The Effect of Reducing Welfare Access on Employment, Health, and Children's Long-Run Outcomes

Arbeitspapier

Welfare caseloads in North America halved following reforms in the 1990s and 2000s. We study how this shift affected families by linking Canadian welfare records to tax returns, medical spending, educational attainment, and crime data. We find substantial and heterogeneous employment responses that increased average income despite reduced transfers. We find zero effects on aggregate health expenditures, but mothers saw reduced preventative care and increased mental health treatment, consistent with the transition to employment elevating time pressure and stress. We find no effect on teenagers' education and criminal charges as young adults but do find evidence of intergenerational welfare transmission.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 16516

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies ; Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents: Household ; Health and Inequality ; Education and Inequality ; Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs ; Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
• Subject: welfare ; income ; health

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Hicks, Jeffrey ; Simard-Duplain, Gaëlle ; Green, David A. ; Warburton, William P.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2023

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/282643
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET