Europe's Social Safety Net Under Pressure

Social Safety Net Primer Series Subsidies as a Social Safety Net: Effectiveness and Challenges

Many governments use price and tax subsidization to meet social protection objectives in lieu of, or in addition to, direct income transfers. Such subsidies may be perceived as influencing behavior to further other socially desirable policies. For example, the price response induced by lowering the price of schooling or key food items will both lower the cost of living for the beneficiaries and...

A Social Safety Net: Developing a Model of Social-Support Figures as Prepared Safety Stimuli

Although the presence of social-support figures (e.g., close friends and family members) is known to increase feelings of safety, reduce threat responses, and improve health, the route by which these effects occur is not well understood. One explanation is that social-support figures are members of a powerful category of safety signals—prepared safety stimuli. Here, we review research demonstra...

How are safety-net providers faring under Medicaid managed care?

The Great Recession and the Social Safety Net.

The social safety net responded in significant and favorable ways during the Great Recession. Aggregate per capita expenditures grew significantly, with particularly strong growth in the SNAP, EITC, UI, and Medicaid programs. Distributionally, the increase in transfers was widely shared across demographic groups, including families with and without children, single-parent and two-parent familie...

Subsidies as a Social Safety Net: Effectiveness and Challenges

Many governments use price and tax subsidization to meet social protection objectives in lieu of, or in addition to, direct income transfers. Such subsidies may be perceived as influencing behavior to further other socially desirable policies. For example, the price response induced by lowering the price of schooling or key food items will both lower the cost of living for the beneficiaries and...