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New Reform Strategies and Welfare Participation in Canada

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  • Berg, Nathan
  • Gabel, Todd

Abstract

Heterogeneous welfare reform policies and timing of those policies among Canadian provinces reveal new information about the roles of different policy tools in accounting for declines in welfare participation. Work requirements, diversion, earnings exemptions, and time limits—referred to as new reform strategies—appear to explain at least 16 percent of observed welfare participation declines from 1994 to 2005, more than eligibility requirements and benefit levels explain. Conservative estimates imply that welfare participation falls by 1.9 percentage points (21 percent relative to mean welfare participation) in provinces and years with stringent combinations of new reform strategies in place.

Suggested Citation

  • Berg, Nathan & Gabel, Todd, 2010. "New Reform Strategies and Welfare Participation in Canada," MPRA Paper 26591, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:26591
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    Cited by:

    1. B. Cecilia Garcia-Medina & Jean-François Wen, 2018. "Income instability and fiscal progression," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 51(2), pages 419-451, May.
    2. Nathan Berg & Todd Gabel, 2013. "Effects of New Welfare Reform Strategies on Welfare Participation: Microdata Estimates from Canada," Working Papers 1304, University of Otago, Department of Economics, revised Feb 2013.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social Assistance; PRWORA; TANF; Work Requirements; Diversion; Earnings; Exemptions; Time Limits; Natural Experiments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles

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