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The Fertility Response to Cutting Child Related Welfare Benefits

Author

Listed:
  • Sandner, Malte

    (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany)

  • Wiynck, Frederik

    (IAB)

Abstract

"Despite long-term interest whether welfare benefits motivate fertility, evidence from research has not been consistent. This paper contributes new evidence to this debate by investigating the fertility effect of a German welfare reform. The reform decreased the household income of families on welfare by 18 percent in the first year after the birth of a baby. Using exclusive German social security data on over 460,000 affected women, our analysis finds the reform leads to a fertility reduction of 6.8 percent. This result implies that for mothers on welfare, fertility has an income elasticity of 0.38, which is much smaller than that of general populations reported in the literature. Our findings suggest that welfare recipients’ fertility reacts less strongly to financial incentives than the fertility of overall populations." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Suggested Citation

  • Sandner, Malte & Wiynck, Frederik, 2022. "The Fertility Response to Cutting Child Related Welfare Benefits," IAB-Discussion Paper 202201, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    • Handle: RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202201
    DOI: 10.48720/IAB.DP.2201
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    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Sochas, Laura & Chanfreau, Jenny, 2024. "Austerity as reproductive injustice: Did local government spending cuts unequally impact births?," SocArXiv 894p3, Center for Open Science.
    3. Mary Reader & Jonathan Portes & Ruth Patrick, 2025. "Does Cutting Child Benefits Reduce Fertility in Larger Families? Evidence from the UK’s Two-Child Limit," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 44(2), pages 1-26, April.
    4. Sanan Abdullayev & Allan Puur, 2024. "Varying responses to the introduction of earnings-related benefits: a study of 2004 parental leave reform in Estonia," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 1-31, December.
    5. Giuseppe Pio Dachille & Maria De Paola & Roberto Nisticò, 2025. "Guaranteed Minimum Income and Fertility," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 2588, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    6. Baertsch, Laurenz & Sandner, Malte, 2025. "Reducing the child penalty by incentivizing maternal part-time work?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    7. Gordon Dahl & Katrine Loken, 2024. "Families, Public Policies, and the Labor Market," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 2423, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    8. repec:osf:socarx:894p3_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Dahl, Gordon & Loken, Katrine V., 2024. "Families, public policies, and the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics,, Elsevier.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • C54 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Quantitative Policy Modeling

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