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Working Paper Series

The Department of Social Policy multidisciplinary working paper series publishes high quality research papers across the broad field of social policy.

Joan Costa-Font, Chiara Orsini, Nilesh Raut

Abstract: We show that long-term care policy interventions can shape informal caregiving patterns across generations, producing intergenerational spillovers. Exploiting the exogenous, state-level decline in public funding for Medicare home health care following the implementation of the Interim Payment System (IPS) reform in the United States at the end of the 90s, we assess its effects on informal caregiving among both the directly affected and subsequent generations. Our findings indicate that reductions in Medicare home health care funding not only increased the provision of informal care to elderly parents by their adult children but also generated lasting intergenerational effects: decades later, the next generation became more likely to receive similar care from their own children and grandchildren. In addition, the IPS reform influenced other behaviors, including long-term care insurance and Medicaid take-up, inter vivos transfers, bequest intentions, and residential proximity within families.

Keywords: caregiving, role modelling effects, Medicare home health care, family ties, intergenerational spillovers, informal care.

George Rushworth

Abstract: This research examines whether Stocks and Shares Individual Savings Accounts (S&S ISAs) in the United Kingdom democratise wealth accumulation or reinforce existing socioeconomic disparities. Using longitudinal data from the Wealth and Asset Survey (2006-2020), the study employs multiple analytical approaches, with propensity score matching providing the most credible causal estimates. The findings reveal three key patterns: First, S&S ISA ownership is associated with approximately 27% higher wealth growth compared to similar non-owners. Second, adopting an S&S ISA generates substantial wealth benefits (227% for new adopters) that persist even after abandonment, with former ISA holders showing no significant disadvantage compared to never-owners. Third, contrary to expectations, S&S ISAs provide greater relative benefits for individuals without higher education, challenging assumptions that tax-efficient investment vehicles primarily benefit the already-advantaged. These results suggest that S&S ISAs can function as effective wealth-building tools with democratising potential if barriers to initial adoption among disadvantaged groups can be addressed. The study contributes to literature on wealth inequality and asset-based welfare by providing empirical evidence on the distributional effects of investment-based policy instruments within a liberal welfare regime.

Keywords: Wealth inequality; Stocks and Shares ISAs; Asset-based welfare; Financial inclusion; Liberal welfare regime.

From Assessment to Exclusion: Exploring the Role of Disability Hierarchies in PIP Claimant Experiences

George Bowron

The Role of Social Protection Benefits During Crisis: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Katrin Gasior, Iva V. Tasseva, and Gemma Wright

Selection by ability: A comparison of admissions to grammar schools in England and in Germany

Anne West, George Rushworth, Lina Cramer, Romane Balcomb-Nevill

Citizens in the making: Analysing Italy’s first attempt to define what makes a citizen in the context of immigration

Victoria Donnaloja

In the Fine Print: Investigating EdTech Providers’ Data Privacy Commitment

Barud, K., Henne, T., Hillman, V., Radkoff, E., Saillant, C., Zdravevski, E.

School admissions in comparative perspective: A focus on China, Chile, Sweden and Germany

Anne West, Lina Cramer, Francisca Ladouch, Meixuan Pu, Ella Westlake

AIED and EdTech Procurement: Challenges for Policy and Governance
Velislava Hillman, Yujeong Hwang, Simon Walker, Peter Wilson
Key words: EdTech procurement, audit, public registry, primary and secondary schools, Further Education, Higher Education, AI
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‘I have no problems because I am white’ : Understanding immigrants’ wellbeing and its relationship with the destination population’s attitudes towards immigrants.
Michaela Sedovic
Key words:subjective wellbeing, immigrants, intergroup contact, attitudes towards immigrants, new destination country, Slovakia

The Misuse of Citizenship and Residence by Investment: Going beyond the FATF/OECD Report to Assess Key Risks
Kristin Surak
Key words: investment migration, citizenship by investment, residence by investment, money laundering, financial crimes, tax

Degrees of vulnerability to poverty: A low-income dynamics approach for Chile
Joaquín Prieto-Suarez
Key words: Chile; Latin America; longitudinal data; middle class; poverty dynamics; vulnerability to poverty

Perceptions Matter: Quasi-Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Spain’s New Minimum Income on Households’ Financial Wellbeing
Eugenia Bilbao-Goyoaga
Key words: Financial Wellbeing, Subjective Wellbeing, Minimum Income, Poverty, Quasi-Experiment, Synthetic Control Method

COVID-19 Testing, Tracing and Isolating Strategies in the UK (England)
Anne West
Key words: COVID-19, TTI, testing, contact tracing, isolation strategies

Household Joblessness in US Metropolitan Areas during the COVID19 Pandemic: Polarization and the Role of Educational Profiles
Thomas Biegert, Berkay Ozcan, and Magdalena Rossetti-Youlton
Key words: household joblessness, COVID19, polarization, educational heterogeneity, educational homogamy

Effects of team diversity on performance, perceptions, and predictions: Experimental evidence of gender composition and language
Valentina Contreras, Chiara Orsini, Berkay Ozcan, and Johann Koehler
Key words: Peer effects, Higher education, Gender, Linguistic diversity

Hostility of lived environment as a determinant of immigrants’ life satisfaction
Case of England and Wales
Michaela Šedovič
Key words: subjective wellbeing, contact theory, attitudes towards immigrants, immigrants‘ integration

The impact of centre-based childcare on non-cognitive skills of young children
Greta Morando & Lucinda Platt
Key words: centre-based childcare, child socio-emotional development, Growing Up in Ireland

Age at marriage and marital stability: Evidence from China
Jorge Garcia-Hombrados and Berkay OzcanKey words: Age at marriage, divorce, legal age of marriage, China

Edtech procurement matters: It needs a coherent solution, clear governance and market standards
Velislava Hillman
Key words: edtech, data privacy, edtech procurement, children, education

School funding and resourcing policies- Meeting the needs of disadvantaged pupils in France, Poland, UK (England), China, New Zealand, Singapore
Anne West, Sarah Ang, Valentin Calori, Ning Wang, Frederick Waters and Julia Wodzinska
Key words:school funding, resourcing, compensatory funding, needs, disadvantage, equality of opportunity

How does children’s time allocation affect their noncognitive skills? Evidence from four developing countries
Grace Chang
Key words: Child labour, non-cognitive skills, time use.

Reporting COVID-19 deaths in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and the UK
Anne West, Thomas Czypionka, Monika Steffen, Stefanie Ettelt, Simone Ghislandi, Céu Mateus
Key words: Comparative health policy, comparative administration, data for policy making, data harmonization, COVID-19, comparable health data.

What’s Left? Political orientation, economic conditions, and incarceration in Greece under Syriza-led government
Leonidas K. Cheliotis and Sappho Xenakis
Key words: Government political orientation; economic downturn; imprisonment; immigration detention; Syriza

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University research engagement around climate knowledge: findings from a small empirical study
David Lewis
Key words: research-policy interface; knowledge brokers; policy engagement; public policy

The sounds of development: Musical representations as (an)other source of development knowledge
David Lewis, Dennis Rodgers and Michael Woolcock
Key words: Music, protest, representation, development, knowledge

How uneven is the playing field? Inequality of socio-economic opportunity in the UK, 2009-2017 (MSc Dissertation)
David Flatscher
Key words: Inequality of opportunity, income inequality, social disadvantage

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Government and NHS reform since the 1980s: the role of the market vis à vis the state, and of political ideas about the ‘direction of travel’
Jane Lewis
Key words: English NHS, NHS reform, political ideas, ideas in policymaking

Identity, belonging and economic outcomes in England and Wales (Postgraduate dissertation)
Ivelina Hristova
Key words: identity economics, sub-state national and ethnic diversity, progression at work

Upper and lower bound estimates of inequality of opportunity: A cross-national comparison for Europe
Rafael Carranza
Key words: circumstances; equality of opportunity; equivalized household income; inequality; MLDindex; upper bound estimate.

Recent trends in religiosity of majority and minority European populations
Ayse Guveli and Lucinda Platt
Key words: religion; religiosity; migrants; second generation; Europe; natives; prayer; attendance.

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Loaded lesbians: how far do negotiations in the private sphere transfer to the labour market? (Undergraduate dissertation)
Liz Searle
Key words: (re/un-doing) gender; domestic labour; sexuality pay-gap; lesbian; housework.

Neither dupes, not pipers: violent crime, public sentiment and the political origins of mass incarceration in the United States
Leonidas K. Cheliotis
Key words: mass incarceration, violent crime, public sentiment, politics of criminal justice

The lasting effects of natural disasters on property crime: evidence from the 2010 Chilean earthquake
Jorge García Hombrados
Key words: Natural disasters; crime; social capital.

Stalling of mortality in the United Kingdom and Europe: an analytical review of the evidence
Michael Murphy, Marc Luy and Orsola Torrisi
Key words: Life expectancy; UK mortality trends; Europe mortality trends; Influenza; Austerity.

Female genital cutting and education: theory and causal evidence from Senegal
Jorge García Hombrados and Edgar Salgado
Key words: Female genital cutting, education, harmful traditions.

Read the related blog post here.

Preterm births and educational disadvantage: heterogenous effects across families and schools
Anna Baranowska-Rataj, Kieron Barclay, Joan Costa-Font, Mikko Myrskylä and Berkay Özcan
Key words: SEN, disability, social isolation, loneliness, life-course

Growing up lonely? Exploring the social outcomes of three generations identified with special education needs or disabilities in childhood
Samantha Parsons and Lucinda Platt
Key words: SEN, disability, social isolation, loneliness, life-course

Read the related blog post here.

Reducing Mommy Penalties with Daddy Quotas
Allison Dunatchik and Berkay Özcan
Key words: family policy, gender roles, parental leave, work, work-family issues

Inter-ethnic relations of teenagers in England's schools: the role of school and neighbourhood ethnic composition
Simon Burgess and Lucinda Platt
Key words: ethnicity, attitudes, contact, children, school context

Two Become One: Improving the Targeting of Conditional Cash Transfers With a Predictive Model of School Dropout
Cristian Crespo
Key words: conditional cash transfers, targeting, school dropout prediction, machine learning, proxy means tests

Cash for Grades or Money for Nothing? Evidence from Regression Discontinuity Designs
Cristian Crespo
Key words: cash for grades, regression discontinuity, bono por logro escolar, cash transfers

Social Policy with Tunnel Vision: The problems of state efforts to curb adolescent pregnancy in Post 1988 Brazil
Beatriz Burattini- MSc Dissertation
Key words: adolescent pregnancy, sexual citizenship, legibility, health indicators, medicalisation

Social entrepreneurship before neoliberalism? The life and work of Akhtar Hameed Khan
David Lewis
Keywords: social entrepreneurship; non-governmental organisations (NGOs); community development; public administration; rural development; life history

A different perspective on the evolution of UK income inequality
A.B. Atkinson and Stephen P. Jenkins
Key words: inequality, tax unit, household, Gini coefficient, income tax data, household survey data, HBA1, SPI

Perspectives on poverty in Europe
Stephen P. Jenkins
Key words: poverty, material deprivation, Europe, EU-SILC

What are the factors that lead to the disengagement in activism over an individual's lifetime in the Global South?
Daniel Silver
Key words: Activism, social movements, sustainability, civil society

NGOs and the success paradox: Gay activism 'after' HIV/AIDS in China
Timothy Hildebrandt
Keywords: NGOs, LGBT, HIV/AIDS, China, development, aid