IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ine/journl/v54y2022i63p34-57.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reducing Child Poverty In Romania: The Role Of Universal Child Benefit

Author

Listed:
  • Elena-Madalina ZAMFIR (AVRAM)

    (Bucharest University of Economic Studies; Ministry of Finance - Romania)

  • Georgiana BALABAN

    (Bucharest University of Economic Studies; Ministry of Finance - Romania)

  • Alina Ionela ARSANI

    (Bucharest University of Economic Studies)

Abstract

Child poverty is a structural issue and a persisting challenge in Romania.According to the latest figures published by Eurostat, 4 in 10 children were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2020, almost double compared to the EU27 average. For 2022, the Government decided to increase the universal child benefit by 14% and 41%, depending on the age and the health status of children. The aim of this analysis is to gauge the impact of rising universal child allowance in reducing child poverty in Romania. For this purpose, our paper makes use of the EUROMOD, the EU tax-benefit microsimulation model based on the 2019 EU-SILC database. The main takeaway of this analysis is that increasing universal child allowance has only a marginal impact on children poverty and should not be seen as the sole ingredient to solve this multidimensional phenomenon. In order to tackle this delicate situation, authorities should put in place a coherent strategy at national level, with targeted measures and effective investment. Furthermore, the Government should take full advantage of the Recovery and Resilience Fund and implement reforms to improve the welfare of children, with focus on disadvantaged groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Elena-Madalina ZAMFIR (AVRAM) & Georgiana BALABAN & Alina Ionela ARSANI, 2022. "Reducing Child Poverty In Romania: The Role Of Universal Child Benefit," Romanian Journal of Economics, Institute of National Economy, vol. 54(1(63)), pages 34-57, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ine:journl:v:54:y:2022:i:63:p:34-57
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.revecon.ro/articles/2022-1/2022-1-3.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin Evans & Alejandra Hidalgo & Mei Wang, 2018. "Universal Child Allowances in 14 Middle Income Countries: Options for Policy and Poverty Reduction," LIS Working papers 738, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    2. Avram, Silvia & Militaru, Eva, 2015. "Interactions between policy effects, population characteristics and the tax-benefit system: an illustration using child poverty and child related policies in Romania and the Czech Republic," EUROMOD Working Papers EM4/15, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    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. Piotr Paradowski & Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz & Eva Sierminska, 2020. "Inequality, Poverty and Child Benefits: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," LIS Working papers 799, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    2. Daniele Checchi & Andrej Cupak & Teresa Munzi & Janet Gornick, 2018. "Empirical challenges comparing inequality across countries: The case of middle-income countries from the LIS database," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-149, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Daniele Checchi & Andrej Cupak & Teresa Munzi & Janet Gornick, 2018. "Empirical challenges comparing inequality across countries: The case of middle-income countries from the LIS database," WIDER Working Paper Series 149, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Martin Evans, 2018. "Simulating policy options for universal child allowances in Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-145, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Daniele Checchi & Andrej Cupak & Teresa Munzi & Janet Gornick, 2018. "Empirical challenges comparing inequality across countries," LIS Working papers 756, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    6. Martin Evans, 2018. "Simulating policy options for universal child allowances in Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series 145, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    universal child benefit; child poverty; microsimulation; EUROMOD universal child benefit; child poverty; microsimulation; EUROMOD;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • 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:ine:journl:v:54:y:2022:i:63:p:34-57. 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: Valentina Vasile (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inacaro.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.