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Family Policy

Encyclopedia of Public Policy

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Definitions

Family policy can broadly be defined as policies that address families with children to affect their functioning, well-being and the responsibilities between family members. This definition limits the concept of family to families with dependent children (Daly, 2020). It excludes policies that regulate reproductive processes before children are born such as abortion policy or pregnancy healthcare policy, as well as policies that affect relationships between adult children and their parents, such as policies regulating home care for spouses, parents, siblings, or adult children in need of care. Cross-country comparative studies usually invoke such a narrower definition, unless the analysis explicitly focuses on implications for intergenerational relations.

Based on this narrower definition, three categories of family policy are usually distinguished: (a) financial transfers and tax benefits, (b) parental leave from paid work, and (c) early childhood education and care. The...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Berlin, Germany

    Hannah Zagel

Authors
  1. Hannah Zagel
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Correspondence to Hannah Zagel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Public Policy, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Minna van Gerven

  2. Department of Political Science, University of Montreal, Montréal, Canada

    Christine Rothmayr Allison

  3. Institute of Political Science, University of Münster, Münster, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Klaus Schubert

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Social and Public Policy, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Minna van Gerven

  2. Department of Political Science, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Christine Rothmayr Allison

  3. Institute for Political Science, Universität Münster, Münster, Germany

    Klaus Schubert

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Zagel, H. (2023). Family Policy. In: van Gerven, M., Rothmayr Allison, C., Schubert, K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Public Policy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90434-0_18-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90434-0_18-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-90434-0

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Family Policy
    Published:
    23 June 2023

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90434-0_18-2

  2. Original

    Family Policy
    Published:
    06 May 2023

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90434-0_18-1

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