Certain Aspects of Family Policy Incentives for Childbearing—A Hungarian Study with an International Outlook

Abstract

Decreasing trends in birth rates in developed countries during the past decades, which threaten the sustainability of their populations, raise concerns in the areas of employment and social security, among others. A decrease in willingness to bear children has been examined in the international literature from several (biological, socio-cultural, economic, and spatial, etc.) aspects. Among these, the question of the effectiveness of fiscal incentives has been raised, with arguments that these are positive, but not significant, to birth rates; our study also concludes this. In Hungary, from 2010 onwards, the government has introduced very high tax allowances for families and, from 2015, has provided direct subsidies for housing purposes, all within a framework of a new family policy regime. This paper presents an evaluation of family policy interventions (e.g., housing support, tax allowances, other child-raising benefits), with the conclusion that fiscal incentives cannot be effective by themselves; a sustainable level of birth rates can only be maintained, but not necessarily increased, with an optimal design of family policy incentives. By studying the Hungarian example of pro-birth policies there is shown to be a policy gap in housing subsidies.

Innovative solutions in the development of households’ financial awareness: A Hungarian example

“…More than 75 per cent of the respondents consider the opportunities offered in the family incentives of the current Hungarian economic policy useful, and in accord with the general credit flow trends in Hungary, this forecasts indebtedness by young people who are about to start families in the near future. (Note: After the financial and lending crisis, mainly as a result of fiscal incentives to support families, starting from 2015, the appetite for loans began to pick up again in Hungary, as the family housing benefit and support for mortgage loans considerably boosted demand for housing loans, Sági & Lentner, 2018).…”

A magyar népességpolitikai intézkedések tényezői és várható hatásai

“…napjaink termékenységgel foglalkozó szakirodalmában új irányként a térségi tényezőket kutató tanulmányok jelennek meg (részint arra adott válaszként, hogy a termékenység mikroökonómiai elemzése tárgyában a megelőző három évtizedben írt tanulmányok magyarázó ereje csekély, lásd Robinson [1997]). a nagyvárosok külső kerületeiben és elsősorban vidéken a termékenységi ráta általában magasabb (Fiori és szerzőtársai [2014]), bár a pontos okok nem ismertek.…”

Post-crisis trends in household credit market behavior: evidence from Hungary (Literature review)

“…In the years after the outburst of the crisis, loan portfolios dropped due to a decline in households' borrowing capacity, to banks' more cautious allocation resulting from a drop in confidence, and to the government's regulatory and debtor rescue actions. Simultaneously with the financial consolidation of the Hungarian economy, due to the central bank's incentive policy and as a result of the family policy incentives (leverage incentive complementary to increasing wages), after 2015 the appetite for loans began to pick up again, as the family housing benefit and support to mortgage loans considerably boosted demand for housing loans (Sági & Lentner, 2018).…”