The integration of child tax credits and welfare: Evidence from the Canadian National Child Benefit program

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Milligan, Kevin; Stabile, Mark
• 署名单位: University of British Columbia; University of Toronto; University of Toronto
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2006.05.008
• 发表日期: 2007
• 页码: 305-326
• 关键词: tax credits; national child benefit; welfare; maternal employment; child benefits

摘要

In 1998, the Canadian government introduced a new child tax credit. The innovation in the program was its integration with social assistance (welfare). Some provinces agreed to subtract the new federally-paid benefits from provincially-paid social assistance, partially lowering the welfare wall. Other provinces did not integrate benefits, providing a quasi-experimental framework for estimation. We find large changes in social assistance take-up and employment in provinces that provided the labour market incentives to do so. In our sample, the integration of benefits can account for between 19 and 27% of the decline in social assistance receipt between 1997 and 2000. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.