The introductory article of this special issue looks at the genesis, characteristics and challenges of social protection schemes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It argues that social protection policies in the MENA should be seen as a key ingredient of the social contract that...

This study examines the relationship between income and health by using an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) as exogenous variations of earnings. The paper adds to previous work in three ways. First, I estimate treatment effects on the treated using simulated EITC benefits and...

This report, based primarily on open-ended interviews with 40 people living in Essex affected by the 2012 UK Welfare Reform Act, analyses the financial, subjective and social effects of Welfare Reform on those participants. Almost all participants were affected by having to pay the Spare Room...

Policy refers to a broad guideline framed by the government for some desired changes in a state. Policy entrepreneurs are persons who strive to introduce desired changes in the policies and they work with various bodies to get the policies implemented. Policy entrepreneurship on the other hand...

We investigate whether publicly subsidized long-term care (LTC) is allocated according to needs, independently from income, using administrative data from all applicants for public LTC in Catalonia, from 2011 to 2014. We measure the level of horizontal inequity in subsidies to compensate...

We estimate the effect of providing universal free school meals through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) on the percentage of healthy weight students attending a school and average Body Mass Index (BMI) score among the population of K-12 schools in the state of Georgia. Different...

Australia's 'income management' policy requires benefit recipients to spend at least half of their government transfers on essentials (e.g. food, housing). We estimate income management's impact on birth outcomes by exploiting its staggered rollout. By changing parents' consumption patterns, the...

We use administrative data from South Australia to study the impact of an unconditional cash transfer on child health. We use the unanticipated introduction of the Australian Baby Bonus (ABB), a one-off payment of AU$3,000 (US$2,400) made to families with a newborn, to isolate its causal effect....

This study examines the relationship between the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and food insecurity for low-income households. While previous work has established that the EITC can provide health benefits, less is known about the underlying mechanisms through which this occurs. Using the 2009...

This research examined the impact of housing and other support services on safety and wellbeing for families experiencing domestic and family violence. It reviewed the legislative framework, strategies, governance arrangements and major initiatives in each state and territory, together with...