Reconstruction of the social cash transfers system in Poland and household wellbeing: 2015–2018 evidence

Abstract

This study examines the impact of changes in the social benefits system on the wellbeing, poverty, and economic activity in Poland. The core element of those changes was a programme of large cash transfers, referred to as Family 500+, introduced in 2016. It was intended to support families with children, especially the least affluent ones, and to foster fertility. The impact of the transfers has been examined through the observation of changes in the monetary and multidimensional wellbeing of households. The study also analysed the changes in recipients’ economic activity using estimates of regression models and treatment effects. The Family 500+ programme proved to be successful as an anti-poverty tool and also resulted in the increase in the average wellbeing for the whole population. However, its side-effects included the fall in the economic activity of some recipients, especially in 2016 and 2017. The above trends partly reversed in 2018. As some income data in the lower parts of the distribution seemed to be flawed, income imputations, based on regression on income correlates, were applied in the study.