Inequality, Poverty and Child Benefits: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Piotr Paradowski () and Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Eva M. Sierminska

No 799, LIS Working papers from LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg

Abstract: In this article, we empirically address the link between policy, and inequality and child poverty. Our analysis fills a gap in policy assessment research by examining the effect of introducing a cash universal child benefit (the program Family 500+ in 2016 in Poland) on income inequality and poverty, specifically child poverty. The analysis utilizes micro-level household data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) and Statistics Poland. We examine the changes in various indicators of inequality and poverty and their decomposition. All conducted distributional analyses suggest that a decrease in income inequality and poverty reduction is attributable to the program Family 500 + . We assess relative and subjective poverty and show that both are influenced by the program. The causal relationship between the benefit and the decline in child relative and subjective poverty is confirmed by difference-in-differences estimation, in which treated and non-treated households are compared before and after the program’s introduction.

JEL-codes: G15 I32 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47 pages
Date: 2025-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published in A revised version of this paper is published as Paradowski, P. R., & Wolszczak-Derlacz, J. Inequality, poverty, and child benefits: evidence from a natural experiment. Post-Soviet Affairs 41, no. 3 (2025), 242–262. https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2025.2487372

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lis:liswps:799

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