School of Economics

 Invites you to a

Microeconometrics & Public Policy seminar presented by

Anna Zhu

(Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology)

Spatial Heterogeneity in Welfare-to-Work Reform Success

Friday 22 September 2023

12.00pm – 1.00pm

 Seminar Room 650
A02 Social Sciences Building

Camperdown Campus
The University of Sydney NSW 2006

Welfare-to-Work reforms aim to improve employment outcomes and reduce welfare dependency among income support recipients. They use the levers of reducing Income Support payments or increasing participation requirements. A common concern is that these levers may heighten poverty if the intended improvement in employment does not materialize. The 2006 Welfare-to-Work reform led to a situation where, all else equal, some single parents received a parenting pension (with a relatively high benefit amount and low participation requirements) while others received an unemployment allowance (with lower benefits and stricter participation requirements). The difference depended on the date of relationship separation. We estimate the effect of the reform on the SA4 level, applying Regression Discontinuity models to administrative unit-record data from DOMINO. We then examine how the variation in reform effects across Australia correlate with the characteristics of the SA4 region. Our aim is to ask: is there heterogeneity in the local reform effects? And if so, can we find patterns that describe how the reform’s effectiveness varies with local conditions such as employment opportunities, access to services, and community characteristics?

For further information contact: Microeconometrics & Public Policy Seminar Coordinator
Dr Gregor Pfeifer & Dr Rebecca McKibbin

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