Arbeitspapier

Safety net still in transition: labour market incentive effects of extending social support in Poland

Many aspects of the economic transition which started in 1989 in Poland are by now complete. However, the route Polish governments have so far taken concerning the system of support for low-income families still implies very different poverty alleviation schemes compared to those found in many developed countries. We examine the Polish system of social assistance in a comparative context with Germany and focus on its implications for financial incentives to work. The paper shows the effect of extending the financial support system for poorest families in Poland on labour market incentives. We demonstrate that assumptions concerning sharing of resources among families within households have significant implications on the resulting financial incentives and importantly change the implied consequences of the reforms. This is the case especially for single-adult families. 74% of single adults without children, and 53% of lone parents in Poland live in multi-family households.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 3157

Classification
Wirtschaft
Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
Subject
Work incentives
social assistance
within-household sharing
transition
Sozialhilfe
Arbeitsuche
Ökonomischer Anreiz
Haushaltsökonomik
Polen

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Haan, Peter
Myck, Michał
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
(where)
Bonn
(when)
2007

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Haan, Peter
  • Myck, Michał
  • Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Time of origin

  • 2007

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