The era of big-government COVID relief is over. The initial pandemic relief legislation, followed by two years of Democratic control in Washington, seemed to herald the expansion and modernization of the U.S. safety net. But sustained reform proved elusive. Now that this lawmaking window of...

We provide new evidence that cash transfers following the birth of a first child can have large and long-lasting effects on that child's outcomes. We take advantage of the January 1 birthdate cutoff for U.S. child-related tax benefits, which results in families of otherwise similar children...

This Policy Research Brief describes Chile's Ethical Family Income poverty reduction programme, drawing particular attention to its innovations with regard to Chile Solidario as well as its scope, limitations and challenges

Today many Western welfare states are under reform. An important part of these reforms is the introduction of forms of privatization. In many countries this has led to the increased use of contracts as a governance tool for the delivery of employment reintegration services. In this paper we...

The Brazilian Northeast is a region characterized by high levels of poverty and inequality. These aspects hinder its prospects of economic development. A possible way to alleviate these problems is to improve the early-life conditions of the poor. In 2000, the Brazilian government launched the...

Germany’s healthcare system is praised as one of the best in the world. In this article, we review Germany’s health system by critically analysing its structure, funding, resource allocation, provider payments, efficiency, health outcomes, and access. Whilst health provision and access are...

The War on Poverty is 50 years old. Over that time, federal and state governments have spent more than $19 trillion fighting poverty. But what have we really accomplished?Although far from conclusive, the evidence suggests that we have successfully reduced many of the deprivations of material...

Social protection has become one of the pillars of social development strategies. But, lacking a consistent standard for social protection, the issue has been approached in different ways and from different analytical and policy dimensions. This document examines the principal ongoing...

Today many welfare states have undergone a transformation, and the focus of their efforts has shifted towards activating and enabling, where the promotion of labor participation is the principal aim. One of the components of the welfare state that has been subjected to a shift in governance is...

We study the effect of welfare reform, broadly defined to include social policy changes in the 1990s, on the material well-being and expenditure patterns of poor single-mother families. Our research suggests that welfare reform did not affect total expenditures in households headed by...