Intergenerational Transmission of Dependence on Income Support: Patterns, Causation and Implications for Australian Social Policy

This project examines the consequences of growing up in an income-support family. The first stage describes the relationship between parents and children s income-support receipt to determine whether these children are more likely to access income-support programs themselves. Stage 2 identifies the causal mechanisms through which parental income-support receipt influences children s outcomes. Identification of these transmission mechanisms is a necessary first step in formulating policies targeted towards breaking any cycle of welfare dependence. This project is innovative in its use of survey data merged to unique administrative data that link the income-support records of some 53,000 young Australians and their parents.