main actors of this parliamentary game.

Fertility potential and child benefits questioned: Polish migration in the UK and changes of family policies in Poland.

This paper presents the discussion about evaluating and using „migrating fertility” potential as a useful approach for designing and implementing pro-natalist and family policies which may play significant role in managing migration processes especially in the context of low fertility in European countries. The analysis presented in the article is based on pilot empirical study conducted in the UK in 2017 and 2018. The aim was to capture the views of migrants who have been staying in the UK for several years on the “Family 500+” fertility-boost financial aid program introduced in Poland in 2016. A critical aspect of the adopted approach is the inclusion in the analysis of future demographic trends the fertility potential of those who emigrated from their home country, a factor often underestimated in migration studies. The results of the study, which was conducted shortly after the launch of the Program, clearly indicate that the new child benefit is not the only decisive factor for Polish migrants, and therefore they are not necessarily eager to return to their home country despite the new pro-family policy.

Can Computers Automate Welfare?

Information-driven automated systems that deliver services proactively to citizens in need are heralded as the next level of digital government. There is, however, concern that such systems make welfare services less accessible to some citizens. This study uses the case of Norway’s child benefit system to discuss the general obstacles to having welfare policies implemented by proactive digital systems. Norway’s automated child benefit system uses data from Norway’s national resident register to award this benefit to eligible parents whom the system identifies. As such, it is representative of many government systems that use registry data to perform tasks previously done by caseworkers. While the eligibility rules for child benefits are simple, and the register has sufficient data to automate most cases, many parents are not awarded the benefit automatically. This article argues that when developing automated digital services, public administrators are faced with a trilemma. Ideally, proactive automation should be (1) precise in its delivery, (2) inclusive of all citizens, and (3) still support welfare-oriented policies that are independent of the requirements of the digital system. However, limitations with each requirement prevent all three from being realized at the same time. Only two can be simultaneously realized: a public administrator must decide which of them to forego. Consequently, automated services cannot meet all the expectations of policymakers regarding the benefits of digital government. Instead, governments need to find ways of utilizing the benefits of public digitalisation without infringing on citizens’ right to be treated equally and fairly by the government.

Can Targeted Child Benefits Affect Fertility? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

This paper contributes to the literature on whether targeted cash child benefits can affect fertility and, specifically, induce families to have more than two children. We exploit the introduction of a monthly non-means tested cash child benefit paid only to families with at least four children. We apply a quasi experimental methodology since the reform is expected to have increased births of fourth child relative to births of third child or higher than four. We find robust evidence that the reform increased significantly the treated family’s probability to have a (fourth) child by about 5% and had no effect on births greater than four. In the post reform period, the control group’s probability to have a (third) child was not significantly different than before the reform. In particular, the finding that the probability of birth among parities greater than four was not affected by the reform supports that what we are estimating is a response of the targeted family to the introduction of the child benefit and not a change in the fertility preferences of families with many children. Other changes (besides the reform) had a negative effect on the probability to have a child that was reversed only for the birth of fourth child among treated families due to the economic incentives created by the reform.

THE TWO GERMAN AGREEMENTS WITH MOROCCO ON SOCIAL SECURITY AND CHILD BENEFITS.

This paper analyses the two agreements in force on social security coordination between Germany and Morocco: the Agreement on Social Security from 25 March 1981 (quoted as “SSA Morocco”), and the Agreement on Child Benefits also from 25 March 1981 in the form of the Supplementary Agreement of 22 November 1991 (quoted as “CBA Morocco”).

Supraventricular tachycardia

This chapter is a case-based discussion of the management of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) in children. The case illustrates the challenges of medical management of SVT in neonatal life and infancy, both in terms of acute presentation, as well as longer-term medical care and outpatient monitoring to reduce recurrences of paroxysmal tachycardias as the child grows. Ultimately, the child benefits from an electrophysiology study (EPS) and catheter ablation. The chapter more broadly covers the varying clinical presentations of SVT in children and common treatment strategies employed. The electrophysiological mechanisms of SVT commonly seen in children are outlined. There is a review of the evidence behind the medical management of SVT in children, including a practical guide on the choice of anti-arrhythmic medication for different mechanisms of tachycardia, based on current guidelines. Finally, the chapter summarizes the invasive treatment option of EPS and ablation in children.

America’s Free-Market Family Policy

This chapter contrasts two models of the role that government can play with respect to families. Free-market family policy, which the United States has adopted, is premised on the view that all government needs to do to support sound families is to support strong markets, which will in turn benefit families. In contrast, pro-family policy, which other countries have adopted, is based on the idea that families do better when the government actively supports them. Pro-family policy considers markets an important tool for distributing the resources that families need, but it regulates them to reduce economic inequality and insecurity and institutes programs like paid family leave, paid vacation, universal childcare, and child benefits. Of the two types of policies, free-market policy leaves families more vulnerable to market forces. That creates devastating problems for families when economic inequality and insecurity increase, as they have in the United States.