1. The unequal benefits of activation: an analysis of the social distribution of family policy among families with young children.
- Author
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Ghysels, Joris and Van Lancker, Wim
- Subjects
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GOVERNMENT aid , *SOCIAL security , *ANALYSIS of variance , *CHILD care , *EMPLOYMENT , *FAMILIES , *INCOME , *LEAVE of absence , *CASE studies , *HEALTH outcome assessment , *PUBLIC welfare ,EUROPEAN Union countries politics & government - Abstract
In the last few decades, measures to reconcile work and family life have risen in mutual interaction with a rising rate of dual earnership. However, dual earnership has (to date) been adopted in a socially uneven way in most European societies. Therefore, one may wonder whether the activation measures have brought about a loss of vertical redistribution in welfare states. We address this question by focusing on the interaction of three measures of family policy and their overall distributional effect in Europe, with the Belgian region of Flanders as the case in point. We develop a fine-grained analysis to reveal the budgetary impact of the variation in use and generosity, and find that today in Flanders the redistributive effect of child benefits is largely undone by subsidized childcare and parental leave benefits. If parents’ employment is to be generalized, this case study suggests that more attention is required regarding the universal use of reconciliation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Published
- 2011
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