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Income Assistance in British Columbia: Reforms Along Basic Income Lines

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Listed:
  • Petit, Gillian
  • Tedds, Lindsay M.

Abstract

IA is the Government of British Columbia’s largest income assistance program, with an annual cost of just over $2B and reaching more than 8% of households. It is a program that is very complex to access and has complex eligibility rules and design features. It is also associated with a large amount of stigma and does not foster the financial stability and financial security of its clients. IA is also a poor tool to support those who engage in vital unpaid work (e.g., child care; caregiving for ill, disabled, or elderly family members; volunteering), not only because of the stigma associated with the program but also because the benefit levels are inadequate. The purpose of this paper is to put the IA program through the lens of BI principles to recommend reforms that would move IA closer to BI principles and away from being a “funder of last resort.” Taken together, reforms based on BI principles should make IA a more inclusive program that recognizes the worth of all people. These reforms will also help reduce income poverty rates and poverty depths, preventing poverty, and help those caught in or about to be caught in a poverty trap.

Suggested Citation

  • Petit, Gillian & Tedds, Lindsay M., 2020. "Income Assistance in British Columbia: Reforms Along Basic Income Lines," MPRA Paper 105933, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:105933
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/105933/1/MPRA_paper_105933.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gillian Petit & Craig Scott & Blake Gallacher & Jennifer Zwicker & Lindsay Tedds, 2020. "Less Income for More Hours of Work: Barriers to Work for Social Assistance Recipients in B.C," SPP Briefing Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 13(16), July.
    2. Petit, Gillian & Tedds, Lindsay M., 2020. "Overview of System of Income and Social Support Programs in British Columbia," MPRA Paper 105920, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Petit, Gillian & Tedds, Lindsay M., 2020. "Systems-Level Reforms to B.C.’s Income and Social Support Programs Along Basic Income Lines," MPRA Paper 105929, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Tedds, Lindsay M. & Crisan, I. Daria & Petit, Gillian, 2020. "Basic Income in Canada: Principles and Design Features," MPRA Paper 105911, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Leah Hamilton & Ben Alexander-Eitzman & Whitney Royal, 2015. "Shelter From the Storm," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(1), pages 21582440155, February.
    6. Besley, Timothy & Coate, Stephen, 1992. "Understanding welfare stigma: Taxpayer resentment and statistical discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 165-183, July.
    7. Petit, Gillian & Tedds, Lindsay M., 2020. "Interactions between income and social support programs in B.C," MPRA Paper 105927, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Petit, Gillian & Tedds, Lindsay, 2020. "Poverty in British Columbia: Income Thresholds, Trends, Rates, and Depths of Poverty," MPRA Paper 104002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Lisa A. Gennetian & Eldar Shafir, 2015. "The Persistence Of Poverty In The Context Of Financial Instability: A Behavioral Perspective," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 904-936, September.
    10. Thomas Karier, "undated". "Welfare Graduates: College and Financial Independence," Economics Policy Note Archive 98-1, Levy Economics Institute.
    11. Petit, Gillian & Tedds, Lindsay M., 2021. "The Effect of Asset Thresholds on Income Assistance Flows in British Columbia," MPRA Paper 110447, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Petit, Gillian & Tedds, Lindsay M., 2020. "Programs-Based Overview of Income and Social Support Programs for Working-Age Persons in British Columbia," MPRA Paper 105924, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    Cited by:

    1. Petit, Gillian & Tedds, Lindsay M., 2020. "Systems-Level Reforms to B.C.’s Income and Social Support Programs Along Basic Income Lines," MPRA Paper 105929, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Green, David & Kesselman, Jonathan Rhys & Tedds, Lindsay M., 2021. "Covering All the Basics: Reforms for a More Just Society," MPRA Paper 105902, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Petit, Gillian & Tedds, Lindsay M., 2021. "Interactions Between Federal and Provincial Cash Transfer Programs: The Effect of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit on Provincial Income Assistance Eligibility and Benefits," MPRA Paper 107895, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income assistance; social assistance; program reforms; basic income; poverty reduction; cycle of poverty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • I39 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Other

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