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ABSTRACT China eradicated rural extreme poverty in 2020 after an 8‐year campaign that combined endogenous economic development involving local people with social assistance. Ethnographic research in a village in southwest China reports township officials, under‐resourced and pressed by higher tiers of government to meet the poverty‐eradication target, commissioning an entrepreneur as a policy‐broker. The latter established enterprises nominally to provide local employment, while seeking profitability from their investment. Prioritising poverty eradication over sustainability, government subsidies were employed to engineer income transfers lifting villagers out of poverty by the target date. Thereafter, transfers of income from the enterprises to impoverished people were at best irregular. The experience highlights the distorting effect of policy targets and the limits to endogenous development undertaken under time–pressure with villagers neither consulted nor benefiting from new employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various pro-cycling policies emerged around the world with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. France experimented with a €50 bike repair subsidy. Our questionnaire survey (n = 7343) focuses on beneficiaries' sociological profiles. Despite its success in quantitative terms, the repair subsidy benefited more regular cyclists—who cycle daily—and people who are confident cycling in urban areas. Women were more likely to benefit than men, and people in low-income households more than those in high-income households. Because these populations are usually underrepresented among cyclists in France, the scheme may appear to have reduced inequities in cycling. However, the scheme could have reached out more to the low-income population who were largely unaware of it. This selectivity is partly explained by awareness of the subsidy, which is lower among the younger and the less educated part of the population. Our survey shows that the scheme is selective primarily because of its design. It would have been necessary to accompany it with measures specifically designed for vulnerable groups. • Bike repair subsidy has been successful in quantitative terms. • Bike repair subsidy mainly benefited regular, confident, and women cyclists. • Low-income cyclists benefited the most although they were poorly informed. • Access to information about subsidies is itself socially selective. • Although the scheme is based on equal treatment, it can hardly be considered fair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neil McCulloch, director of the London-based professional network The Policy Practice, has written a timely primer on the economics and political economy of fossil fuel subsidies. McCulloch's key point is that it is not enough for economists to measure subsidies and design reforms. Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies: The Politics of Saving the Planet: By Neil McCulloch. [Extracted from the article]

With the advancement of marketization, China has achieved rapid economic growth and economic class differentiation. This research analyzes the data from China's livelihood survey, divides the urban Chinese into five socio-economic classes, and tests their preferences and tendencies for income redistribution. It obtains the general attitude differences in subsidy policy and income inequality during COVID-19. Our conclusion are consistent with the existing literature to a great extent; that is, personal factors (self-interest and belief in fairness) play a crucial role in the attitude of Chinese citizens. In the analysis of situational factors, the results show that the higher the level of marketization, the people are more likely to have stronger negative emotions about subsidy or redistribution policies. Further analysis shows that people with the lowest income are susceptible to the fact that income inequality has become significant and show a strong willingness to support the government's redistribution policy. In contrast, middle-class people tend to favor the government's redistribution policy, although they will not benefit much from the redistribution policy. Therefore, they lack the motivation to support the government in vigorously implementing the subsidy policy. Significantly, high-income people are indifferent, as they lack such motivation even more. The difference in redistribution preferences between upper-class and lower-class groups signals polarization in Chinese society, especially income redistribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main motives for the Algerian government’s adoption of the policy to support oil derivatives were social motives that fall within the responsibilities that the state must undertake to achieve social stability. Governmental support for oil derivatives is in the interest of the wealthiest individuals; This is due to the high consumption of these derivatives. Lifting subsidies on oil derivatives will reduce costs, but it will not improve the standard of living of the poor, and if no corrective measures are taken for these policies, this will lead to a decline in the living standards of the poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty in India has been declining consistently over the years, yet it is home to 172 million poor people. Most of India's poor are concentrated in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture. This poses a serious challenge to the exploration of potential pathways that could effectively eradicate poverty and accomplish the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We estimate the effects of various types of investment in rural areas in accelerating agricultural productivity and reducing rural poverty, and find differential impacts of investments and subsidies across low-, middle-, and high-income states. Private investment in minor irrigation, public investments in agricultural research and development, and subsidies on irrigation and electricity have the highest marginal returns in low-income states. Further, the payoffs from additional spending in promoting agricultural income are also higher in low-income states, suggesting targeting these locations with strategic investments and subsidies to improve agricultural productivity and reduce poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The federal child care subsidy program reduces child care costs for eligible low-income families to facilitate parental employment and educational attainment. Using national data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), this study is the first to ask whether subsidies induce an increase in maternal education level over time, and if so, whether this increase is steeper for mothers who use subsidies to increase their education when their children are younger. After matching subsidy recipients with subsidy-eligible non-recipients on a range of background variables, we assess whether mothers increase their education levels in response to entry into the subsidy program at two different points in a child's early years: first when children are 2 years old and then when children are in preschool. Results suggest that subsidy receipt promotes mothers' educational attainment, with the largest impacts for mothers who receive subsidies when their children are younger (2 years old vs preschool-age) and for subgroups of mothers who have low baseline levels of education (high school or below) and who are not initially enrolled in school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo analiza la eliminación de los subsidios a los servicios en Venezuela, incluidos los sectores de servicios de energía e infraestructura y la implementación del socialismo del siglo XXI. El artículo también analiza el colapso del sector petrolero, sus causas y consecuencias, incluida la reforma de los subsidios en diferentes sectores de la economía y compensar a los grupos de bajos ingresos de Venezuela.

State child care subsidy programs are intended to support the employment of low-income parents, particularly for families receiving or likely to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. To study the impact of child care subsidies on employment, this study used detailed data from a survey of low-income parents in Minnesota, linked with administrative data on subsidy receipt, to estimate endogenous switching models of subsidy receipt and parent work status. Parental preferences about the child development-related characteristics of child care settings were the basis for an instrumental variable used to predict subsidy receipt. Receiving a subsidy significantly increased the probability of employment and especially of full-time employment. The findings suggest that expansion of the child care subsidy program could lead to increased employment among low-income parents with young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultimately, the rich will find a way to profit from a basic income, to the detriment of the poor, thanks to the distributional effects of different types of state financing. It would be folly to call for a UBI without a detailed and sophisticated calculation of the distributive effects of its financing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the National Food Security Act (NFSA) passed by the Indian Parliament offering albeit, cereals in limited amounts at subsidized prices to the bottom urban and rural populations. Topics discussed include the Act as the largest welfare program undertaken for providing food security and nutrition to poor, replacing the price subsidy with revenue neutral direct unconditional income transfers to benefit extremely poor and no imposition of additional fiscal burden.

During the recent Great Recession, US households, especially those with low incomes, faced severe financial distress. Households experiencing economic hardship may turn to receiving government assistance to alleviate the hardship or distress. Receiving government assistance may improve a household's financial situation as it could be decreasing its reliance on debt or even improving a household's ability to repay their current debt. We investigated how households' financial debt obligations were affected by receiving government assistance, as has not been previously analyzed. Given the focus of this research, we included households under 185 % of poverty threshold released by the 2012 US Census Bureau. Results from the 2010 and 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances indicate that government assistance was positively related to the odds of meeting debt-to-income ratio guidelines, implying that government assistance plays an important role in financial security of low-income households. This study provides important insights for researchers and policymakers in the areas of poverty and household finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a model of optimal income taxation, estimates China's skill distribution function based on the data from a recent survey, and finds the optimal marginal and average income tax rates for China. It shows that both the optimal marginal and average tax rates increase at decreasing rates, and become rather flat at high-level skills. China's current marginal tax rate increases at a decreasing rate at low-level skills and increases at an increasing rate at high-level skills. To be optimal, the low income groups in China should be subsidized, the tax threshold should be raised, and the highest marginal tax rate should be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how in Medicare Part D insurers' gaming of the subsidy paid to low-income enrollees distorts premiums and raises the program cost. Using plan-level data from the first five years of the program, I find multiple instances of pricing strategy distortions for the largest insurers. Instrumental variable estimates indicate that the changes in a concentration index measuring the manipulability of the subsidy can explain a large share of the premium growth observed between 2006 and 2011. Removing this distortion could reduce the cost of the program without worsening consumer welfare.(JEL G22, H51, I13, I18) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an overview of the U.S. Lifeline program which provides a discount for telecommunication services to the indigent, and discusses its role in the Federal Communications Commission's goal to provide Universal Service to citizens. Topics include an overview of the Universal Service; Universal Service Fund created by Universal Service Administrative Co., which is funded by telecommunications companies; and a law in Georgia which charges Lifeline consumers to discourage fraud.

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to see whether Government of India is successful to make credit accessible to the poor; to examine the role of competition in microfinance sector in ensuring credit to the ultra poor borrowers; to see the role of subsidy in microfinance movement. Design/methodology/approach -- The paper is based on secondary data. This paper examines, in an analytical framework with a variety of assumptions, the role of microfinance institutes (MFIs) in bringing capital to the ultra poor. Findings -- In an attempt to make credit accessible to the poor, Government of India took several measures, but did not succeed to a significant extent. This paper has shown that the microcredit has become accessible to the "working poor," but not to the ultra poor. Initially the model shows that in the absence of competition MFI and moneylender are equally exploitative to the ultra poor borrowers. The model further shows that in the presence or absence of competition in the credit market, credit may be accessible to the ultra poor borrowers under certain conditions. Excessive subsidies might drive out the poor borrowers from the microfinance sector. Originality/value -- For the poor clients served by the microfinance institution, the argument goes, the access not the cost (interest rate) that matters (Robinson, 2001). Here the implicit assumption is that the interest rate elasticity of demand for micro credit is close to zero (Emran et al., 2006). In an interesting paper Deheja et al (2005) has shown that the interest rate elasticity of loan in the microfinance system is significantly negative. The author is of the opinion that this is the cost of credit as well as inability to pay a minimum price of credit, which denies the access to credit. JEL Classifications -- G21, G38, L12, L14, O18 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political model chosen in Colombia to offer public housing to the poorest, involves the market taken as a regulator of the effective access to houses, exclusively following the private property paradigm. Meanwhile, it is intended to constitutionally grant the right to housing ensured also as a political statement. At the same time, the right to the city progressively makes its way into the international scenery as a collective precept; this helps visualize the conflict between the economic reality of the model and its social implications. Therefore, the text contrasts the concepts of private property, social utility; individualism, collectivism; and constitutional framework, supply and demand laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Brazilian Journal of Applied Economics / Economía Aplicada is the property of FEA-RP, Universidade de Sao Paulo 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 identify three threats to small group health insurance markets that may result from the 2014 implementation ofcertain provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). First, small employers with predominantly low-income employees may tend to opt out of small group markets because their employees will be better off with subsidized individual coverage. Second, small employers with employees of heterogeneous income levels will have strong incentives to offer coverage that is either "unaffordable" or fails to provide "minimum value" in order to preserve the availability of government subsidies for their low-income employees. Finally, small employers that continue to offer group plans will face increased incentives to self-insure those plans, further contracting small group markets and subjecting them to adverse selection. Collectively, these forces may destabilize small group markets and increase the ACA's fiscal cost. We therefore conclude by offering various reforms aimed at offsetting these risks and preserving the viability of small group markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the optimal nonlinear schedule of taxes and subsidies on remittances from emigrants. The analysis identifies conditions under which emigrants remitting small amounts of income face positive average and marginal subsidies on their remittances, whereas emigrants remitting relatively large amounts of income face positive marginal taxes. In this way, the tax system improves the distribution of income by indirectly taxing the 'brain drain,' while simultaneously encouraging remittances that tend to go to low-income residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document assesses the performance of SISBEN as instrument for targeting health insurance for the poor, RS, since it was created after Law 100 of 1993. Evidence suggests that targeting of health insurance based on Viejo SISBEN for years 1997 and 2003 was acceptable. In addition, preliminary evidence available for 2007 shows that the introduction of Nuevo SISBEN corrected several of the limitations of Viejo SISBEN, improving the targeting of RS. On the other hand, we analyze the effects of households' strategic response to SISBEN surveyors and find that the better off households benefit more of it, making of strategic response a regressive tool that allows close to one fifth of RS beneficiaries to manage to get included even though they are not actually eligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous researches have shown that most of low income and poor do not have financial protection in mitigating their financial losses. The purpose of this paper is to investigate firstly, whether there is any means of financial protection among the poor, and secondly, to determine their financial capacity and perseverance in making monthly contribution for a micro-takaful policy. The study was conducted on respondents who fall into the poverty level category in the rural area of Perak, Malaysia. It was found that 97% of the respondents are without financial protection and unable to contribute any amount of money to get the protection. The authors recommend that intervention and support from government is vital in providing the financial capacity for the poor to have the needed protection that principally cover death, medical and savings benefits. The Malaysian government should enforce a policy in providing aid to the poor via micro-takaful by providing subsidy and zakah forming part of their monthly contribution. With zakah fund, these low income and poor could have their own micro-takaful schemes which should be able to provide sufficient benefits, preventing them to be trapped into the poverty cycle permanently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many developing countries use food-price subsidies or controls to improve nutrition. However, subsidizing goods on which households spend a high proportion of their budget can create large wealth effects. Consumers may then substitute toward foods with higher nonnutritional attributes (such as taste) but lower nutritional content per unit of currency, weakening or perhaps even reversing the subsidy's intended impact. We analyze data from a randomized program of large price subsidies for poor households in two provinces of China and find no evidence that the subsidies improved nutrition. In fact, they may have had a negative impact for some households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In 2008, the federal government allotted $7 billion in child care subsidies to low-income families through the state-administered Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), now the government''s largest child care program (). Although subsidies reduce costs for families and facilitate parental employment, it is unclear how they impact the quality of care families purchase. This study investigates the impact of government subsidization on parents’ selection of child care quality using multivariate regression and propensity score matching approaches to account for differential selection into subsidy receipt and care arrangements. Data were drawn from the Child Care Supplement to the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (CCS-FFCWS), conducted in 2002 and 2003 in 14 of the 20 FFCWS cities when focal children were 3 years old (N =456). Our results indicate that families who used subsidies chose higher quality care than comparable mothers who did not use subsidies, but only because subsidy recipients were more likely to use center-based care. Subgroup analyses revealed that families using subsidies purchased higher-quality home-based care but lower-quality center-based care than comparable non-recipients. Findings suggest that child care subsidies may serve as more than a work support for low-income families by enhancing the quality of nonmaternal care children experience but that this effect is largely attributable to recipients’ using formal child care arrangements (versus kith and kin care) more often than non-recipients. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper, we study the impact of child care subsidy receipt on low-income children's weight outcomes in the fall and spring of kindergarten using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort. Our results suggest that subsidy receipt is associated with increases in BMI and a greater likelihood of being overweight and obese. Using quantile regression methods, we find substantial variation in subsidy effects across the BMI distribution. Specifically, child care subsidies have no effect on BMI at the lower end of the distribution, inconsistent effects in the middle of the distribution, and large effects at the top of the distribution. Our results point to the use of non-parental child care, particularly center-based services, as the key mechanism through which subsidies influence children's weight outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different demand-side or supply-side instruments can be used in order to encourage the use of formal childcare. With the budgetary constraints of the last two decades, some countries have changed their childcare policy leading to the implementation of demand-side rather than supply-side instruments. The introduction of demand-side subsidies to encourage the use of formal childcare services was a major change in Belgium since, until 1988, subsidies were directly granted to childcare services providers in order to reduce their running costs. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of both demand-side and supply side subsidies on the use of formal childcare by low-income families. From this perspective, we analyzed, on the one hand, the effect of the tax deduction instrument implemented in Belgium and, on the other hand, the effect of an increase in the provision of childcare places on the use of formal childcare services. We found that the choice of policy instruments is not neutral in terms of access to formal childcare for families belonging to different income groups. Indeed, while a higher supply of childcare places increases the probability of access for low-income families, the tax deduction can have a mixed outcome as far as access to childcare is concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Public Distribution System (PDS) continues to be a major instrument of food security for the poor in the Indian subcontinent. This paper examines how efficiently food is being delivered under this food subsidy scheme and measures the extent of diversion of food meant for the poor. The study is based on a large primary survey of 12 states surveying 1,000 households from each state over six consecutive months. The findings indicate huge identification errors and incidences of diversion of food, especially in the case of households below the poverty line. The gross failure of identification of the correct beneficiaries in almost all the selected states raises a major question about the very genesis of this subsidy scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: We incorporate habit formation into an analysis of the effect of cereal price changes on the nutrient intake of the poor in China. We find that the poor’s nutrient intake responds asymmetrically to declines and increases in cereal prices, and that the asymmetric response of their fat intake may be due to habit formation. Our results also imply that introducing cereal price subsidies can increase their total energy intake by increasing their calorie intake from fat and protein, while ending such subsidies would insignificantly affect their total energy intake, but further increase their calorie intake from fat and protein. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Access to health-care is low in developing countries. Poor people are less likely to seek care than those who are better off. Community-based health insurance (CBI) aims to improve healthcare utilisation by removing financial barriers, unfortunately CBI has been less effective in securing equity than expected. Poor people, who probably require greater protection from catastrophic health expenses, are less likely to enrol in such schemes. Therefore, it is important to implement targeted interventions so that the most in need are not left out. CBI has been offered to a district in Burkina Faso, comprising 7762 households in 41 villages and the district capital of Nouna since 2004. Community wealth ranking (CWR) was used in 2007 to identify the poorest quintile of households who were subsequently offered insurance at half the usual premium rate. The CWR is easy to implement and requires minimal resources such as interviews with local informants. As used in this study, the agreement between the key informants was more (37.5%) in the villages than in Nouna town (27.3%). CBI management unit only received nine complaints from villagers who considered that some households had been wrongly identified. Among the poorest, the annual enrolment increased from 18 households (1.1%) in 2006 to 186 (11.1%) in 2007 after subsidies. CWR is an alternative methodology to identify poor households and was found to be more cost and time efficient compared to other methods. It could be successfully replicated in low-income countries with similar contexts. Moreover, targeted subsidies had a positive impact on enrolment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the duration and effect of child-care subsidy use among low-income working mothers in Wisconsin. Using an event-history model, the study finds that mothers are likely to cycle on and off subsidy systems and that their subsidy spells tend to end relatively quickly. Results from a Tobit model with a lagged dependent variable suggest that long-term use of child-care subsidies is associated with increases in mothers' earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2002 the German government has promoted private retirement saving plans by means of special subsidies and tax incentives: the Riester scheme. This policy mainly targets low-income households. Using data from the German Socio-economic Panel, we scrutinize the impact of the Riester scheme on private savings. The introduction of the Riester scheme is treated as a natural experiment. Estimation results cast some doubts on the effectiveness of the Riester scheme and call for enhanced efforts to evaluate that policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem: Most housing programs in the United States do not focus on the most pressing housing needs. In 2003 more than 13 million households spent at least half their incomes on rent or the costs of homeownership, an increase of more than 35% since 1993. The vast majority of these households were poor. Yet housing policy has shifted away from deep-subsidy programs targeted to the poorest households toward providing shallow subsidies to higher-income households. Purpose: This article considers whether, given that the federal government is unlikely to increase funding for low-income housing, state and local governments are likely to increase housing assistance to the lowest-income households in the future, how such assistance could be structured, and how states and localities might be persuaded or compelled to provide this assistance. Methods: We examine the income distribution of households supported by major programs administered by state and local governments and the extent to which these programs target the poor and provide them with sufficient levels of subsidy. We reviewed program data reported to funding agencies and trade associations, census data on housing problems compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and data from surveys of policies and practices conducted by academic researchers and policy organizations. Results and conclusions: We find that the shift to state and local administration of federal funds has not significantly shifted priorities. We provide evidence that states are not using their discretion go beyond federal requirements, and are not serving income groups below those they are required to serve. Locally funded programs are less likely to target the poor than state or federal programs. Takeaway for practice: Rather than hoping for substantial local housing assistance targeted to the poor, we recommend making more effective use of existing federal resources. Research support: None. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public aid programs to subsidize the automobility of poor households are at the heart of a trade-off between three different types of concern: economic (promoting access to employment for active members of these households), environmental (cutting greenhouse gas emissions from cars) and social (ensuring that policies to control car usage do not penalize poorer households disproportionately). This article analyzes comparative research into the origins and development of such programs in three countries characterized by different levels of car dependence (France, the UK and the US). It shows that these programs, which are obviously useful to the households that benefit from them and, surprisingly, have largely escaped criticism despite running counter to policies that restrict the use of cars, remain of marginal importance in all three countries. The reasons for this are twofold: firstly, auto programs are not an appropriate solution to the difficulties encountered by a significant portion of poor households and, secondly, wider development of such policies would constitute a considerable political gamble, especially as they risk destabilizing the mechanisms for funding public transit and weakening their social legitimacy. In the longer term, however, multiplying economic and fiscal methods of restricting car use that weigh disproportionately on the budgets of more modest households may necessitate a considerable increase in programs to aid automobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subsidies to residential utility customers are important in-kind transfer mechanisms in developing countries. Do these subsidies reach the poor? This article finds the average targeting performance of water and electricity subsidies to be similar to that of other social-transfer mechanisms using the same targeting method. The most common form — a quantity-based consumption subsidy aiming to subsidise low-volume customers — is highly regressive. Many geographically-targeted and most means-tested utility subsidies are progressive, but still exclude many poor households. Connection subsidies are an attractive alternative in low coverage areas, but they will only reach the poor if utilities extend network access to poor households and if households choose to connect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ICT networks and services are not effectively reaching the poor, particularly those living in rural areas. Public subsidies for traditional operators to cover the difference between tariffs and cost-recovery levels have proved limited in addressing this continuing gap. This article explores the role that could be played by a largely unnoticed set of actors we call microtelcos--small-scale telecom operators that combine local entrepreneurship, innovative business models, and low-cost technologies to offer ICT services in areas of little interest to traditional operators. Through a series of case studies from Latin America, we document how microtelcos combine organizational and informational advantages that allow them to service the poor effectively and with limited access to public subsidies. In fact, we show that they have done so despite a less than favorable regulatory environment. The article examines the case for microtelcos as an effective alternative to address the ICT needs of the poor and suggests how existing regulatory obstacles may be removed so that microtelcos could be more effectively harnessed to bridge continuing access gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents comments to the paper "Assessing Health Reform in Colombia: From Theory to Practice," published in this issue. David McKenzie claims that other countries planning health reform can draw lessons from the paper. Rodrigo R. Soares comments on the political economy of the Colombian reform and the subsidized health regime for the poor.

The article assesses the outcome of health reform implemented in Colombia in 1993. It discusses changes to health institutions as well as the difficulties of transferring funding from supply- to demand-side channels. It evaluates the impact of the subsidized health plan on the poor, particularly on their self-reported health status, consumption of nonhealth goods, and labor force participation. It also analyzes the impact of reform on expenditure and hospital efficiency.

Copyright of Canadian Tax Journal / Revue Fiscale Canadienne is the property of Canadian Tax Foundation 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 qualitative and quantitative data from a multi-year study of low-income families included in New Hope, an experimental anti-poverty intervention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to understand why low-income families’ use of program-based child care as well as subsidies offered to pay for such care is often low and/or episodic. Ethnographic analyses from 38 families in experimental and control groups suggest that child care choices and subsidy use must fit into the family daily routines and with the beliefs people have about child care. Both ecocultural theory and parents’ own reports of child care decisions suggest four themes accounting for child care choice: material and social resources; conflicts in the family; values and beliefs about parenting and child development; and predictability and stability of child care. Child care subsidy programs can be more effective if they offer greater flexibility and a range of options that better fit into the varied daily routines of the low-income families they are intended to serve. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of International Journal of Urban & Regional Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

Focuses on the implementation of programs to provide subsidized health insurance for low-income adults in the United States. Effect of the program on the health insurance status of low-income adults; Factors influencing the crowding out of private health insurance coverage; Impact of Medicaid expansion on insurance coverage for children.