Why is welfare important

Moreover, beliefs about dependency are not just common among the rich; one often hears similar complaints from the very people whom social programs are meant to help. It is thus little wonder that such beliefs would translate into policy. Using the World Values Survey, my colleagues and I have assessed how much people attribute poverty to laziness, as opposed to social and economic unfairness, and how it relates to beliefs on redistribution. We find that the more people attribute poverty to a lack of willpower, the less generous the transfer system in their country will be.

So, beliefs about dependency can have real and tangible implications for the poor and the protections they need. But what if those beliefs are wrong? For example, far from creating dependency, it is possible that welfare programs actually give people the necessary tools to achieve financial independence, provided that the assistance is dependable rather than sporadic and temporary.

In that case, the provision of government assistance over an extended period of time could yield high social and economic returns, not least by allowing low-income families to make longer-term investments for the future.

The program was implemented in randomly selected sub-districts, which were compared to a control group of sub-districts that did not have the program. Moreover, the program was directed at families, which were encouraged to use the benefits to invest in their children.

Only households with children or a pregnant woman could enroll, and a portion of the stipend was made conditional on fulfilling various health- and education-related obligations, such as basic immunization and the completion of at least nine years of school. As in many countries, these conditions are hard to enforce in practice, so many households received full payments despite non-compliance. One important feature of PKH is that it did not merely provide a few weeks or months of assistance between jobs or in the case of a financial shock.

Rather, it focused on the very poor, and was administered for at least six years, with the understanding that climbing out of poverty takes time and requires consistent support and stability.

Given this initial success, the Indonesian government expanded the program widely over the next few years. By , it was providing assistance to about 2. Now, however, the government was targeting specific districts, rather than following the previous random-selection process. As a result, many of the sub-districts in the initial control group were left out, and have not received the program yet. Upon re-surveying the 14, households in the original treatment and control groups, we found several interesting outcomes.

The first concerns stunting, or impaired growth, which is one of the most serious child health problems in Indonesia. Research has shown a correlation between stunting, lower IQs, and poorer socioeconomic outcomes later in life. At the two-year mark, PKH had no impact on child stunting. This page is also available in fr. Opinion Type:. Official Journal:. Plenary session:.

Aside from adults, social welfare can also brighten the future for poverty-stricken kids, ultimately halting the cycle of poverty in families at risk. Another study found that kids who were covered by Medicaid later earned more money and required less welfare assistance as adults. Poverty can be traumatic for children, and welfare helps the next generation become less reliant on government support.

The Bottom Line: In normal times, when the economy is not paralyzed by Covid , social welfare can easily be taken advantage of and may not leave its recipients with much motivation to provide for themselves. However, government assistance provides a hopeful future for individuals in need and the economy as a whole. Thinking back to pre-coronavirus times , do you think social welfare has benefited your community?

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