In this paper a new microsimulation model for Hungary is used to simulate the full impact of the April 1996 reforms to child-related benefits. This, Family Allowance is means tested, and earnings-related maternity and child care pay are replaced with means-tested flat-rate payments. Because of...

The Netherlands, until the mid-1980s a country with high unemployment, has seen rising employment for some years. Currently its unemployment rate is below five per cent. Employment growth is mostly due to the expansion of part-time jobs, particularly for women. Because there are many people in...

It is commonly mentioned in the youth policy literature that the financial dependency of young people on their parents is increasing and that this is likely to have an adverse effect on the well-being of young people, their families and the community in general. Possible consequences include...

In many countries, the targeting of income transfer schemes leads to a very high effective marginal tax rate on private income. How can the equity goals associated with targeting be made consistent with the maintenance of labour supply incentives? This paper reviews the inevitable trade-offs...

This paper is concerned with social citizenship as the basis of rightful entitlement to the benefits of the welfare state, and with differences in the way in which it is expressed in the income support systems of different countries. Citizenship is variously associated with equality of status,...

Recent developments in the provision of ongoing care have served to highlight the significance of informal caregiving for social policy, making private households the preferred site for the exercise of public responsibility for many of the most vulnerable and dependent citizens. We discuss two...

The direct consensual method of poverty measurement developed by Mack and Lansley (1985) in their study Poor Britain has been one of the most important contributions to modern poverty research. There are nevertheless several problems with Mack and Lansley's methodology, a number of which are...