The reform of the Dutch Disability Services Act in 1993 has not only affected the beneficiaries but their childeren as well, says Associate Professor Anne Gielen in an interview in UWV Magazine. According to Professor Gielen, reducing the reliance on Disability Benefits of the current beneficiaries also reduces the reliance of the next generation on these benefits.
The research of Anne Gielen (Associate Professor at Erasmus School of Economics) focuses on welfare dependency across multiple generations. Households are becoming increasingly reliant on welfare benefits to cover daily living expenses. Given that welfare dependence seems highly persistent across generations, this trend may not only pose a challenge for current generations but may also affect future generations’ welfare dependence, with dramatic consequences for social inequalities. However, little is known about the extent to which growing up in a family that is reliant on welfare causes someone to be welfare dependent himself later in life. Anne Gielen investigates the extent to which welfare receipt in childhood has long term effects on socio-economic and health outcomes in adulthood, including reliance on welfare. The findings of her research can help improve the design of welfare policy by indicating whether, when, and how public policies should target children in welfare receiving families.
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Read the entire article (only in Dutch) in UWV Magazine, 22 June 2018