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Weathering the Storms? Minimum-Income Benefits as a Crisis Response

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  • Immervoll, Herwig

    (OECD, Paris)

  • Pasteiner, Felizia

    (OECD)

Abstract

Economic crises produce rapid and sizable shifts in the demand for social support. Means-tested cash transfers, such as 'social assistance' programmes and related minimum-income benefits (MIB) typically function as benefits of last-resort, filling some of the support gaps left by other government transfers and are key pillars of strategies to alleviate hardship and prevent long-term damage from episodes spent in poverty. This paper discusses crisis-related challenges for MIB programmes, focussing on support for working-age individuals and their families, and drawing on the experience of OECD countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent cost-of-living crisis. It compares MIB provisions before these crises, surveys countries’ approaches and reforms in subsequent years, and distils lessons for making MIBs more effective, responsive and crisis ready.

Suggested Citation

  • Immervoll, Herwig & Pasteiner, Felizia, 2025. "Weathering the Storms? Minimum-Income Benefits as a Crisis Response," IZA Discussion Papers 17943, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17943
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Herwig Immervoll & Carlo Knotz, 2018. "How demanding are activation requirements for jobseekers," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 215, OECD Publishing.
    2. Immervoll, Herwig & Richardson, Linda, 2011. "Redistribution Policy and Inequality Reduction in OECD Countries: What Has Changed in Two Decades?," IZA Discussion Papers 6030, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Jeehoon Han & Bruce D. Meyer & James X. Sullivan, 2020. "Income and Poverty in the COVID-19 Pandemic," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 51(2 (Summer), pages 85-118.
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management
    • E66 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General Outlook and Conditions

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