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Who Benefits the Most? The Unequal Allocation of Transfers in the Israeli Welfare State

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  • Alisa C. Lewin
  • Haya Stier

Abstract

Objective. This article critically examines contradictions within the Israeli welfare system, and asks how welfare transfers affect poverty for different social groups. Methods. Using data from Israel’s 1996 Income Survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics, the analysis focuses on households with working‐age heads, and compares poverty rates, before and after transfers among three groups: (1) recent immigrants; (2) Arabs; and (3) ultra‐orthodox Jews (Haredim), distinguishing between couple‐ and female‐headed households. Results. The results show that social welfare policy is more effective in aiding recent immigrants, who are entitled to special benefits, than aiding Arabs. The findings also show that transfers have a stronger effect in reducing poverty among female‐headed families than among couple‐headed families, thus reducing the gap between these two types of households. Conclusions. Israeli welfare policy reduces poverty, but this effect differs substantially by social group. While formally Israel is considered a universalistic welfare state, for historical and ideological reasons certain social groups, such as Jewish immigrants, have been favored and granted extra benefits, while others, such as Arabs, were neglected.

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  • Alisa C. Lewin & Haya Stier, 2002. "Who Benefits the Most? The Unequal Allocation of Transfers in the Israeli Welfare State," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 83(2), pages 488-503, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:83:y:2002:i:2:p:488-503
    DOI: 10.1111/1540-6237.00096
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    Cited by:

    1. Miaari, Sami H. & Khattab, Nabil & Sabbah-Karkabi, Maha, 2020. "Obstacles to Labour Market Participation among Arab Women in Israel," IZA Discussion Papers 13572, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Asaf Levanon & Einat Lavee & Roni Strier, 2021. "Explaining the Factors Shaping the Likelihood of Poverty Among Working Families by Using a Concurrent Mixed Method Design," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 1089-1109, October.
    3. Tally Katz-Gerro & Sharon Raz & Meir Yaish, 2009. "How do class, status, ethnicity, and religiosity shape cultural omnivorousness in Israel?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 33(1), pages 1-17, February.
    4. Alisa C. Lewin & Haya Stier, 2017. "The Experience of Material and Emotional Hardship in Israel: Do Some Groups Cope Better than Others?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 385-402, October.

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