THE MINIMUM INCOME SCHEME REFORM IN LITHUANIA

The article reviews the current social assistance scheme in Lithuania and its recent reform. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the scheme in three dimensions: coverage of poor people, adequacy of benefit amounts, and social assistance reconciliation with work incentives. The analysis of the minim...

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Main Author: Romas Lazutka
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Vilnius University Press 2015-01-01
Series:Ekonomika
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.journals.vu.lt/ekonomika/article/view/5038
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author Romas Lazutka
author_facet Romas Lazutka
author_sort Romas Lazutka
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description The article reviews the current social assistance scheme in Lithuania and its recent reform. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the scheme in three dimensions: coverage of poor people, adequacy of benefit amounts, and social assistance reconciliation with work incentives. The analysis of the minimum income protection reform is based mainly on the data from Survey of Income and Living Conditions and Administrative Data from the Ministry of Social Security and Labour. The paper discovers the changing role of the minimum income scheme in the context of an economic cycle, its targeting to low-income strata of the population and an adequate amount at least for families with children. However, the growing incentives of local authorities to reallocate funds envisaged for social assistance to other needs can erode the scheme. The article ends with several recommendations to policy makers.
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spelling doaj.art-161377a49093407bb3b917b3c0c41de92022-12-21T23:34:08ZengVilnius University PressEkonomika1392-12582424-61662015-01-0193410.15388/Ekon.2014.93.5038THE MINIMUM INCOME SCHEME REFORM IN LITHUANIARomas LazutkaThe article reviews the current social assistance scheme in Lithuania and its recent reform. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the scheme in three dimensions: coverage of poor people, adequacy of benefit amounts, and social assistance reconciliation with work incentives. The analysis of the minimum income protection reform is based mainly on the data from Survey of Income and Living Conditions and Administrative Data from the Ministry of Social Security and Labour. The paper discovers the changing role of the minimum income scheme in the context of an economic cycle, its targeting to low-income strata of the population and an adequate amount at least for families with children. However, the growing incentives of local authorities to reallocate funds envisaged for social assistance to other needs can erode the scheme. The article ends with several recommendations to policy makers.https://www.journals.vu.lt/ekonomika/article/view/5038minimum incomesocial assistancework incentives
spellingShingle Romas Lazutka
THE MINIMUM INCOME SCHEME REFORM IN LITHUANIA
Ekonomika
minimum income
social assistance
work incentives
title THE MINIMUM INCOME SCHEME REFORM IN LITHUANIA
title_full THE MINIMUM INCOME SCHEME REFORM IN LITHUANIA
title_fullStr THE MINIMUM INCOME SCHEME REFORM IN LITHUANIA
title_full_unstemmed THE MINIMUM INCOME SCHEME REFORM IN LITHUANIA
title_short THE MINIMUM INCOME SCHEME REFORM IN LITHUANIA
title_sort minimum income scheme reform in lithuania
topic minimum income
social assistance
work incentives
url https://www.journals.vu.lt/ekonomika/article/view/5038
work_keys_str_mv AT romaslazutka theminimumincomeschemereforminlithuania
AT romaslazutka minimumincomeschemereforminlithuania