Targeting, universalism and single mother poverty: a multi-level analysis across 18 affluent democracies

"We examine the influence of individual characteristics and targeted and universal social policy on single mother poverty with a multi-level analysis across 18 affluent democracies. Although single mothers are disproportionately poor in all countries, there is even more cross-national variation...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Brady, David, Burroway, Rebekah
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Luxembourg 2010
LIS
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19183964124919011469-Targeting,-universalism-and-si.htm
_version_ 1771659892471365632
author Brady, David
Burroway, Rebekah
author_facet Brady, David
Burroway, Rebekah
collection Library items
description "We examine the influence of individual characteristics and targeted and universal social policy on single mother poverty with a multi-level analysis across 18 affluent democracies. Although single mothers are disproportionately poor in all countries, there is even more cross-national variation in single mother poverty than for poverty among the overall population. By far, the U.S. has the highest rate of poverty among single mothers. The analyses show that single mother poverty is a function of the household's employment, education, age composition, and the presence of other adults. Beyond individual characteristics, social policy exerts substantial influence on single mother poverty. We find that two measures of universal social policy significantly reduce single mother poverty. Alternatively, one measure of targeted social policy does not have significant effects, while another measure is only significantly negative when controlling for universal social policy. Moreover, the effects of universal social policy are larger. Additional analyses show that universal social policy does not have counterproductive consequences in terms of family structure or employment, while the results are less clear for targeted social policy. Although debates often focus on altering the behavior or characteristics of single mothers, welfare universalism could be an even more effective anti-poverty strategy."
format TEXT
id 19183964124919011469_15a6feeb9346446491698017264d98f7
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19183964124919011469_15a6feeb9346446491698017264d98f7
is_hierarchy_title Targeting, universalism and single mother poverty: a multi-level analysis across 18 affluent democracies
language English
physical 40 p.
Digital
publishDate 2010
publisher Luxembourg
LIS
spellingShingle Brady, David
Burroway, Rebekah
comparison
international
one parent family
poverty
social policy
statistics
women
Targeting, universalism and single mother poverty: a multi-level analysis across 18 affluent democracies
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=115220293340
title Targeting, universalism and single mother poverty: a multi-level analysis across 18 affluent democracies
topic comparison
international
one parent family
poverty
social policy
statistics
women
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19183964124919011469-Targeting,-universalism-and-si.htm