IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/121533.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The sins of the parents: conceptualising adult-oriented reforms to family policy

Author

Listed:
  • Stewart, Kitty
  • Patrick, Ruth
  • Reeves, Aaron

Abstract

A core element of a welfare state is the support that is provided to families with children, in recognition of the additional needs that dependent children create. Variation in the design, generosity and implementation of this provision is significant, reflecting underpinning perspectives towards children, families, and the state’s role in supporting them. Recent work by Mary Daly developed a new typology of social policy towards children, differentiating between ‘childhood-oriented’, ‘child-oriented’ and ‘family-oriented’ policies. In this paper, we explore how far this typology enables us to classify recent significant changes to social security support for children within the UK, in particular the 2013 benefit cap and the 2017 two-child limit. We propose that an extension to Daly’s typology is needed to make sense of these changes. We develop a new category of ‘adult-behaviour-orientated’ child-contingent policy, encapsulating policies that are directed towards children but made conditional on the behaviour of the adults in their household. We go on to analyse support for children across Europe through the lens of this extended framework. Significantly, we find the UK’s approach to be unusual but not exceptional, with other examples across the continent of children being rendered invisible or semi-visible within social security systems that prioritise other goals than children’s needs. It is significant that across diverse national contexts, support for children is being withdrawn (or is simply absent) because of the behaviours and circumstances of the adults in their household.

Suggested Citation

  • Stewart, Kitty & Patrick, Ruth & Reeves, Aaron, 2023. "The sins of the parents: conceptualising adult-oriented reforms to family policy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121533, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:121533
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/121533/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Koch, Insa & Reeves, Aaron, 2021. "From social security to state-sanctioned insecurity: how welfare reform mimics the commodification of labour through greater state intervention," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107017, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Sheliza Ladhani & Kathleen C. Sitter, 2020. "Conditional cash transfers: A critical review," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 38(1), pages 28-41, January.
    3. Hamish Low & Costas Meghir & Luigi Pistaferri & Alessandra Voena, 2018. "Marriage, Labor Supply and the Dynamics of the Social Safety Net," NBER Working Papers 24356, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Elise Aerts & Ive Marx & Zachary Parolin, 2022. "Income Support Policies for Single Parents in Europe and the United States: What Works Best?," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 702(1), pages 55-76, July.
    5. Reeves, Aaron & Fransham, Mark & Stewart, Kitty & Patrick, Ruth, 2022. "Does capping social security harm health? A natural experiment in the UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 111825, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Reader, Mary & Portes, Jonathan & Patrick, Ruth, 2022. "Does Cutting Child Benefits Reduce Fertility in Larger Families? Evidence from the UK’s Two-Child Limit," IZA Discussion Papers 15203, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    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. Ruth Patrick & Aaron Reeves & Kitty Stewart, 2023. "The sins of the parents: Conceptualising adult-oriented reforms to family policy," CASE Papers /228, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    2. Jeremy Greenwood & Nezih Guner & Karen A. Kopecky, 2019. "The Wife's Protector: A Quantitative Theory Linking Contraceptive Technology with the Decline in Marriage," Working Papers wp2019_1912, CEMFI.
    3. Ning Zhang, 2022. "The Effect of Housing Assistance Program on Labor Supply and Family Formation," Working Papers 22-35, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    4. Reyer Gerlagh & Veronica Lupi & Marzio Galeotti, 2023. "Fertility and climate change," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 125(1), pages 208-252, January.
    5. Colas, Mark & Sachs, Dominik, 2022. "The Indirect Fiscal Benefits of Low-Skilled Immigration," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 352, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    6. Anna Raute & Andrea Weber & Galina Zudenkova, 2022. "Can public policy increase paternity acknowledgement? Evidence from earnings-related parental leave," Working Papers 937, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    7. Mette Ejrnæs & Esteban García-Miralles & Mette Gørtz & Petter Lundborg, 2023. "When death was postponed: the effect of hiv medication on work, savings and marriage," Working Papers 2317, Banco de España.
    8. Muhammad Qahraman Kakar, 2021. "Ethnic Disparities, Women Education and Empowerment in South Asia," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph21-01 edited by Manon Domingues Dos Santos.
    9. Ortigueira, Salvador & Siassi, Nawid, 2022. "Income assistance, marriage, and child poverty: An assessment of the Family Security Act," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    10. Alexandros Theloudis & Jorge Velilla & Pierre-André Chiappori & J. Ignacio Gimenéz-Nadal & José Alberto Molina, 2022. "Commitment and the Dynamics of Household Labor Supply," Working Papers 2022-042, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    11. Gabrielle Pepin, 2022. "The effects of welfare time limits on access to financial resources: Evidence from the 2010s," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(4), pages 1343-1372, April.
    12. Minsu Chang, 2024. "Changing Marital Transitions and Homeownership Among Young Households," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 52, pages 46-63, April.
    13. Mark Colas & Dominik Sachs, 2020. "The Indirect Fiscal Benefits of Low-Skilled Immigration," CESifo Working Paper Series 8604, CESifo.
    14. Elliott Isaac, 2020. "Marriage, Divorce, and Social Safety Net Policy," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(4), pages 1576-1612, April.
    15. Eckstein, Zvi & Keane, Michael P. & Lifshitz, Osnat, 2023. "What Explains the Growing Gender Education Gap? The Effects of Parental Background, the Labor Market and the Marriage Market on College Attainment," IZA Discussion Papers 16612, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Salvador Ortigueira & Nawid Siassi, 2022. "The U.S. Tax-Transfer System and Low-Income Households: Savings, Labor Supply, and Household Formation," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 44, pages 184-210, April.
    17. Nezih Guner & Remzi Kaygusuz & Gustavo Ventura, 2023. "Rethinking the Welfare State," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(6), pages 2261-2294, November.
    18. Guner, Nezih & Caucutt, Elizabeth & Rauh, Christopher, 2018. "Is Marriage for White People? Incarceration, Unemployment, and the Racial Marriage Divide," CEPR Discussion Papers 13275, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Mark Colas & Robert McDonough, 2021. "Social Transfers and Spatial Distortions," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 54, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    20. Minsu Chang, 2019. "A House Without a Ring: The Role of Changing Marital Transitions for Housing Decisions," 2019 Meeting Papers 514, Society for Economic Dynamics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    two-child limit; social security;

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General

    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:ehl:lserod:121533. 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.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.