In-kind Benefits Research Articles

Efficiency Versus Equity in the Provision of In-Kind Benefits: Evidence from Cost Containment in the California WIC Program

In many U.S. public programs, the government contracts with private firms to deliver in-kind benefits to recipients. These public-private partnerships generate agency problems that could drive up costs and lower program efficiency, but cost containment regulations may discourage firm participation and reduce access among eligible households. We examine these trade-offs in the context of California’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides vouchers to low-income pregnant women and children under five to obtain free food packages from private vendors, and has complex rules about eligible products. We use variation from a 2012 cost containment reform, which resulted in a 55 percent drop in the number of small vendors, and examine how local access to small vendors affects WIC take-up among pregnant women. We find that within-ZIP-code access to small vendors raises the likelihood of WIC take-up among first-time mothers, and that this effect is stronger for foreign-born than U.S.-born women and exists even for mothers who also have access to a larger WIC vendor. Our findings suggest that small vendors are uniquely effective at lowering barriers to take-up among subgroups of women with high program learning costs, and that cost containment reforms, which frequently target these vendors, may have unintended consequences of inequitably reducing program access.

Welfare, work, and single mothers: The Great Recession and income packaging strategies

The public social safety net in the U.S. for single mothers and their children, including cash assistance and in-kind benefits or vouchers, is largely tied to work—both from individual earnings and from child support intended to supplement public support. How does the safety net perform in periods of severe work instability, such as during the unemployment crisis of the 2008–2010 Great Recession? This paper uses a unique panel dataset from Wisconsin to compare total formal income for a cohort of first-time single mothers in 2002 with a cohort in 2007. Income for both cohorts is constructed for the year after birth—including earnings from the formal labor market, public benefits, and child support—and five years after birth. We hypothesize that total formal income will grow over those five years as mothers accrue experience in the labor market. However, with the labor market crisis of the Great Recession, we expect public benefits to expand as earnings decrease, but not enough to offset the loss of earnings and child support when comparing total formal income differences across the two cohorts, resulting in a lower total income package for mothers in the Great Recession cohort. Using multivariate regression to adjust for demographic covariates, we find that while there is significantly less income from earnings and child support among the Great Recession cohort, the total formal income for the Great Recession cohort is slightly but significantly greater than the control cohort at time two. This suggests that the safety net during the Great Recession provided a buffer relative to lost income, likely as a result of critical policy changes making public benefits more generous and more accessible during the recession. High poverty rates among both cohorts of mothers, however, highlight the importance of the safety net even in stable labor market conditions, and suggests the need for greater benefit expansion.

Use of public health and social care services among the elderly in Finland: An under-examined mechanism of redistribution

The opportunity to use public services supports older people’s livelihoods, although out-of-pocket fees can be a burden, especially for low-income pensioners. In this article, we analyse the use of health and social care services among the elderly in Finland. The objectives are two-fold: first, to study the distribution of public spending on services across income groups, and second, to investigate the related costs to the service-user. The article contributes to the debate on the welfare states’ redistributive function. The study is based on register data covering the total Finnish population in 2015. In our descriptive analysis, we focus on the distribution of the cost of production (based on detailed unit costs), user fees (calculated based on legislation) as well as reimbursements by social insurance and out-of-pocket payments for medicine, private services and travel costs. The results show that the amount of in-kind benefits is the largest in the two bottom income quintiles both in absolute and relative terms. We also see that the related costs to the client are small in relation to the monetary value of the service, although they amount to 9% of the disposable income in the lowest income quintile. It is noteworthy that benefits are highly concentrated on a small group of individuals. Public services create an important context for the evaluation of adequacy of cash income. Likewise, when we want to understand economic conditions of elderly people in a more comprehensive way, studying the share of disposable income going to health and social care is one important dimension. However, we also argue that we need to be cautious when making claims about redistribution through public services.

Why Do Some Workers Get Less Trade Adjustment Assistance Than Others?

Dealing with the distributional consequences of trade liberalization has become one of the key challenges facing developed democracies. Governments have created compensation programs to ease labor market adjustment, but these resources tend to be distributed highly unevenly. What accounts for the variation? Looking at the largest trade adjustment program in existence, the US' Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), we argue that petitions for compensation are largely driven by legislative attitudes. When legislators express negative views of TAA, individuals in their districts become less likely to petition for, and receive, compensation. This effect is especially pronounced in Republican districts. An underprovision of TAA, in turn, renders individuals more likely to demand other forms of government support, like in-kind medical benefits. We use roll-call votes, bill sponsorships, and floor speeches to measure elite attitudes, and we proxy for the demand for trade adjustment using economic shocks from Chinese import competition. In sum, we show how the individual beliefs of political elites can be self-fulfilling.

Does certification improve hired labour conditions and wageworker conditions at banana plantations?

Certification of banana plantations is widely used as a device for protecting and improving socio-economic conditions of wageworkers, including their incomes, working conditions and—increasingly—voice [related to labour relations and workplace representation]. However, to date, evidence about the effectiveness of certification in these domains is scarce. We collected detailed field data on (1) economic benefits for improving household income, (2) social benefits for labour practices, and (3) the voice of wageworkers focusing on identity and identification issues amongst wageworkers at Fairtrade certified banana plantations and comparable, non-certified plantations in the Dominican Republic. We used different types of regression models to identify significant relationships. Econometrical analysis of survey results complemented by field observations and outcomes from in-depth stakeholder interviews indicate that the impact of Fairtrade certification on wageworkers’ economic benefits is rather limited. However, the impact on the voice of wageworkers (job satisfaction, sense of ownership, trust), is more evident. On Fairtrade certified plantations workers are more satisfied with the course of life and better represented. Thus while the additional value of Fairtrade certification on primary wages seems limited, Fairtrade has relevant positive effects on the labour force, particularly by delivering in-kind benefits, offering a sense of job-security, improving voice and enabling private savings. Benefits of (Fairtrade) certification, but also other interventions with a similar purpose, might therefore not be discerned in terms of economic benefits such as wages or basic labour conditions that are under direct control of (inter)national law, but they should be identified in terms of social benefits and improved norms of conduct for wageworker engagement.

Cash transfers' effect on government support: the case of Fiji

While some scholars have found that government post-disaster assistance supports the incumbent, others have shown that incumbent effects among beneficiaries are imperceptible or negative. This article contributes to this debate by using a regression discontinuity design of households affected by Tropical Cyclone Winston in Fiji to show that the type of assistance provided is an important variable in understanding the effects of aid on perceptions of the government. Residents of Fiji who received a post-disaster cash transfer are up to 20 per cent more likely to be very satisfied with the government than are those who did not. The probability further increases if the cash transfer was provided along with in-kind benefits or vouchers, but it is not affected if beneficiaries were also encouraged to use their own pension savings. This paper provides evidence in favour of the 'attentive citizen' theory by demonstrating that beneficiaries actively appraise government responses; it also reveals possible effects of elite capture on the relationship between the government and beneficiaries.

The Case For (And Against) Surrogate Taxation

The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act significantly revised long-standing rules regarding the tax treatment of many employer provided in-kind benefits. Instead of including the value of these benefits in the recipients’ taxable income, for the most part the new rules disallow employers a deduction for the cost of providing the affected benefits. This article argues that the two components of this legislative scheme – relying on cost of provision as the measure of taxable income and on imposing the nominal tax obligation on providers rather than recipients – are distinct policy decisions. It argues that the better approach would be to require employers to allocate their costs of providing benefits among recipients of those benefits.

Autonomy Welfare Meaning and Possibility—Focusing on the Jeollabuk-do Social Welfare Ordinance—

지방자치, 지방분권이 본격적으로 추진되면서 사회복지분야에서도 지역형복지, 자치복지라는 형태로 나타나고 있다. 이에 본 연구는 지방자치와 분권이 가지는 특성을 살펴보고 지역사회복지, 지역형복지, 자치복지가 무엇인지 그 의미를 살펴보았다. 그리고 전라북도 사회복지조례를 중심으로 자치복지의 가능성을 진단하였다. 본 연구는 자치복지를 지방자치단체 스스로 권한과 책임을 가지고 주민참여를 통해서 사회복지의 수준을 결정하고 제공하는 것으로 정의하였다. 우선 자치복지가 가능하기 위해서는 지방자치단체만의 특성을 반영한 자주적인 사회복지를 개발할 필요가 있다. 제공되는 사회복지급여의 종류는 현금급여뿐만 아니라 현물급여, 서비스 등 지역의 특성과 대상자 특성을 고려하여 자유롭게 운영할 필요가 있다. 그리고 제공되는 사회복지급여 수준은 종류에 따라 양과 질 모두에 있어서 국가가 제공하는 수준(national minimum) 이상으로 설정하거나 해당 지방자치단체만의 기준(regional minimum)을 설정하여 제공하는 것이 필요하다. 다음으로 자치복지는 단발성이 아닌 항상적으로 존재하고 접근되어야 한다는 관점에서 해당 지방자치단체에만 적용되는 자치복지에 대해서는 가칭 ‘자치복지결정에 관한 협치 조례’를 제정하여 의무적으로 주민들이 의사결정에 참여하도록 할 필요가 있다. 끝으로 자치복지가 실현되기 위해서는 재정분권이 이루어져야 하며 지방자치단체의 재정자립도를 높이기 위한 노력도 동시에 이루어져한 한다. 뿐만 아니라 자치입법 능력을 갖춰 명실상부한 자치복지가 되도록 해야 할 것이다.As local autonomy and decentralization have been promoted in earnest, social welfare fields have also emerged in the form of regional welfare and autonomous welfare. therefore, this study examined the characteristics of local autonomy and decentralization, and examined the meaning of community welfare, regional welfare, and autonomous welfare. in addition, the possibility of autonomous welfare was diagnosed based on the Social Welfare Ordinance of Jeollabuk-do. This study defined autonomous welfare as the local governments with their own authority and responsibility to determine and provide social welfare levels through participation of residents. First of all, in order for autonomy welfare to be possible, it is necessary to develop independent social welfare that reflects the characteristics of local governments. the types of social welfare benefits that are provided need to be freely operated in consideration of local characteristics such as in-kind benefits and services as well as cash benefits. in addition, the level of social welfare benefits to be provided should be set above the national minimum in terms of both quantity and quality, or by setting a regional minimum. Next, in the view that autonomy welfare is not a single-shot but always exists and should be approached, it is necessary to enact the tentatively called Governance Ordinance on Autonomy Welfare Decision for autonomy welfare applied only to the local governments and make the residents participate in the decision making obligatoryly. Finally, in order for the autonomy welfare to be realized, the decentralization of finance must be made and efforts to increase the financial independence of local governments are made at the same time. in addition, they should have autonomy legislative ability to be autonomy welfare.

Analisis Penerapan Perencanaan Pajak (Tax Planning) PPH Pasal 21 sebagai Upaya Efesiensi Beban Pajak Wajib Pajak Badan

Tax is a deduction of corporate income, therefore the company needs a way that can be used to streamline the tax burden. One way that is used to make the tax burden is through tax planning. This study aims to find out the implementation of income tax planning article 21 and improve the efficiency of the company. This research is a descriptive analytical research that collected information and data, calculating and comparing income tax article 21 employee in accordance with Law Number 36, year 2008 about Income Tax, calculated and compared the amount of take home pay employee, and cost which is borne by the Company. This research data obtained from documentation at PT SKF Indonesia The Company also provides in-kind benefits as well as granting tax allowances to employees that will enlarge the company’s operating costs and in itself will reduce the tax payable. The application of income tax planning article 21 as a strategy for the efficiency of tax payments provided that if funds in Baitul Mall are insufficient. With the Tax Planning policy, it is not excessive in minimizing the tax burden so that it is not too miserly to issue assets in the form of income received by utilizing various possible loopholes that can be taken through tax regulations.

The Role of Cash Benefit and In-Kind Benefit Spending for Child Poverty in Times of Austerity: An Analysis of 22 European Countries 2006\u20132015

This article investigates the development of two forms of public spending on families, as well as their role for child poverty in 22 European countries during the period 2006–2015. It uses aggregated data on child poverty from Eurostat and data relating to public spending on families from the OECD SOCX database. It analyses the association between child poverty and public family spending on cash benefits and in-kind benefits, respectively. The findings show a stable growth in the GDP-related and real levels of spending on both cash benefits and benefits in kind, although spending on cash benefits have been more exposed to cost containment than spending on inkind benefits. Furthermore, spending on benefits in kind was found to be more efficient for curbing child poverty than spending on cash benefits, even after controlling for unemployment, family structure, the general standard of living, as well as welfare institutional configurations. However, the efficiency of public family spending declined over the studied period. Moreover, the relative significance of public family spending for child poverty, in comparison to structural factors (such as unemployment), varied according to which spending measure that was used.

Does Universal Long-Term Care Insurance Boost Female Labor Force Participation? Macro-level Evidence

Exploiting the introduction of nationwide long-term care insurance (LTCI) in Japan and utilizing a synthetic control (SC) method, we examine how LTCI introduction has altered the trends of public expenditures on in-kind benefits for the elderly, public health expenditure, and female labor force participation. Estimation results using the panel data of OECD countries (1980s-2010s) suggest that LTCI introduction substantially increased in-kind benefits for the elderly, but we do not find any positive effect on female labor force participation for any age cohort. We also provide extended placebo tests based on permuted treatment assignment, resampled donor pools, and several test statistics to verify the above conclusions.

Welfare Effects of an In-kind Transfer Program: Evidence from Mexico

This paper shows how a theory-consistent demand system can be used to quantify recipient welfare under in-kind and cash transfers. Since welfare under an in-kind subsidy depends on the extent to which the transfer is extra-marginal, I compute the shadow prices at which a recipient would be as well off as with the in-kind transfer. Shadow prices are then used to compute the distribution of the willingness to pay for in-kind benefits among beneficiaries. As an application of this approach, I study the welfare effects of a governmental program which randomly transferred either a food basket or cash to poor households in rural Mexico. Results suggest that on average a recipient values the in-kind transfer at 80 percent of its face value. Despite the welfare loss, the in-kind transfer is more cost-efficient than cash. This is due to the fact that the food basket was significantly more expensive at the retail level than at the procurement level, which implies that a cash transfer of the same cost to the government could only buy a fraction of the food basket in recipient’s local markets. Because the food basket is mainly formed of normal goods, I also find that the willingness to pay is larger among recipients at the top of the income distribution, suggesting a regressive effect of the in-kind transfer.

A szegények gondozása („hadigondozás”) az ókori Hellászban és a Római Birodalomban

The aim of the study is to show the historical development of the care for the poor especially military solicitude from the Ancient Near East to the Ancient Hellas and the Roman Empire. This paper presents the basic functions of the poor law systems (military solicitude), including the similarities of and differences between their in-kind benefits and pension payments and also outlines the prominent roles of the ancient associations and foundations. The article could be useful for all those who want to have a general overview of the disabled veteran’s, widow’s and orphan’s pensions and benefits.

Motivational Crowding in Payments for Ecosystem Service Schemes: a Global Systematic Review

We contribute to the growing body of literature on the ecological and socio-psychological impacts of providing payments as rewards for conservation. We conducted a systematic review of 74 payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes and identified contextual factors that correlate with psychological mechanisms that enhance (”crowd-in”) or erode (”crowd-out”) autonomous motivation. Such indicators of crowding-in were more likely when schemes empowered local participants, provided in-kind non-monetary community benefits, and aimed to foster feelings of autonomy. Schemes that thwarted feelings of autonomy correlated with indicators of motivational crowding-out. Although motivational crowding had no effect on ecological success, indicators of crowding-in positively predicted social success (χ2 = 8.60, n = 48, p = 0.003) and crowding-out negatively predicted social success (χ2 = 9.59, n = 47, p = 0.002). Compared to past studies highlighting the negative impacts of extrinsic rewards on autonomous motivation, our study provides a more nuanced perspective and demonstrates that extrinsic incentives such as payments can promote crowding-in of autonomous motivation if schemes are designed equitably and provide opportunities for autonomous decision-making. Our study demonstrates how the application of psychological theories can contribute to the design of fair and effective PES schemes.

The actual state of public pension in North Korea

본 연구의 목적은 북한 공적연금 실태에 대한 분석을 통해 남북한 공적연금제도의 통합과제를 도출하는 것이다. 분석 결과, 남북한 공적연금 통합 시 현실적인 문제는 다음과 같이 요약된다. 첫째, 남한의 연기금 재정이 북한의 수급자를 책임질 경우 재정 건전성이 약화될 것이다. 둘째, 이러한 문제를 차치하더라도 급진적 통일의 경우 일정 기간 북한의 식량급여를 존속시킬 수밖에 없는 북한 수급자들의 현실적인 문제가 있다. 셋째, 북한의 공적연금은 일부 최상위 극소수 국가공로자연금 수급자를 제외하고 현금ㆍ현물급여 수준이 낮아 사실상 노후보장 기능이 대단히 미약하다. 넷째, 북한의 당면한 빈곤상태를 감안하면, 급진적 통일 이후 북한은 현행 남한의 기초연금, 국민기초생활보장, 의료급여, 긴급복지지원에 대한 수급권을 요구할 것이다. 다섯째, 남한정부가 모든 지원을 한다 하더라도 이를 실행할 수 있는 (남)북한의 전문 인력과 행정력 등 실천을 위한 제반여건 수립이 완료되지 않는다면 제대로 작동하지 않을 가능성이 있다. 여섯째, 무엇보다도 공적연금을 포함한 남북한 사회복지 통합은 북한의 현실을 반영하여, 구호-안정-이행-통합단계와 과정으로 진행해야 할 것이다.The purpose of this study is to derive the integration task of the public pension system through analyzing actual condition of public pension in North Korea. As a result of the analysis, the real problems in integrating the public pension system between the two Koreas are summarized as follows. First, if the pension funds of South Korea are responsible for the recipients of North Korea, the fiscal soundness will weaken. Second, despite these problems, there is a real problem for North Korean recipients who are forced to survive for some time in the case of radical unification. Third, the income security function of public pension in North Korea is very weak, in fact, because the level of cash and in-kind benefits is low except for some top-ranking national merit pension recipients. Fourth, considering the immediate poverty situation in North Korea, after the radical unification, North Korea will demand the right to receive basic pension, national basic life guarantee, medical benefits and emergency welfare support of South Korea. Fifth, even if the South Korean government provides all the support, there is a possibility that it will not work properly if the establishment of the conditions for the practice such as the expert manpower and the administrative power of the (South) North Korea can not be completed. Sixth, inter-Korean social welfare integration, including public pensions, should be reflected in the stage of relief, implementation, and integration of the North Korean reality.

The impact of housing consumption value on the spatial distribution of welfare

The measure of a household's income should include not only monetary components but also non-monetary components and in-kind benefits, such as imputed rent. Imputed rent is the rent an owner can expect to receive were the house on the rental market. This study examined the impact of net imputed rent on the distribution of income in a spatial context. The spatial impact of net imputed rent, mortgage payments, private rent, public rent (social housing schemes) and reverse mortgage/annuity on the spatial distribution of disposable income was examined for the year 2011. A spatial microsimulation model, simulated model of the Irish local economy (SMILE), was used to simulated disposable income at a detailed spatial scale. Rental and property values are estimated at a spatial scale adopting the kriging methodology. The created rental and property data were merged into the SMILE simulated dataset to examine the impact of housing on the spatial distribution of disposable income at a small area level. Results show that the imputed cash flows from property ownership decreases the income share of those at the bottom of the income distribution and is inequality increasing, except in the case of those aged 65 +. Spatially the benefits of housing are greatest in urban areas where property values are highest. The small area measurements of imputed rent highlight the dis-equalising impact imputed rent and housing wealth has on inequality; the rich being able to consume more housing.

Country-level welfare-state measures and change in wellbeing following work exit in early old age: evidence from 16 European countries.

BackgroundAlthough the effects of individual-level factors on wellbeing change following work exit have been identified, the role of welfare-state variables at the country level has yet to be investigated.MethodsData on 8037 respondents aged 50 years and over in 16 European countries were drawn from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). We employed multilevel models to assess determinants of change in wellbeing following work exit, using CASP-12 change scores. After adjusting for institutionally defined route and timing of work exit, in addition to other individual-level variables, we tested country-level variables including welfare-state regime and measures of disaggregated welfare spending to determine their associations with wellbeing change and the proportion of between-country variance explained.ResultsIndividuals whose exit from paid work was involuntary or diverged from the typical retirement age experienced declines in wellbeing. Country effects accounted for 7% of overall variance in wellbeing change. Individuals residing in countries with a Mediterranean welfare regime experienced more negative changes in wellbeing, with a difference of –2.15 (–3.23, –1.06) CASP-12 points compared with those in Bismarckian welfare states. Welfare regime explained 62% of between-country variance. National per-capita expenditure on non-healthcare in-kind benefits (services) was associated with more positive wellbeing outcomes.ConclusionsNational expenditure on in-kind benefits, particularly non-healthcare services, is associated with more favourable wellbeing change outcomes following work exit in early old age. Welfare-state effects explain the majority of between-country differences in change in wellbeing.

In-kind benefits and household behavior: The impact of SNAP on food-away-from-home consumption

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, provides in-kind benefits that can generally be utilized for Food At Home (FAH) only. According to economic theory, SNAP benefits are fungible with cash for inframarginal households which may allow participants to spend benefits on non-FAH items. However, empirical evidence for this theory is mixed. This paper exploits an underutilized source of state-level variation, the early-2000 s recession, to determine the impact of SNAP participation on household Food Away From Home (FAFH) consumption. In a difference in difference framework, I compare households in high post-recession SNAP growth states to households in low post-recession SNAP growth states. The results show that SNAP participation causes a significant decrease in FAFH expenditure and FAFH’s share of total food expenditure.

Estimating The Effects Of Health Insurance And Other Social Programs On Poverty Under The Affordable Care Act.

The effects of health insurance on poverty have been difficult to ascertain because US poverty measures have not taken into account the need for health care and the value of health benefits. We developed the first US poverty measure to include the need for health insurance and to count health insurance benefits as resources available to meet that need-in other words, a health-inclusive poverty measure. We estimated the direct effects of health insurance benefits on health-inclusive poverty for people younger than age sixty-five, comparing the impacts of different health insurance programs and of nonhealth means-tested cash and in-kind benefits, refundable tax credits, and nonhealth social insurance programs. Private health insurance benefits reduced poverty by 3.7 percentage points. Public health insurance benefits (from Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act premium subsidies) accounted for nearly one-third of the overall poverty reduction from public benefits. Poor adults with neither children nor a disability experienced little poverty relief from public programs, and what relief they did receive came mostly from premium subsidies and other public health insurance benefits. Medicaid had a larger effect on child poverty than all nonhealth means-tested benefits combined.

Children’s Opportunities in Germany – An Application Using Multidimensional Measures

AbstractSingle parents and unmarried couples are increasingly replacing the traditional nuclear family. This paper investigates if the greater variety in living arrangements contributes to increased resource disparities among children in Germany. Children in single parent families are disadvantaged in at least three dimensions decisive for their later achievements: material standard of living, parental education, and parental childcare time. We compute multidimensional inequality and poverty indices using SOEP data from 1991 to 2012. We distinguish between parental and publicly provided childcare, which is an increasingly important in-kind benefit in Germany. We find that both multidimensional inequality and poverty declined as expanded public childcare strongly reduces resource disparities among children.