This study estimates the effects of the Italian economic crisis on child well-being using a Collective Welfare Approach. The great recession in Italy is accompanied by a significant increase in the general level of prices, fixed real wages, rising unemployment especially among the young people and women and the use of unemployment insurance. The purchasing power of the low and middle income classes has sharply decreased and is especially felt among vulnerable segments of society. We use the collective household approach to identify the welfare level of adults and children in a household in order to investigate how the crisis is affecting adults and children. Are parents effectively protecting the well-being of their children or the crisis is so stringent that their copying strategies are not effective? Is the crisis pro or against children welfare in Italy? The simulation carried out shows a sharp increase of families below the poverty line that is proportionally higher for households with children. The distance between children and the poverty line is an increasing function of income showing that children’s safety nets are not fully insuring and seriously affecting the equality of opportunities that the present generation of Italian children will enjoy in their future.
Presented by:
Federico Perali (University of Verona)
Date & time:
February 18, 2013 4:00 pm
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