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Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the nature, magnitude and determinants of access to food among rural households in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on the World Bank's Rural Impact Survey, which has documented the shocks of COVID-19 among 2,787 rural households across six states in India. The chi-square test and binary logistics regression have been used to analyze the data. Findings: About 49.7 % of rural households have reported the incidence of food inaccessibility and shortage, and the majority of them reported a reduction in food intake during the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the magnitude of food accessibility varied across the states and the sociodemographic characteristics of the households. Furthermore, regression analysis indicates that family size, social category and occupation as sociodemographic variables and membership in self-help groups, wage employment under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Cash transfer under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana as institutional support factors have a significant effect on access to food among rural households. Practical implications: The findings of the study have far-reaching policy implications for developing an effective food distribution system in crisis situations like the COVID-19 outbreak. The study also provides directions for extending the research on determinants of access to food during crisis. Originality/value: The study is based on a large survey data from the rural households in India and provides empirical evidence on access to food faced by rural communities during the COVID-19 lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study aims to analyze and learn from the unanticipated economic shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine the ramifications of the pandemic on household well-being in Ethiopia, uncovering the layers of socio-economic impact through a rigorous microsimulation exercise. Drawing on robust data from the 2018/19 Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture, we assess the significant disruptions caused by the pandemic. Our findings reveal a 2 to 4 percentage point increase in the poverty rate within the first three months, driven largely by shifts in direct incomes and food prices. The analysis highlights differential impacts across rural and urban areas, as well as between male- and female-headed households. Moreover, the study underscores the vital role of social protection programs in mitigating the effects of such shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I investigate the effect of lowering welfare benefits for refugees on children's outcomes in Denmark. For identification, I exploit a reform that gave refugees lower benefits if they were granted residency after September 2015. The exact date of residency is plausible random due to the nature of the asylum process. By using Danish register data, I compare children who were granted residency before and after the benefit reduction and show that reform reduced household income by 22%. Secondly, I find a 19% increase in absence from primary school, driven by an increase in residual absence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper explores the effect of China’s Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) policy by considering the child human capital of households targeted by the policy. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies, we employ a difference-in-differences strategy to identify the effect of TPA on child human capital. The evidence indicates that TPA significantly enhances beneficiary children’s health, cognitive, and non-cognitive abilities. The most substantial improvement is observed in cognitive ability, reaching 49.8 per cent of its standard deviation (0.999). Mechanism tests suggest that TPA achieves these positive outcomes primarily through improving infrastructure, alleviating resource constraints, and enhancing family-process capacity. Specifically, TPA contributes to local infrastructure enhancement to facilitate child human capital development while increasing targeted households’ utilization of medical services for their children and promoting educational inputs in children. Moreover, TPA substantially improves parent–child relationships, increases quality time spent together, and considerably reduces mothers’ depression in targeted households. A back-of-envelop calculation suggests that exposure to the TPA policy during childhood leads to a 0.562 increase in years of schooling and a 13.1 per cent increase in wages for adults in their twenties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After COVID-19, various working conditions and working environment at work sites which are the premise of labour rights were treated as the agenda for consultation and agreement of labour management, collective bargaining and agreement, and the contents that need to be responded to at the national level were reviewed. In response to many points that COVID-19 has exposed individual workers' vulnerabilities and inequality, we would like to examine how to systematically compensate for this from the perspective of trade unions. And at this draft for this, it analyses the impact of COVID-19 on a survey of 918 members of six-member unions affiliated to the FKTU in South Korea. And it states that the following practical measures are needed, based on the relational approach: establishment of standards for recognising COVID-19 infectious diseases as occupational diseases and industrial accidents, establishment of standardised safety and health guidelines, strengthening the participation of trade unions in the occupational safety and health management system and labour supervision system, protection of vulnerable working groups and strengthening of labour rights, introduction of statutory paid sick leave and sickness allowance, protection of foreign migrant workers who provide essential work for the lower layers of the labour market, collection and development of COVID-19 data focussing on the labour market and labour relations, monitoring of companies receiving public funds and the establishment of an evaluation system and the involvement of trade unions, the development of various campaigns for the ratification of the ILO Social Security Convention, and a new social contract for occupational safety and health in the COVID-19 situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life cycle asset allocation has recently gained popularity and is the default option in pension funds worldwide. A line of recent studies has refuted its glory and argues that a balanced fund with a fixed allocation throughout the investment horizon may yield better results. The question arises from these studies: What should be the balanced fund's optimum asset allocation weight? Therefore, the present study uses Genetic Algorithm to obtain the optimum asset allocation weight for India's defined contribution pension plan subscribers. To validate our result, the study compares the results of a Genetic Algorithm to the outcomes of widely used asset allocation techniques, notably the life cycle and equally weighted strategies. This study holds important policy implications as, given the size of the pension asset and the long investment duration, even a trivial increase in return will substantially impact investment outcomes, affecting the subscribers' well-being in old age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-Saharan Africa’s countries adopted farm input subsidies, with a twin goal of bolstering food security and reducing poverty. Many scholars evaluate the subsidies against these intended impacts, while ignoring the potential unintended consequences. In this paper, we take advantage of a rare combination of information on both contraceptive usage and a subsidy program, from Malawi’s 2020 multiple indicator cluster survey, to investigate whether Malawi’s farm input subsidy program (FISP) affected women’s contraceptive usage. Using the instrumental variables method, we find that women that lived in FISP households increased contraceptives usage. This is in line with the hypothesis that the women aimed to prevent pregnancy, and hence dedicate uninterrupted time to farming, complementing the FISP. More of women’s time in farming could imply less of their time in domestic chores. We, therefore, further investigated whether children, in the same households, increased participation in the domestic chores, to take up roles left by the farming women. We find that this is the case. These findings therefore highlight the importance of understanding both the intended and unintended consequences of welfare programmes to ensure that the impacts of such programmes are not over-or underestimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to characterise the determinants of the development of the silver economy in the field of care services provided in a residential form for dependent elderly persons in Poland. The analysis was carried out on the basis of statistical and financial background data, including those from the Ministry of Family and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Health, OECD, etc. Although the demand for care services will continue to grow in the coming years, the following barriers to the development of this segment of the silver economy can be identified: lack of employees, unattractiveness of monetary gratification, inefficient financing mechanisms, lack of public investment in the development of care facilities, and increasing costs of providing services in all forms.

Copyright of Sozialer Fortschritt is the property of Duncker & Humblot GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Sozialer Fortschritt is the property of Duncker & Humblot GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

AbstractThis paper explores the intellectual history of Universal Basic Income (UBI), specifically focusing on Milton Friedman’s Negative Income Tax (NIT) as a precursor. Examining Friedman’s work in the 1940s, the study reveals the polysemic nature of early NIT proposals and underscores the significance of Friedman and Stigler’s engagement with concepts like Abba P. Lerner’s Social Dividend and Kenneth Boulding’s adjustable tax plan, the latter often overlooked in the literature. Contrary to the prevailing view of NIT as solely a poverty alleviation policy, this research also positions it, at this moment, as a macroeconomic steering mechanism. Drawing on Reinhart Koselleck’s categories, theoretical analysis emphasises the importance of exploring diverse “layers of meaning” in early NIT debates, shedding light on nuances that echo contemporary discussions on UBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Affordable Care Act (ACA), enacted in 2010, aimed to improve healthcare coverage for American citizens. This study investigates the impact of Medicaid expansion (ME) under the ACA on the racial and ethnic composition of nursing home admissions in the U.S., focusing on whether ME has led to increased representation of racial/ethnic minorities in nursing homes. Methods: A difference-in-differences estimation methodology was employed, using U.S. county-level aggregate data from 2000 to 2019. This approach accounted for multiple time periods and variations in treatment timing to analyze changes in the racial and ethnic composition of nursing home admissions post-ME. Additionally, two-way fixed effects (TWFE) regression was utilized to enhance robustness and validate the findings. Results: The analysis revealed that the racial and ethnic composition of nursing home admissions has become more homogeneous following Medicaid expansion. Specifically, there was a decline in Black residents and an increase in White residents in nursing homes. Additionally, significant differences were found when categorizing states by income inequality, and poverty rate levels. These findings remain statistically significant even after controlling for additional variables, indicating that ME influences the racial makeup of nursing home admissions. Conclusions: Medicaid expansion has not diversified nursing home demographics as hypothesized; instead, it has led to a more uniform racial composition, favoring White residents. This trend may be driven by nursing home preferences and financial incentives, which could favor residents with private insurance or higher personal funds. Mechanisms such as payment preferences and local cost variations likely contribute to these shifts, potentially disadvantaging Medicaid-reliant minority residents. These findings highlight the complex interplay between healthcare policy implementation and racial disparities in access to long-term care, suggesting a need for further research on the underlying mechanisms and implications for policy refinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the impact of a voucher project that targeted vulnerable and poor pregnant women in Uganda. Highly subsidised vouchers gave access to a package of safe delivery services consisting of four antenatal visits, safe delivery, one postnatal visit, the treatment and management of selected pregnancy-related medical conditions and complications, and emergency transport. Vouchers were sold during the project's operational period from 2016 to 2019. This study covers 8 out of 25 project-benefiting districts in Uganda and a total of 1,881 pregnancies, including both beneficiary and non-beneficiary mothers. Using a matching design, the results show a positive effect on the survival of new-born babies. The difference in the survival rate between the control group and the treatment group is 5.4% points, indicating that the voucher project reduced infant mortality by more than 65 per cent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have examined how cash transfers affect children’s education and health regardless of sibship size. I examine the long-run consequences of a Dutch reform that gradually curtailed child-benefit payments for larger families. Based on administrative data and a regression discontinuity design, I find little evidence of average reform effects on children’s education and mental health. However, children in less well-off households exposed to the reform experience long-lasting educational penalties. Analyses of survey and admin data suggest that, if not for the reform, households would have relied more on centre-based care as opposed to maternal care. Lower parental investments in child-related goods and a more stressful environment accompanied heightened poverty risks after the reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous literature has established that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people are at least as likely to be poor as heterosexual people, standing in contrast to myths of “gay affluence.” These findings have used datasets limited by either sample size or using partnership status to infer sexual orientation. Using U.S. data from the Household Pulse Survey, which allows us to identify large samples of individuals who self-identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, we find that bisexuals have lower incomes and are more likely to experience poverty, and bisexual individuals, gay men, and lesbian women are more likely to report financial hardship. Additionally, we find that LGB people utilize government assistance at higher rates than heterosexual people, even when allowing for selection into poverty status. We propose several explanations for these differentials, drawing on the program non-participation literature, and suggest that social network effects, lessened stigma, and increased reliance on public programs may explain these differences. Finally, we examine receipt of the enhanced child tax credit and find evidence that gay men and lesbian women with children were less likely to receive it than heterosexual men and women with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the heterogeneous impacts of minimum wages, which could affect low-income workers’ earnings and employment opportunities, on crime rates across neighboring communities. Using geo-tagged reported crime incident data from 18 major U.S. cities, we find that minimum wage increases reduce violent crime rates notably more in low-income communities than in high-income ones. On average, a one-dollar real minimum wage increase narrows the disparity in quarterly violent crime rates between low- and high-income communities by 12%. The impact varies considerably across different types of cities. The income effect resulting from raising the minimum wage is the main contributing factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using detailed data from the third round of the District Level Household Survey of India, this paper examines in detail the effect of child marriage of women on contraceptive usage and access to skilled care during pregnancy and delivery. This paper particularly focuses on sixteen different outcome variables categorized under four broad sub-groups; namely, family planning and contraceptive usage, birth history, utilization of antenatal care; and finally, natal and postnatal care. The overall results presented in the paper suggest that women who marry early, i.e. before they reach the legal age of marriage are more likely to have experienced miscarriage, give birth before they turn 18 and lose children. They also lack current contraception usage and are less likely to access public health facilities during both pregnancy and childbirth. These results, however, vary widely based on the state of residence and age of the women in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to investigate the potential role of knowledge and cultural in reducing income inequality and alleviating poverty in Indonesia. The method used includes panel data regression estimation with the least squares dummy variable approach, compounded with an interactive session. The results showed that knowledge and cultural have a significant effect on income inequality, poverty, and development. This research has developed a knowledge-based and cultural-based development framework, by incorporating democracy-political institution as a new proxy variable for knowledge and tourism-cultural, as well as active participation as determinants of the cultural economy. The significance of cultural heritage possesses a remarkable capacity to attract tourists, thereby generating revenue, and bears indigenous wisdom and knowledge, inherent to local communities. This research stands out from the previous due to the unique combination of democracy-political institution determinants and cultural economy, which creates a blend of knowledge and cultural. By filling the gap left by previous research that solely focused on these areas independently, this research presents a holistic understanding of the subject matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 credits, and conditional cash aid programs. A corresponding economics literature focuses on the role of income and the labor supply responses of parents, parenting skills, and early education as family investment mechanisms that reduce socioeconomic inequality in children's well-being. In contrast to the U.S., dozens of low- to middle-income nations use direct cash aid—conditional or unconditional—as a central policy strategy, with demonstrated positive effects across a host of economic and health measures and selected aspects of children's health and schooling. This paper reviews the economic research on U.S. safety net programs and cash aid to families with children and discusses what existing studies reveal about the impacts of cash aid on family investment mechanisms and children's outcomes. We specifically highlight gaps in understanding the impacts of unconditional cash aid on children. We then review nine contemporary unconditional cash transfer programs and discuss their promise and limitations in filling the U.S.-based economic evidence gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the U.S., means-tested cash, in-kind assistance, and social insurance are part of a patchwork safety net, often run with substantial involvement of state and local governments. Take-up-participation among eligible persons in this system is incomplete. A large literature points to both neo-classical and behavioral science explanations for low take-up. In this paper, we explore the response of the safety net to COVID-19 using newly-collected survey data from one U.S. state-Utah. The rich Utah data ask about income and demographics as well as use of three social safety net programs which collectively provided a large share of relief spending: the Unemployment Insurance program, a social insurance program providing workers who lose their jobs with payments; the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides benefit cards for purchasing unprepared food at retailers; and Economic Impact Payments, which provided relatively universal relief payments to individuals. The data do not suffice to determine eligibility for all of the programs, so we focus on participation per capita. These data also collect information on several measures of hardship and why individuals did not receive any of the 3 programs. We test for explanations that differentiate need, lack of information, transaction costs/administrative burden, stigma, and lack of eligibility. We use measures of hardship to assess targeting. We find that lack of knowledge as well as difficulty applying, and stigma in the UI program each play a role as reasons for not participating in the programs.

Copyright of Sozialer Fortschritt is the property of Duncker & Humblot GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Sozialer Fortschritt is the property of Duncker & Humblot GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We use novel, large-scale data on 17.5 million Americans to study how a policy-driven increase in economic resources affects children's long-term outcomes. Using the 2000 Census and 2001–13 American Community Survey linked to the Social Security Administration's NUMIDENT, we leverage the county-level rollout of the Food Stamps program between 1961 and 1975. We find that children with access to greater economic resources before age five have better outcomes as adults. The treatment-on-the-treated effects show a 6% of a standard deviation improvement in human capital, 3% of a standard deviation increase in economic self-sufficiency, 8% of a standard deviation increase in the quality of neighbourhood of residence, a 1.2-year increase in life expectancy, and a 0.5 percentage-point decrease in likelihood of being incarcerated. These estimates suggest that Food Stamps' transfer of resources to families is a highly cost-effective investment in young children, yielding a marginal value of public funds of approximately sixty-two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the conditions under which welfare fraud and incomplete take-up emerge simultaneously and persist for a long time, which has been observed in many countries, particularly Japan and Germany. To do this, we extend models of statistical discrimination and taxpayers’ resentment to simple models of population dynamics. We find two stable boundary equilibria in the first model. One of these equilibria entails low welfare fraud and 100 % incomplete take-up, and the other entails high welfare fraud and 100 % take-up. In contrast, we find a unique stable equilibrium in the tax resentment model, which is interior and thus allows for the coexistence of welfare fraud and incomplete take-up in a long run. Hence, we conclude that this unique long-run equilibrium of the dynamic taxpayers’ resentment model provides a better explanation for the observation of simultaneous and persistent presence of welfare fraud and incomplete take-up in actual economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I investigate the effects of California’s paid family leave (CA-PFL) program, the first state-mandated paid leave available to both mothers and fathers in the US. I examine the effects on the overall health of mothers and fathers during two distinct periods: health immediately around childbirth and health following childbirth. To do so, I leverage the variation in the timing of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) health care topical module relative to the exact year and month of childbirth. I find that CA-PFL has improved mothers’ health during pregnancy and immediately after childbirth. This improvement in health is accompanied by a reduced likelihood of mothers not working or taking unpaid work absence. Some improvements manifest in fathers’ health too during the same period. However, I observe that fathers report more instances of feeling sick, starting around 5 months after childbirth. Further analysis reveals that the share of fathers not working or taking unpaid work absence rises temporarily when the leave period ends. Understanding the effects on fathers’ health and leave utilization is pivotal to evaluating the program’s overall benefits and potential unintended consequences given the growing focus on enhancing equal access to paid leave for both mothers and fathers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empowering women is a policy goal that has received a lot of interest from policy-makers in the developing world in recent years, yet little is known about effective ways to promote it sustainably. Most existing interventions fail to address the multidimensional nature of empowerment. Using a double matching design to construct the sampling frame and to estimate causal effects, I evaluate the long-term impact of a multifaceted policy intervention designed to improve women’s empowerment in the Atlantic region in Colombia. This intervention provided information about women’s rights, soft skills and vocational training, seed capital, and mentoring simultaneously. I find that this intervention has mixed results: there are improvements in incomes and other economic dimensions along with large political and social capital effects, but limited or null impacts on women’s rights knowledge and control over one’s body. Using a list experiment, I even find an increase in the likelihood of intra-household violence. The results highlight the importance of addressing the multidimensional nature of women’s empowerment in policy innovations designed to foster it and incorporating men in these efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising reports of suicidal behaviors in children and adolescents have led to the recognition of a youth mental health crisis. However, reported rates can be influenced by access to screening and changes in reporting conventions, as well as by changes in social stigma. Using data on all hospital visits in New Jersey for 2008–2019, we investigate two inflection points in adolescent suicide-related visits and show that a rise in 2012 followed changes in screening recommendations, while a sharp rise in 2016–2017 followed changes in the coding of suicidal ideation. Rates of other suicidal behaviors, including self-harm, attempted suicides, and completed suicides were essentially flat over this period. These results suggest that underlying suicide-related behaviors among children, while alarmingly high, may not have risen as sharply as reported rates suggest. Hence, researchers should approach reported trends cautiously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use data from a long-running experiment in which American Indian households received income transfers from a casino, while other households did not. Using a difference-in-difference analysis, we find that the treated children had fewer depression and anxiety symptoms at age 30. In adulthood, individuals with more years of treatment exposure also had greater economic well-being around age 30. The untreated children, in adulthood, showed strong persistence in measures of mental health from adolescence through age 30, while in the treated group, children persistence was greatly attenuated. The estimated effects are slightly stronger for treated children who experienced fewer mental health symptoms before the transfers began at ages 16 and 21, but by age 30, all affected children showed reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression and improved economic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All families in Finland have the freedom to choose between subsidized home care, universal public childcare, and private childcare. We study the impact of the introduction of private childcare subsidies in Finland. Private childcare subsidies have causal effects on take-up but no impact on home care or employment among women with small children. Instead, private services seem to crowd out public childcare. Private services have a socioeconomic gradient by mother's education that steepens when the subsidy increases. Families' preferences between home care, public childcare, and private childcare do not explain the result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the diverse conceptualizations of the “common good” within the economic discourse and scrutinizes their implications for European integration during the pressing COVID-19 pandemic. Employing a comprehensive literature review, policy analysis, and case study examination, it explores the manifestations of the common good in the context of European Union policies. Two key interpretations emerge from our investigation: the first presents the common good as an ultimate objective, seeking a balance between individual and collective interests achieved via adept economic governance; the second considers it a continuous process underpinned by the principles that direct the journey toward such a balance. Our findings reveal that the EU’s response to the COVID-19 crisis led to shifts in fiscal policies and innovation strategies. The research outcomes demonstrate a marked transition in the EU’s approach, with a stronger focus on social welfare, environmental sustainability, and collective well-being.

Changes in administrative structures in post-communist countries after the change of the political system resulted in the division of tasks performed by public administration. Local self-governments were established and the tasks of meeting the needs of local communities, including the housing needs, became their responsibility. The aim of this research paper is to examine whether these tasks are actually being implemented and to analyze the measures taken by municipalities in this respect. Real estate management was analyzed in terms of selling residential premises by way of tender and without a tender procedure, as well as purchasing residential premises for the implementation of the municipal tasks. The research was carried out on the example of the Municipality of Krakow in the years 2015-2022. The results of the analyses were compared with the results of the research carried out in the Municipality of Oradea in Romania. The data collected in these two municipalities in two different countries revealed completely different approaches of the local authorities to the analyzed issue. In Krakow, the local authorities have developed a long-term programme for managing the municipal housing resources, which is consistently being implemented. The local authorities in Oradea do not take any action to increase the number of available residential premises, or even to renovate them. Instead, they expect action to be taken by the National Housing Agency or private companies.