Rense Nieuwenhuis » policy

Towards a new consolidated framework for analysing benefit coverage

Rense Nieuwenhuis — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 07:33:05 +0000

Together with Kenneth Nelson, I am happy to share a new publication in Journal of European Social Policy (JESP). In the paper, we try to sort out some conceptual confusion in the literature regarding coverage, eligibility, and take-up. We propose a new framework, that aims to consolidate these concepts.

The conceptualisation and measurement of benefit coverage is muddled with considerable confusion. In this forum contribution, we propose a new consolidated framework for the analysis of benefit coverage. Three sequential steps in measurement are suggested, involving the calculation of coverage rates, eligibility rates and take-up rates in social protection. Each step of the analysis focuses on particular aspects of programme legislation and implementation, and together the new framework will substantially improve the possibilities of research to inform policymaking. We provide an empirical illustration of our approach based on Swedish data, and highlight how our new consolidated framework for analysing benefit coverage provides a reorientation of the research agenda on benefit coverage.

Prepare versus Repair? On Social Investment for Single Parent Families

Rense Nieuwenhuis — Thu, 07 May 2015 16:15:26 +0000

With the social investment paradigm increasingly present in European social policy making, I am very pleased to announce my newest publication, together with Laurie C. Maldonado. Our article “Prepare versus Repair? Combining Parental Leave and Family Allowances for Social Investment Against Single-Parent Poverty” (.PDF), was published in the Belgian Review of Social Security, in an excellent special issue on child wellbeing. The special issue has contributions by experts including Dominic Richardson, Jonathan Bradshaw, and Gøsta Esping-Andersen.

From our contribution:

The position of single-parent families directly relates to one of the major critiques of the social investment strategy. Despite efforts to improve employment and make work pay to prevent poverty, European welfare states have witnessed disappointing trends in poverty (Vandenbroucke and Vleminckx, 2011). Cantillon (2011) argued that social investment policies are better suited for work-rich households than work- poor households at the bottom of the income distribution. This critique begs the empirical question of whether a transition to ‘in kind’ social investment policies can be sufficiently effective in improving employment to protect households against poverty, and if reducing transfers has rendered tax-benefit systems inadequate (cf. Nelson, 2011). We examine this below, focusing on family policies. Specifically, we assess whether social investment (reconciliation policies) is a more effective strategy than social protection (family allowances) for single-parent families.

We conclude:

Social investment, by facilitating employment, can be a beneficial strategy to reduce poverty among single-parent families but we argue that this strategy alone is not sufficient. Family allowances, too, reduce poverty. Therefore, in order for welfare states to genuinely invest in single-parent families, we recommend combining strategies that prepare and repair.

The special issue is available online, and access is open to anyone.

Changing Families and Policy Innovations

Rense Nieuwenhuis — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 13:31:20 +0000

The University of Twente organizes a mini-symposium titled “Changing Families and Policy Innovations“, preceding the public defense of my dissertation. This mini-symposium presents cutting-edge research on policy innovations and their impacts on the changing dynamics of families. Based on the analysis of newly collected international data this research highlights the latest findings on how family policies shape the daily lives of families across both high- and middle income countries.

Rense Nieuwenhuis (University of Twente; Swedish Institute for Social Research) combines institutional and demographic explanations of women’s employment and earnings inequality, discussing the main findings of his dissertation.
Janet Gornick (City University of New York; Director LIS Datacenter) presents ongoing research on inequality across the globe using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) that now also includes middle-income countries.
Anne Gauthier (University of Calgary, NIDI) answers questions pertaining to stay-at-home mothers using comparative data from the Generations and Gender Project (GGP).
Laurie Maldonado (University of California, Los Angeles; LIS Datacenter) compares poverty among single parent families across countries.

Friday 10 January, 2014
10:30 – 13:00
University of Twente, Ravelijn Building (Room 1501)

If you happen to be in the neighborhood and want to attend, please drop me a line at rense.nieuwenhuis@sofi.su.se.

Prize Winning Research: Do children keep their mother from working?

Rense Nieuwenhuis — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:15:17 +0000

“Do children keep their mother from working?” I used this title for a poster presented at a PhD conference, two years ago. The intentionally provocative title spurred some discussion about the world being a little more complex than it suggested. Of course it is, I know. But it got the attention of many: Just a couple of weeks ago, I was approached by someone who still remembered the title. She was interested in my research, which is about the extent to which family policies facilitate or impede the degree to which women can combine motherhood and employment.

In the end, I won the best poster prize. An updated of that poster (with a slightly modified title) is available here.

In the meantime, the research this poster was based on was published in the Journal of Marriage of Family, as:

Rense Nieuwenhuis, Ariana Need, & Henk van der Kolk (2012). Institutional and Demographic Explanations of Women’s Employment in 18 OECD Countries, 1975-1999 Journal of Marriage and Family, 74 (June), 614-630

Today, with this study, I was honored to receive the best research of 2012 award, given by the School of Management and Governance of the University of Twente. I’m very excited about the recognition our study receives, and the amount of attention it attracts.

So, please bear with me as I run you through some of our findings.

In our study we set out to describe the degree to which mothers in industrialized societies between 1975 to 1999 were less likely to be employed than women without children. We found that in no country mothers were more likely to be employed than women without children. Over time, women were increasingly likely to combine motherhood and employment in many, but not all, countries. Both mothers and women without children were more likely to be employed in societies with a large service sector and low unemployment. As you might expect, but has not been tested often, the employment of women without children was generally unaffected by family policies. Mothers were more likely to be employed in societies with extensive reconciliation policies and limited family allowances.

Interesting, right? If you want to know more (or don’t have access to the publication linked above), please don’t hesitate to contact me.

PS: this is the award!

Poster: Institutional and Demographic Explanations of Women’s Employment in 18 OECD countries, 1975-1999

Rense Nieuwenhuis — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:41:43 +0000

A poster version of my article “Institutional and Demographic Explanations of Women’s Employment in 18 OECD countries, 1975-1999” is now available from my website. Please click this link to get the poster (.PDF, 400Kb). The poster is called: “Combining Motherhood and Employment? Where, When, and Why” and summarizes our main findings.

The citation of the published version of our article is:

Nieuwenhuis, R., Need, A., & Van der Kolk, H. (2012). Institutional and Demographic Explanations of Women’ s Employment in 18 OECD Countries. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74(June), 614-630. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.00965.x

The abstract of our article reads:

This study combined demographic and institutional explanations of women’s employment, describing and explaining the degree to which mothers in industrialized societies are less likely to be employed than women without children. A large number of cross-sectional surveys were pooled, covering 18 Organisa- tion for Economic Co-Operation and Development countries, 192,484 observations, and 305 country-years between 1975 and 1999. These data were merged with measures of institutional context and analyzed with multilevel logistic regression. The results indicate that, over time, women were increasingly likely to combine motherhood and employment in many, but not all, countries. Both mothers and women with- out children were more likely to be employed in societies with a large service sector and low unemployment. The employment of women without children was generally unaffected by family policies. Mothers were more likely to be employed in societies with extensive reconciliation policies and limited family allowances.