What Matters for the Wellbeing of Mothers and Children in Material  Hardship? Application of a Modified Indicator Framework

Haines, Leah; Grimes, Arthur

doi:10.1007/s11205-021-02845-x

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 27 publications

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“…There are strong associations between low income, material hardship and poor child and maternal outcomes in this country (Dominick, 2018;Haines and Grimes, 2021;Morton et al, 2020;Davies, Webber and Timmins, 2022). However, analysis of the size of the causal effects of increasing income is limited, and there are no studies of the effects of increasing the adequacy of income support on the lifecourse health and wellbeing outcomes of Aotearoa New Zealand children (Ministry of Social Development, 2018).…”

Section: Opportunities For New Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

How the Families Package Increased Income and Created New Opportunities for Life-course Research

Wilson,

McLeod

2023

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The Aotearoa New Zealand government’s 2018 Families Package increased financial assistance for families as part of a strategy to reduce child poverty, improve child and youth wellbeing, and provide parents with more choice around working and caring in their children’s first three years of life. Mothers who had children born after implementation of the package qualified for substantially more financial assistance in the pre-natal period and in their children’s first three years than previous cohorts. This article examines the size of the income gains. Using linked administrative data, we estimate that by the time children turned three, having a birth on or after 1 July 2018 increased financial assistance received by mothers by almost $6,800 on average when compared to pre-reform cohorts (a 5% increase in total income). For Mäori mothers, the average increase was almost $9,600 (a 7% increase in total income). This natural experiment offers new opportunities for research on the causal effects of increased financial assistance in children’s early years on life-course outcomes.

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Section: Opportunities For New Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%