Cash Transfers and Guaranteed Minimum Income Programs:
Research, Evaluation, and Policy
Prague, Czech Republic
September 9-10, 2024
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“Minimum Income Schemes and Gender: How Income Sharing Assumptions Affect Gender Gaps in Last Resort Income Protection”
Alessandro Nardo, University of Antwerp - Center for Social Policy (CSB) Herman Deleeck
A vast body of scientific literature has studied minimum income (MI) support schemes, yet limited attention has been given to examining the joint means-test of MI benefits. In all European welfare states, though to different extents, the resources of family members are taken into account when assessing who is in need of MI protection. At the base of this is the assumption that resources are shared within the household. In our paper, we investigate the impact of these intra-household income sharing assumptions on the evaluation of MI scheme performance from a gender perspective. We aim to assess if and how the joint-means testing leads to gender gaps in the poverty-protecting capacity of minimum income schemes. Specifically, we are interested in how the gender gaps in the coverage (i.e. the share of poor individuals that are eligible), and in the adequacy of MI benefits (i.e. to what extent the benefit is able to decrease the poverty gap) are shaped by these assumptions. In doing so, we question intra-household income sharing assumptions and we consider an individual definition of poverty. We aim to assess if MI schemes perform differently for men and women, using different operationalizations of poverty and income-sharing. To this end, we use EUROMOD microsimulation model to assess the eligibility for minimum income benefits in different country-contexts. Then, we exploit the differences in the degree of familization of the MI means test to assess potential correlations with the targeting of MI benefits. Our research points to the importance of implicit assumptions that are present in the design and access to benefits: to the extent individuals do not actually have access to the incomes of their household members, our understanding of the performance and design of a major poverty protection scheme might change drastically.