Expenditure patterns post-welfare reform in the UK: are low-income families starting to catch up?

Paul Gregg, Jane Waldfogel and Elizabeth Washbrook

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: In this paper we provide evidence on how the UK government’s welfare reforms since 1998 have affected the material well-being of children in low-income families. We examine changes in expenditure patterns and ownership of durable goods for low- and higher-income families between the pre-reform period (1995-1998) and the post-reform period (2000-2003), using data from the Family Expenditure Survey. The methodological approach is a difference-in-difference-in-difference analysis that exploits the fact that age variation in the reforms favoured low-income families over higher-income ones and families with children age under 11 over those with older children. We find that low-income families with children are catching up to more affluent families, in their expenditures and their possession of durable goods. Moreover, expenditures on child-related items are increasing faster than expenditures on other items.

Keywords: child poverty; family expenditures; welfare reform; difference-in-difference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I3 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2005-05
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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/6259/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Expenditure Patterns Post-Welfare Reform in the UK: Are Low-Income Families Starting to Catch Up? (2005)
Working Paper: Expenditure Patterns Post-Welfare Reform in the UK: Are low-income families starting to catch up? (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:6259

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