IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hig/wpaper/03-psp-2017.html

Family Benefits and Poverty: The Case of Russia

Author

Listed:
  • Marina Kolosnitsyna

    (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

  • Anna Philippova

    (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

Abstract

25 years have passed since the beginning of market reforms in Russia. Like other post-soviet countries, in the early 1990s Russia faced a period of sharp decline in real household incomes. Then a gradual growth of population well-being began. However, income inequality was deep throughout this time. The poverty headcount is still over 10% on average and differs a lot among territories and socio-demographic groups. Russian poverty has certain specifics: there is a high risk of poverty for young working families with children. This paper analyses the effectiveness of family benefits from various perspectives. We consider their impact on the poverty of families with children, using the concepts of absolute, relative and subjective poverty. The study is based on pooled and panel household data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey – Higher School of Economics (RLMS HSE), 2003-2015. We model the influence of child benefits on the probability of being poor and estimate various econometric models. Other controlled factors influencing recipient household risk of poverty include the type of settlement, family structure, education and employment. The results are robust and show the negative influence of family benefits on household risk for absolute and relative poverty. However, the subjective perception of poverty is positively correlated with benefits. The study also shows leakage and significant gaps in coverage in the system of family benefits. Overall, the study reveals the low effectiveness of family benefits in Russia and indicates a need for improved targeting.

Suggested Citation

  • Marina Kolosnitsyna & Anna Philippova, 2017. "Family Benefits and Poverty: The Case of Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 03/PSP/2017, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hig:wpaper:03/psp/2017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://wp.hse.ru/data/2017/02/16/1167970258/03PSP2017.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sheila Shaver, 1993. "Women and the Australian Social Security System: From Difference Towards Equality," Discussion Papers 0041, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    2. Israel, Danilo C., 2000. "The Milkfish Broodstock-Hatchery Research and Development Program and Industry: A Policy Study," Discussion Papers DP 2000-05, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    3. Irina Denisova & Stanislav Kolenikov & Ksenia Yudaeva, 2000. "Child Benefits and Child Poverty," Working Papers w0006, Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR).
    4. Chang, Tsangyao & Gupta, Rangan & Majumdar, Anandamayee & Pierdzioch, Christian, 2019. "Predicting stock market movements with a time-varying consumption-aggregate wealth ratio," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 458-467.
    5. Wim Van Lancker & Natascha Van Mechelen, 2014. "Universalism under siege? Exploring the association between targeting, child benefits and child poverty across 26 countries," Working Papers 1401, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    6. Andrew Briggs & Rachel Nugent, 2016. "Editorial," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S1), pages 6-8, February.
    7. Daria Popova, 2013. "Impact assessment of alternative reforms of Child Allowances using RUSMOD the static tax-benefit microsimulation model for Russia," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 1(6), pages 122-156.
    8. Markus Jäntti & Sheldon Danziger, 1994. "Child Poverty in Sweden and the United States: The Effect of Social Transfers and Parental Labor Force Participation," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 48(1), pages 48-64, October.
    9. Björn Gustafsson & Ludmila Nivorozhkina, 2004. "Changes in Russian poverty during transition as assessed from microdata from the city of Taganrog," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 12(4), pages 747-776, December.
    10. Popova, Daria, 2014. "Distributional impacts of cash allowances for children: a microsimulation analysis for Russia and Europe," EUROMOD Working Papers EM2/14, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    11. Azeez Olaniyan & Shola Omotola, 2015. "Ethnic crises and national security in Nigeria," Defense & Security Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 303-318, December.
    12. Gillett, Stephen L., 2006. "Entropy and its misuse, I. Energy, free and otherwise," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 58-70, January.
    13. Bradshaw, Jonathan, 2012. "The case for family benefits," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 590-596.
    14. Wolfgang Polasek, 2011. "Jim Albert (2007): Bayesian computation with R," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 239-240, February.
    15. Takatoshi Ito, 2014. "We Are All QE-sians Now," IMES Discussion Paper Series 14-E-07, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.
    16. Arcanjo, M. & Bastos, A. & Nunes, F. & Passos, J., 2013. "Child poverty and the reform of family cash benefits," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 11-23.
    17. Theo Goedhart & Victor Halberstadt & Arie Kapteyn & Bernard van Praag, 1977. "The Poverty Line: Concept and Measurement," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 12(4), pages 503-520.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kazakova, Yuliya, 2019. "Childcare availability and maternal labour supply in Russia," ISER Working Paper Series 2019-11, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    2. Anna Philippova & Marina Kolosnitsyna, 2018. "Child benefits’ impact on poverty: Multivariate probit estimates," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 52, pages 62-90.
    3. Grogan, Louise, 2018. "The Labeling Effect of a Child Benefits System: Evidence from Russia 1994-2015," IZA Discussion Papers 11962, IZA Network @ LISER.

    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. Kolosnitsyna, Marina G. (Колосницына, Марина) & Philippova, Anna V. (Филиппова, Анна), 2017. "Child Benefits and Poverty: The Case of Russia [Детские Пособия И Бедность В России]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 4, pages 118-153, August.
    2. Anna Philippova & Marina Kolosnitsyna, 2018. "Child benefits’ impact on poverty: Multivariate probit estimates," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 52, pages 62-90.
    3. Nicholas-James Clavet & Luca Tiberti & Marko Vladisavljevic & Jelena Zarkovic Rakic & Aleksandra Anic & Gorana Krstic & Sasa Randelovic, 2017. "Reduction of child poverty in Serbia: Improved cash-transfers or higher work incentives for parents?," Working Papers PMMA 2017-04, PEP-PMMA.
    4. Eugene Nivorozhkin & Anton Nivorozhkin & Ludmila Nivorozhkina & Lilia Ovcharova, 2010. "The urban-rural divide in the perception of the poverty line: the case of Russia," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(16), pages 1543-1546.
    5. Luis F. Lopez-Calva & Nora Lustig & Mikhail Matytsin & Daria Popova, 2017. "Who Benefits from Fiscal Redistribution in the Russian Federation?," Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Working Paper Series 39, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    6. Gerlinde Verbist & Wim Van Lancker, 2016. "Horizontal and Vertical Equity Objectives of Child Benefit Systems: An Empirical Assessment for European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 1299-1318, September.
    7. Sebnem Eroğlu, 2007. "Developing an Index of Deprivation Which Integrates Objective and Subjective Dimensions: Extending the Work of Townsend, Mack and Lansley, and Halleröd," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 80(3), pages 493-510, February.
    8. Giuseppina Guagnano & Elisabetta Santarelli & Isabella Santini, 2016. "Can Social Capital Affect Subjective Poverty in Europe? An Empirical Analysis Based on a Generalized Ordered Logit Model," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(2), pages 881-907, September.
    9. Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Sai, Ding, 2019. "Growing into Relative Income Poverty: Urban China 1988 to 2013," IZA Discussion Papers 12422, IZA Network @ LISER.
    10. Castro, Damaris & Bleys, Brent, 2023. "Do people think they have enough? A subjective income sufficiency assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    11. Wirapong Chansanam & Chunqiu Li, 2022. "Scientometrics of Poverty Research for Sustainability Development: Trend Analysis of the 1964–2022 Data through Scopus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-19, April.
    12. Ben Spies-Butcher & Ben Phillips & Troy Henderson, 2020. "Between universalism and targeting: Exploring policy pathways for an Australian Basic Income," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 31(4), pages 502-523, December.
    13. Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada & van Praag, Bernard M. S., 2001. "Poverty in the Russian Federation," IZA Discussion Papers 259, IZA Network @ LISER.
    14. Joshua K. Hausman & Johannes F. Wieland, 2015. "Overcoming the Lost Decades? Abenomics after Three Years," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 46(2 (Fall)), pages 385-431.
    15. Aßhoff, Sina & Belke, Ansgar & Osowski, Thomas, 2021. "Unconventional monetary policy and inflation expectations in the Euro area," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    16. Zhou Xun & Michel Lubrano, 2018. "A Bayesian Measure of Poverty in the Developing World," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(3), pages 649-678, September.
    17. Paloma Taltavull de la Paz & Francisco Juárez & Paloma Monllor, 2016. "Fuel Poverty: Evidence from housing perspective," Working Papers 2016/20, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    18. van Praag, Bernard M. S., 1991. "Ordinal and cardinal utility : An integration of the two dimensions of the welfare concept," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1-2), pages 69-89, October.
    19. Melanie Borah & Andreas Knabe & Kevin Pahlke, 2021. "Parental time restrictions and the cost of children: insights from a survey among mothers," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(1), pages 73-95, March.
    20. Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Yue, Ximing, 2006. "Rural People’s Perception of Poverty in China," IZA Discussion Papers 2486, IZA Network @ LISER.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hig:wpaper:03/psp/2017. 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: Shamil Abdulaev or Shamil Abdulaev (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/hsecoru.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.