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Combating Child Poverty? A Multilevel Assessment of Family Policy Institutions and Child Poverty in 21 Old and New Welfare States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2009

OLOF BÄCKMAN  and
TOMMY FERRARINI
OLOF BÄCKMAN
Affiliation:
Institute for Futures Studies, Box 591, SE-101 31 Stockholm email: olof.backman@framtidsstudier.se
TOMMY FERRARINI
Affiliation:
Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm email: tommy.ferrarini@sofi.su.se
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Abstract

This study analyses the links between family policy institutions and poverty in households with pre-school children in 21 old and new welfare democracies. New institutional information which enables a separation of different family policy dimensions is combined with micro data from the Luxembourg Income Study. Through statistical multilevel modelling, individual- and country-level data are combined in a simultaneous analysis of their relationships to child poverty risks. The results show that family policy transfers are related to lower child poverty risks at the micro level. However, the mechanisms by which such transfers reduce poverty vary by type of family support. Support to dual-earner families operates by enabling both parents to work and raise market income, while support to more traditional family structures in some instances has a more direct effect on poverty risks. The analysis also renders support to the hypothesis that dual-earner transfers also alleviate poverty most effectively among single-mother households.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 275 - 296
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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