IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/lis/liswps/616.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Keynes, Family allowances and Keynesian economic policy

Author

Listed:
  • Steven Pressman

Abstract

This paper provides a short history of family allowances and documents that Keynes supported family allowances as early as the 1920s and continuing through the 1930s and early 1940s. Keynes saw this policy as a way to help households raise their children and also as a way to increase consumption without reducing business investment. The paper goes on to argue that a policy of family allowances is consistent with Keynesian economics. Finally, the paper uses the Luxembourg Income Study to estimate the impact of family allowances on child poverty in several developed nations and estimates the poverty-reducing impact of several possible family allowance programs for the US.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven Pressman, 2014. "Keynes, Family allowances and Keynesian economic policy," LIS Working papers 616, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:lis:liswps:616
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.lisdatacenter.org/wps/liswps/616.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher Brown, 2004. "Does income distribution matter for effective demand? Evidence from the United States," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 291-307.
    2. Becker, Gary S, 1974. "A Theory of Social Interactions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1063-1093, Nov.-Dec..
    3. Moggridge, D E, 1992. "The," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 207-209, Summer.
    4. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1.
    5. Steven Pressman, 2002. "Explaining the Gender Poverty Gap in Developed and Transitional Economies," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 17-40, March.
    6. Timothy Smeeding & Gunther Schmaus & Brigitte Buhmann & Lee Rainwater, 1988. "Equivalence Scales, Well-Being, Inequality and Poverty: Sensitivity Estimates Across Ten Countries Using the LIS Database," LIS Working papers 17, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    7. Clarke, George R. G., 1995. "More evidence on income distribution and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 403-427, August.
    8. Blaug, Mark, 1963. "The Myth of the Old Poor Law and the Making of the New," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(2), pages 151-184, June.
    9. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1998. "New ways of looking at old issues: inequality and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 259-287.
    10. Boyer,George R., 1990. "An Economic History of the English Poor Law, 1750–1850," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521364799, October.
    11. Steven Pressman, 1993. "Tax Expenditures for Child Exemptions: A Poor Policy to Aid America’s Children," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 699-719, September.
    12. Blaug, Mark, 1964. "The Poor Law Report Reexamined," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 229-245, June.
    13. Paul A. Samuelson, 1956. "Social Indifference Curves," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 1-22.
    14. Toye, John, 2000. "Keynes on Population," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198293620.
    15. Perotti, Roberto, 1996. "Growth, Income Distribution, and Democracy: What the Data Say," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 149-187, June.
    16. Michael Lewis & Steven Pressman & Karl Widerquist, 2005. "The basic income guarantee and social economics," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(4), pages 587-593.
    17. Neil Bruce & Michael Waldman, 1990. "The Rotten-Kid Theorem Meets the Samaritan's Dilemma," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(1), pages 155-165.
    18. John Ermisch, 1988. "Econometric Analysis of Birth Rate Dynamics in Britain," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 23(4), pages 563-576.
    19. Mattias Lundberg & Lyn Squire, 2003. "The simultaneous evolution of growth and inequality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(487), pages 326-344, April.
    20. Thomas Palley, 2010. "The Relative Permanent Income Theory of Consumption: A Synthetic Keynes-Duesenberry-Friedman Model," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 41-56.
    21. Aslanbeigui, Nahid & Oakes, Guy, 2007. "The Editor as Scientific Revolutionary: Keynes, The Economic Journal, and the Pigou Affair, 1936–1938," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(1), pages 15-48, March.
    22. repec:bla:revinw:v:34:y:1988:i:2:p:115-42 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Guillem Verd Llabrés, 2024. "The Rise and Fall of Family Allowances in Spain: Religious Cleavages, Political Regimes and Economic Constraints, 1926-1958," Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) 2405, Asociación Española de Historia Económica.

    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. Steven Pressman, 2014. "Keynes, family allowances, and Keynesian economic policy," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 2(4), pages 508-526, October.
    2. Steven Pressman, 2009. "Keynes, Family Allowances and Post Keynesian Anti-Poverty Policy," LIS Working papers 525, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    3. Dierk Herzer & Sebastian Vollmer, 2012. "Inequality and growth: evidence from panel cointegration," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 10(4), pages 489-503, December.
    4. Man Si, 2015. "Intrafamily bargaining and love," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 771-789, December.
    5. Doss, Cheryl R., 1996. "Testing among models of intrahousehold resource allocation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(10), pages 1597-1609, October.
    6. Doss, Cheryl R., 1994. "Models Of Intrahousehold Resource Allocation: Assumptions And Empirical Tests," Staff Papers 14196, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    7. Stephen Knowles, 2005. "Inequality and Economic Growth: The Empirical Relationship Reconsidered in the Light of Comparable Data," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(1), pages 135-159.
    8. Verónica Amarante & Gioia de Melo, 2004. "Crecimiento económico y desigualdad: una revisión bibliográfica," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 04-02, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    9. Jakub Bartak & Łukasz Jabłoński, 2020. "Inequality and growth: What comes from the different inequality measures?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 185-212, April.
    10. Lewis S. Davis, 2004. "Explaining the Evidence on Inequality and Growth: Informality and Redistribution," DEGIT Conference Papers c009_032, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    11. Bourguignon, Francois, 2005. "The Effect of Economic Growth on Social Structures," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 27, pages 1701-1747, Elsevier.
    12. Orsetta Causa & Alain de Serres & Nicolas Ruiz, 2015. "Can pro-growth policies lift all boats?: An analysis based on household disposable income," OECD Journal: Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2015(1), pages 227-268.
    13. Josef ZweimüLler, 2000. "Inequality, Redistribution, and Economic Growth," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 27(1), pages 1-20, March.
    14. Jara-Díaz, Sergio & Rosales-Salas, Jorge, 2017. "Beyond transport time: A review of time use modeling," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 209-230.
    15. Steven Pressman, 2014. "A Tax Reform That Falls Flat," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(4), pages 82-102.
    16. Martin Ravallion, 2012. "Why Don't We See Poverty Convergence?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 504-523, February.
    17. Enea Baselgia & Reto Foellmi, 2022. "Inequality and growth: a review on a great open debate in economics," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-5, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    18. Steven Pressman, 2005. "Income Guarantees and the Equity-Efficiency Tradeoff," LIS Working papers 348, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    19. Amparo Castelló-Climent, 2004. "A Reassessment Of The Relationship Between Inequality And Growth: What Human Capital Inequality Data Say?," Working Papers. Serie EC 2004-15, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    20. Cigno, A., 2016. "Conflict and Cooperation Within the Family, and Between the State and the Family, in the Provision of Old-Age Security," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 609-660, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    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:lis:liswps:616. 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: Piotr Paradowski (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lisprlu.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.