The effectiveness of minimum income benefits in poverty reduction in Spain

One of the greatest peculiarities of the Spanish system of minimum income benefits is its complex organisation. There is a wide variety of specific means‐tested benefits whose management and financing depend on the central government. They are designed to protect different contingencies, p...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ayala Cañón, Luis, Arranz Muñoz, José María|||0000-0001-8112-2867, García Serrano, Carlos|||0000-0002-5143-8278, Martínez Virto, Lucía
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
Repositorio:e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/46887
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10017/46887
https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12447
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Minimum income benefits
Poverty
Poverty reduction
Mediterranean Welfare states
Spain
Economía
Descripción
Sumario:One of the greatest peculiarities of the Spanish system of minimum income benefits is its complex organisation. There is a wide variety of specific means‐tested benefits whose management and financing depend on the central government. They are designed to protect different contingencies, providing very different levels of protection. On the other hand, the general risk of poverty is covered by regional governments without any coordination and financing from the central government. In this article, we provide a picture of the possibilities and limits of the current set of welfare benefits, focusing especially on its effectiveness in terms of reducing poverty. Our findings show that most benefits are clearly insufficient to cover the risk of poverty in terms of both incidence and intensity. The results show the need for the redesign of the system to better articulate existing benefits in order to prevent new forms of poverty and to respond to emergency situations.