Tales of Robin Hood (part 3): The long view – social policies and the life cycle

Social policies shift resources between individuals and families, through taxes, cash payments and in-kind services, and to understand the impact of these measures fully, we need to look at several dimensions. One relates to policy design: the first article in this series discussed how social policy can have ‘Robin Hood’ goals (redistribution from rich to poor) or ‘piggy bank’ goals (redistribution between stages of life, often from the middle to the young and old) (Whiteford 2015a). Another relates to time, which complicates the picture considerably. The measures I discussed in the second article of this series were based on data collected at a point in time, which enabled a ‘snapshot’ comparison of what different kinds of households received and contributed in a given year (Whiteford 2015b). But household and individual circumstances change over time. Some changes happen as life takes its course: for example, children begin life as receivers, but grow up, leave school, start work and become contributors. Other changes are changes of fortune: a person in work may lose their job or become sick and need income support for a period of time.