Seminar: The long run impacts of welfare bans on immigrants
The Centre for Health Economics (CHE) is hosting the seminar, ‘The long run impacts of welfare bans on immigrants’, with insights from Dr Anna Zhu from RMIT University.
Immigrants' take up of welfare and social programs continues to incite debate and concern among academics and politicians. While some argue that the take-up rates are too high and can discourage immigrants from working, others argue that too many migrants are missing out on the benefits of such programs. Taking a long-run and intergenerational perspective on the impacts of welfare policies aimed at immigrants can shed new light on this debate. In this paper, we assess the long-term impact of an Australian welfare reform in the mid-1990s, which denied a group of low-income migrants a government cash payment in the two years following migration. Applying a Regression Discontinuity Design to administrative social security records, we find that the policy reduced the rate of welfare receipt among affected immigrants and that of their children. The policy also increased immigrants' employment participation and earnings in the long-term. Migrants respond differently to the policy depending on their capability to work as indicated by their level of child-caring responsibilities and their English-speaking ability. These results suggest that a more targeted withdrawal of welfare may have been more appropriate.
Anna Zhu is a lecturer of economics at the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University, Australia.
Her research aims to identify or evaluate how social policy enables economically disadvantaged persons towards greater participation in society and well-being. She has published in journals such as the Economic Journal, Journal of Population Economics, and the Economic Record. Her current research interests include the economics of migration, welfare reform evaluation, homelessness, and machine learning.
Visitors are welcome to attend – registration is not required. Find out more about our seminar series and guest speakers.
We hope to see you there.
Event Details
- Date:
- 4 March 2020 at 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
- Venue:
- Room H9.21, Building H, Monash University, 900 Dandenong Rd, Caulfield East, Melbourne, VIC 3145
- Categories:
- Health Economics
Description
The Centre for Health Economics (CHE) is hosting the seminar, ‘The long run impacts of welfare bans on immigrants’, with insights from Dr Anna Zhu from RMIT University.
Immigrants' take up of welfare and social programs continues to incite debate and concern among academics and politicians. While some argue that the take-up rates are too high and can discourage immigrants from working, others argue that too many migrants are missing out on the benefits of such programs. Taking a long-run and intergenerational perspective on the impacts of welfare policies aimed at immigrants can shed new light on this debate. In this paper, we assess the long-term impact of an Australian welfare reform in the mid-1990s, which denied a group of low-income migrants a government cash payment in the two years following migration. Applying a Regression Discontinuity Design to administrative social security records, we find that the policy reduced the rate of welfare receipt among affected immigrants and that of their children. The policy also increased immigrants' employment participation and earnings in the long-term. Migrants respond differently to the policy depending on their capability to work as indicated by their level of child-caring responsibilities and their English-speaking ability. These results suggest that a more targeted withdrawal of welfare may have been more appropriate.
Anna Zhu is a lecturer of economics at the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University, Australia.
Her research aims to identify or evaluate how social policy enables economically disadvantaged persons towards greater participation in society and well-being. She has published in journals such as the Economic Journal, Journal of Population Economics, and the Economic Record. Her current research interests include the economics of migration, welfare reform evaluation, homelessness, and machine learning.
Visitors are welcome to attend – registration is not required. Find out more about our seminar series and guest speakers.
We hope to see you there.