Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

4-2023

Abstract

While there has been much research on welfare exit and entry into employment, less research has looked at return to government assistance. Applying survival analysis on data from a national government assistance programme in Singapore, we found two important factors of welfare return to which activation programmes need to pay greater attention. First, return was more likely if former beneficiaries accumulated a higher number of types of arrears rather than higher dollar values of arrears. This new finding contributes to the emerging literature on bandwidth tax, and suggests the importance of designing programmes that relieve mental accounting due to debt and poverty. Second, return was more likely if respondents had an infant or toddler child. This points to the importance of a range of support policies including affordable and accessible childcare, exemption from work requirement in receipt of welfare, and family leave for low-wage workers.

Keywords

Welfare return, activation, debt and arrears, infant and toddler child, bandwidth tax

Discipline

Asian Studies | Public Economics | Social Welfare

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

Publication

Social Policy and Society

Volume

22

Issue

2

First Page

299

Last Page

314

ISSN

1474-7464

Identifier

10.1017/S1474746421000518

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746421000518

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