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From Housewives to Independent Earners: How the Tax System Can Help Women to Work in a Context of Strong Familialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 August 2014

FRANCESCO FIGARI
FRANCESCO FIGARI*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy and ISER University of Essex, UK email: francesco.figari@uninsubria.it
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Abstract

The Southern European countries share a similar welfare system which does not perform well either in terms of equity or efficiency. Using EUROMOD, the EU-wide microsimulation model, this paper evaluates the enhancement of both the redistributive and the incentive effects of the Italian tax-benefit system by introducing either a family-based or an individual in-work benefit, financed through the abolition of the existing tax credit targeted at dependent adults. The results show an increase in the labour supply of women both in couples and lone mothers, in particular among the poorest, with important redistributive effects. The in-work benefits can contribute to the de-familialisation of the Mediterranean welfare states by reducing the reliance on the family and compensating the cost of services.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 63 - 82
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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