中文摘要
英国统一福利金(Universal Credit, UC)福利改革简化了福利体系,同时强力激励人们重返可持续就业。我们利用UC的交错(分批)推开,估计在UC制度下失业相对于原制度对心理健康的差异化效应。保险保障可能性较少的群体——单身成人与单亲父母——心理健康恶化达8.4%–13.9%个标准差,且持续至随后一年。对于夫妇,UC部分或完全缓解了失业对心理健康的影响。机制分析显示,对单身成人和单亲父母而言,福利收入的减少与严格的求职要求压倒了申领福利行政负担减轻所带来的任何正向福利效应。
Abstract
The UK Universal Credit (UC) welfare reform simplified the benefits system whilst strongly incentivising a return to sustainable employment. Exploiting a staggered roll-out, we estimate the differential effect of unemployment under UC versus the former system on mental health. Groups with fewer insurance possibilities - single adults and lone parents - experience a mental health deterioration of 8.4-13.9% standard deviations which persists into the subsequent year. For couples, UC partially or fully mitigates mental health consequences of unemployment. Exploring mechanisms, for single adults and lone parents, reduced benefit income and strict job search requirements dominate any positive welfare effects of the reduced administrative burden of claiming benefits.