Public Investments and Class Gaps in Parents’ Developmental Expenditures

Families and governments are the primary sources of investment in children, providing access to basic resources and other developmental opportunities. Recent research identifies significant class gaps in parental investments that contribute to high levels of inequality by family income and education. State-level public investments in children and families have the potential to reduce class inequality in children’s developmental environments by affecting parents’ behavior. Using newly assembled administrative data from 1998 to 2014, linked to household-level data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, we examine how public-sector investment in income support, health, and education is associated with the private expenditures of low- and high-SES parents on developmental items for children. Are class gaps in parental investments in children narrower in contexts of higher public investment for children and families? We find that more generous public spending for children and families is associated with significantly narrower class gaps in private parental investments. Furthermore, we find that equalization is driven by bottom-up increases in low-SES households’ developmental spending in response to progressive state investments of income support and health, and by top-down decreases in high-SES households’ developmental spending in response to universal state investment in public education.

Redistribution and the Abolishment of Historical Entitlements in the CAP Strategic Plans: The Case of Greece

A key issue in CAP strategic planning in Greece is the treatment of historical entitlements. An unequal level of payments per hectare is difficult to justify in terms of the CAP’s rationale, and so the abolishment of these entitlements seems to be the most reasonable option. However, for historical reasons, this abolishment may result in a transfer of payments from smaller to larger farms and between different agricultural sub-sectors which could in turn lead to negative effects on the incomes of small farms and lead to farmers leaving the sector. We simulate the change to a flat rate payment in order to quantify these effects, then explore the possibility of employing the new obligatory redistribution measure, termed complementary income support, to mitigate any negative effects. We conclude that redistribution is, indeed, a powerful tool for fine-tuning decoupled payments if historical entitlements are to be abolished.

Transformations of Women in Tourism Work: A Case Study of Emancipation in Rural Nepal

A key challenge still exists for emancipation of women in the tourism industry in Nepal. The research addresses how females in Nepal transform themselves through engagement with trekking in remote areas. The authors investigated a female only tourism enterprise to determine how women can encounter avenues to reliable income support. Interviewees were members of Empowering Women Nepal (EWN), a Nepali Non-Government Organisation (NGO), and their interviews were used as a case study regarding women’s training. Open ended questions focused on the background of women who are likely to engage with tourism, barriers preventing engagement in tourism, the positive and negative side to tourism, avenues of support, and specific outcomes to date. The research found that rural and remote Nepali women are being emancipated via engagement with tourism.

Protection of Female Workers' rights in Employment and Incomes in Vietnam

As an important task of the country's socio-economic development, protecting the rights offemale workers in employment and income is concerned and implemented by international organizationsand all countries in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting the global economy and hurtthe incomes and employment of many female workers. In Vietnam nowadays, there is an increase in theunemployment rate of female workers, gender inequality in employment and income, and the ability tosecure their jobs and income. The article analyzes the current regulations and their implementation in theemployment and income of Vietnamese female workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thearticle also proposes some recommendations on legal provisions related to training backup jobs, arrangingand employing female employees, providing income support for female employees during leave due tothe COVID-19 epidemic; and policies related to female workers and their employers. Theserecommendations will improve Vietnam's labor law on female workers’ rights in employment and incomeand enhance the efficiency of human resource use and socio-economic development.

Using a Resistance Lens to Understand Performative Compliance of Low-Income Lone Mothers

The agency of lone mothers who rely on government income supports is often erased by the discourse of dependency, especially under welfare-to-work eligibility criteria. Here we apply the concept of small acts of micro-resistance in constrained circumstances, augmented by conceptualization of resistance as conscious oppositionality and intentionality to understand the agency of lone-mothers who receive income-assistance (IA) as they make-do and raise children under state- and market-enforced rules. Using a resistance lens reveals the interconnected importance of everyday acts like “talking back” to income-support staff, surreptitious gleaning of goods for resale, and re-storying the self. We describe these in three modalities: resistance as evasion and subterfuge; resistance through asserting positive identities; and resistance in forging their own path. Using a conceptual framework of resistance reveals the extent to which women’s survival and capacity to raise children are contingent on a performance of compliance, demonstrating the impacts of welfare-to-work on female-headed lone parent families.

Impact of Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) on consumption, health and education

Introduction. Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) is one of such efforts promulgated by the Government of Pakistan (GoP) in July 2008, as a premier national safety net initiative aimed at eradicating extreme and chronic poverty in the country. The main aim of this empirical study to examined the impact of BISP on consumption, education and health in case study of district Swat Pakistan. Methodology. This study used the qualitative research strategy because qualitative research strategy provided a variety of opportunities in identifying a problem. The data were collected through key informant interviews and mailed questionnaires. Interviews were conducted face to face using a semi-structured interview guide and as well a mail questionnaire. Results. The following respondents were well-acknowledged from the situation Covid-19 and have better knowledge about the BISP as a source of income. A total of 4 interviews were conducted from the targeted respondents using a semi-structured interview guide. And sent the mailed questionnaire to 45 respondents, only 7 respondents are replied. Conclusion. The main aim of this empirical study is to examine the Impact of Benazir income support program (BISP) on consumption, health and education during the COVID 19 pandemic. The finding reveled that BISP have positive effect on consumption, health and education. This empirical study has several recommendations based on research findings; (1) the government should pay the BISP income on monthly basis. (2) The government should increase the BISP income.

Caring and Grieving in the Context of Social and Structural Inequity: Experiences of Australian Carers With Social Welfare Needs

Caring for and bereavement following the death of someone with a life-limiting illness may precipitate social welfare needs related to income support and housing. Nevertheless, carer experiences of welfare policy and institutions have not received significant attention. This qualitative study explored experiences of carers who navigated social welfare policy while caring for someone with a life-limiting illness, and in bereavement. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 bereaved carers in an area associated with socioeconomic disadvantage. Carers differentially encountered precariousness, with some experiencing structural vulnerability. These positionalities appeared to be shaped by policy and process-related burdens, perceptions of the welfare state, and degrees of legitimisation or disenfranchisement of forms of capital and coping orientations. Recommendations that may improve carer experience were identified. Implications relate to the need for an expanded conceptualisation of vulnerability in health and welfare practice, policy that authentically validates caring and grieving, and upstream strategies that address inequity.

Resetting Benefits: Benchmarks for adequate minimum incomes

New Zealand’s successful management of the Covid-19 pandemic has emphasised the value of evidence-based policy. Government policy on income support payments is also changing significantly in response to the Welfare Expert Advisory Group’s 2019 report. This article examines the report’s recommendations in the context of international and local research, considers whether benefit increases in the 2021 Budget deliver on those recommendations, and discusses the impact of high housing costs on welfare reform options.

The Effect of Pension Subsidies on the Retirement Timing of Older Women

I estimate the effect of additional pension benefits on women’s retirement decisions by examining a German pension subsidy program. The subsidies have a kinked relationship with the recipients’ past pension contributions, creating a sharply different slope of benefits for similar women on either side of the kink point. I find that a 100 euro increase in the monthly benefit induces female recipients to claim their pensions six months earlier. Recipients also adjust their labor supply by using unemployment insurance as a stepping stone to retirement and by reducing time spent in marginal employment. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that the ratio of behavioral to mechanical costs for this subsidy program is 0.25, which is smaller than that of many other income support programs.