IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fru/finjrn/170402p24-33.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fostering of Dependency or Protection? Social Assistance Programs and Work Incentives

Author

Listed:
  • Ruslan G.Yemtsov

    (World Bank)

  • Yelena I. Andreeva

    (Financial Research Institute, Moscow 127006, Russia)

  • Maria A. Nagernyak

    (World Bank)

  • Aleksandra Posarac

    (World Bank)

  • Dmitry G. Bychkov

    (Financial Research Institute, Moscow 127006, Russia)

Abstract

The paper introduces the methods of assessing the effects of social assistance on work incentives, using representative Rosstat survey data as illustration. It also demonstrates the key steps of testing the hypothesis of the social benefits effect on work incentives, as well as the need for conducting multi-factor analysis coupled with impact evaluation methods. The key finding from descriptive analysis is that an average household that has recipients of social benefits among its members cannot rely on social benefits as a significant source of means of subsistence, therefore social transfers do not produce a sizeable effect on work behavior. Nevertheless, the authors propose a hypothesis that there are certain groups of social transfers beneficiaries whose work behavior may be strongly affected by social transfers. Firstly, this refers to recipients of social transfers, the size of which is comparable to the anticipated wage size. In such cases, social transfers can produce a negative employment effect. Secondly, this could refer to recipients, whose eligibility to social transfers is related to their belonging to a certain professional group. In this case, in all likelihood, social transfers create economic incentives to stay in these professional groups, reducing labor mobility. The testing and analysis of these hypothesis will be presented in forthcoming papers by the authors.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruslan G.Yemtsov & Yelena I. Andreeva & Maria A. Nagernyak & Aleksandra Posarac & Dmitry G. Bychkov, 2017. "Fostering of Dependency or Protection? Social Assistance Programs and Work Incentives," Finansovyj žhurnal — Financial Journal, Financial Research Institute, Moscow 125375, Russia, issue 4, pages 24-33, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:fru:finjrn:170402:p:24-33
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nifi.ru/images/FILES/Journal/Archive/2017/4/articles_2017_4/fm_2017_4_02.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emanuela Galasso & Martin Ravallion & Agustin Salvia, 2004. "Assisting the Transition from Workfare to Work: A Randomized Experiment," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 58(1), pages 128-142, October.
    2. Harold Alderman & Ruslan Yemtsov, 2014. "How Can Safety Nets Contribute to Economic Growth?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(1), pages 1-20.
    3. Emanuela Galasso, 2011. "Alleviating extreme poverty in Chile: the short term effects of Chile Solidario," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 38(1 Year 20), pages 101-127, June.
    4. Ham, John C & Svejnar, Jan & Terrell, Katherine, 1998. "Unemployment and the Social Safety Net during Transitions to a Market Economy: Evidence from the Czech and Slovak Republics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(5), pages 1117-1142, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Almeida, Rita & Arbelaez, Juliana & Honorati, Maddalena & Kuddo, Arvo & Lohmann, Tanja & Ovadiya, Mirey & Pop, Lucian & Puerta, Maria Laura Sanchez & Weber, Michael, 2012. "Improving access to jobs and earnings opportunities : the role of activation and graduation policies in developing countries," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 67610, The World Bank.
    2. Kym Anderson & Maros Ivanic & William J. Martin, 2014. "Food Price Spikes, Price Insulation, and Poverty," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Food Price Volatility, pages 311-339, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Gustavo Márquez, 2000. "Labor Markets and Income Support: What Did We Learn from the Crises?," Research Department Publications 4219, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    4. Thomas Mayer, 2012. "Ziliak and McCloskey's Criticisms of Significance Tests: An Assessment," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 9(3), pages 256-297, September.
    5. Svejnar, Jan, 2007. "China in Light of the Performance of Central and East European Economies," CEPR Discussion Papers 6320, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Bartoš, Vojtěch, 2021. "Seasonal scarcity and sharing norms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 303-316.
    7. Almeida, Rita K. & Galasso, Emanuela, 2007. "Jump-Starting Self-Employment? Evidence among Welfare Participants in Argentina," IZA Discussion Papers 2902, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Sorm, Vit & Terrell, Katherine, 2000. "Sectoral Restructuring and Labor Mobility: A Comparative Look at the Czech Republic," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 431-455, September.
    9. Martin Guzi, 2014. "An Empirical Analysis of Welfare Dependence in the Czech Republic," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 64(5), pages 407-431, November.
    10. Mayra Buvinic & Megan O’Donnell, 2017. "Gender Matters in Economic Empowerment Interventions: A Research Review," Working Papers id:11926, eSocialSciences.
    11. Swati Basu & Saul Estrin & Jan Svejnar, 2005. "Employment Determination in Enterprises under Communism and in Transition: Evidence from Central Europe," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 58(3), pages 353-369, April.
    12. Isaac Marcelin & Daniel Brink & David Oluwatosin Fadiran & Hammed Adedeji Amusa, 2019. "Subsidized labour and firms: Investment, profitability, and leverage," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-50, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Alexis Gutiérrez & Dany Jaimovich, 2017. "A new player in the international development community? Chile as an emerging donor," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 35(6), pages 839-858, November.
    14. Bhaumik, Sumon Kumar & Gang, Ira N. & Yun, Myeong-Su, 2006. "Ethnic conflict and economic disparity: Serbians and Albanians in Kosovo," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 754-773, December.
    15. Fabian Telch & Susan Appe, 2022. "How can countries improve human development? Four distinct national planning strategies and the challenges for human development ahead," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(2), March.
    16. Pablo de Pedraza, 2008. "Labour Market Matching Efficiency In The Czech Republic Transition," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp920, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    17. Alejandro del Valle, 2013. "Is Formal Employment Discouraged by the Provision of Free. Health Services to the Uninsured ? Evidence From a Natural Experiment in Mexico," Working Papers halshs-00838000, HAL.
    18. Chatri, Abdellatif & Hadef, Khadija & Samoudi, Naima, 2021. "Micro-econometric evaluation of subsidized employment in morocco: the case of the "Idmaj" program," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 55, pages 1-17.
    19. Natalia Smirnova, 2003. "Job Search Behavior of Unemployed in Russia," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 2003-629, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    20. Bijwaard, G.E. & Veenman, J., 2007. "Unequal changes on the transitional labour market, the case of the Netherlands," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI 2007-27, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    programs of social assistance; employment; labor market; families with children; work incentives; efficiency of social support;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fru:finjrn:170402:p:24-33. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gennady Ageev (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frigvru.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.