Discussion Papers

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18876

Intergenerational Welfare Persistence: Causal Evidence from Vietnam-Era Draft Lotteries

Nathan Deutscher, Peter Siminski

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18873

Who Benefits from Digitizing Public Programs?

Neil Cholli, Derek Wu

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18849

Inflation Bites Differently: Household Consumption, Welfare, and Poverty during the 2022 European Energy Crisis

Nicolò Badino, Gabriele Cardullo, Agnese Sechi

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18810

Progressing Towards Efficiency: The Role for Labor Tax Progression in Reforming Social Security

Krzysztof Makarski, Joanna Tyrowicz, Oliwia Komada

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18739

Welfare Reform: Consequences for the Children

Marianne Simonsen, Lars Skipper, Jeffrey A. Smith

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18711

Where to Build Affordable Housing? Evaluating the Tradeoffs of Location

Cody Cook, Pearl Z. Li, Ariel J. Binder

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18686

Brain Drain, Education Subsidy and the Bhagwati Tax

Maurice Schiff

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18636

Multiple Program Participation in the Safety Net: Incidence, Impediments, and Implications

Neil Cholli, Derek Wu

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18550

Relative Intergenerational Mobility: A Normative Framework and Evidence from Indonesia

Olivier B. Bargain, Flaviana Palmisano

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18435

Immigrant-Native Wage Gaps and Immigration Tariffs: Examining the Case for an H-1B Visa Tax

Michael A. Clemens

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18411

The Unintended Consequences of a Pension Age Increase. Evidence from Ireland

Dora Tuda, Karina Doorley, Simona Sandorova

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18361

Migration and Population Growth’s Impact on Natural Resources and Welfare: The Role of Manufacturing’s Returns to Scale

Maurice Schiff

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18360

Can Trade Benefit Natural Resources Under Population Growth? The Role of Manufacturing’s Returns to Scale

Maurice Schiff

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18259

Using the MVPF to Allocate Treatment Under Imperfect Compliance and Supply-Side Constraints

Antonio Dalla-Zuanna, Kai Liu

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18213

Immigration, Search, and Redistribution: A Conjecture

Oded Stark, Lukasz Byra

IZA Discussion Paper No. 18093

Trapped in Purgatory? The Impact of Divorce Laws on Women’s Welfare with Separation

Paula Calvo, Murat Iyigun, Jeanne Lafortune

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17958

Welfare Programs and Crime Spillovers

David Carson Jinkins, Elira Kuka, Claudio Labanca

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17934

The Inequality and Mobility of Exposure to European Soviet Communism

Joan Costa-Font, Anna Nicińska, Melcior Rosselló Roig

published online in: Journal of Comparative Economics, 28 August 2025

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17869

Welfare Conditionality in the OECD and in Latin America: A Comparative Perspective

Herwig Immervoll, Florencia Antía, Carlo Knotz, Cecilia Rossel

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17853

The Impact of Austerity on Mortality and Life Expectancy

Yonatan Berman, Tora Hovland

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17841

Daniel Kahneman’s Underappreciated Last Published Paper: Empirical Implications for Benefit-Cost Analysis and a Chat Session Discussion with Bots

C. Monica Capra, Thomas J. Kniesner

published in: Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 2025, 71(1), 29-51

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17839

Deter and Deteriorate: The Effects of Application Processing Times on Welfare Receipt and Employment

Heike Vethaak, Ernst-Jan de Bruijn, Marike Knoef, Pierre Koning

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17716

On a Transformation of the Gini Coefficient into a Well-Behaved Social Welfare Function

Oded Stark

published in: Kyklos, 2025, 78 (2), 301-304

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17650

Childhood Welfare Exposure and Economic Outcomes for Adult Daughters and Sons

Robert Paul Hartley, Carlos Lamarche, James P. Ziliak

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17566

Normative Judgments Implicit in the Tax System: A Simulation Approach

Niklas Isaak, Robin Jessen

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17463

Crisis Resilience of European Welfare States: The Role of Multiple Layers of Protection

Werner Eichhorst, Annabelle Krause-Pilatus, Mathias Dolls, Max Lay

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17378

Revisiting Dualism? The Governance of the Low Pay-Low Skill Labour Market in Four European Countries

Werner Eichhorst, Gemma Scalise

published online in: European Journal of Industrial Relations, 11. November 2025

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17244

Unintended Consequences of Welfare Cuts on Children and Adolescents

Christian Dustmann, Rasmus Landersø, Lars Højsgaard Andersen

revised version published in: American Economic Journal, 2024, 16 (4), 161–185

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17221

The Black-White Lifetime Earnings Gap

Ezra Karger, Anthony Wray

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17200

Population Growth and the Tragedy of the Commons: Can Trade Prevent Natural Resource and Welfare Collapse?

Maurice Schiff

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17095

Optimal Unemployment Insurance with Program Interactions

Zachary Parolin, Clemente Pignatti

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17057

Financial Incentives for Adoption and Kin Guardianship Improve Achievement for Foster Children

David Simon, Aaron Sojourner, Jon Pedersen, Heidi Ombisa Skallet

IZA Discussion Paper No. 17008

Modernizing Smallholder Agriculture and Achieving Food Security: An Exploration in Machinery Services and Labor Reallocation in China

Baoling Zou, Ashok K. Mishra

published in: Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 2024, 46 (4), 1662-1691

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16873

An Optimal Allocation of Asylum Seekers

Oded Stark, Grzegorz Kosiorowski

published in: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2024, 220, 1 - 11

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16820

The Gendered Nature of the Cost-of-Living Crisis in Europe

Denisa M. Sologon, Karina Doorley, Cathal O'Donoghue, Eugenio Peluso

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16660

Intergenerational Transmission of Welfare Benefit Receipt: Evidence from Germany

Jennifer Feichtmayer, Regina T. Riphahn

published in: Review of Income and Wealth, 2024, 70 (4), 1226-1251

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16619

Modelling the Distributional Effects of the Cost-of-Living Crisis in Turkey and the South Caucasus: A Microsimulation Analysis

Zeynep Gizem Can, Cathal O'Donoghue, Denisa M. Sologon, Darius Smith, Rosaleen Griffin, Una Murray

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16564

Sliding into Safety Net Participation: A Unified Analysis across Multiple Programs

Derek Wu, Jonathan Zhang

published in: National Tax Journal, 2005, 78 (1), 45–86

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16516

The Effect of Reducing Welfare Access on Employment, Health, and Children's Long-Run Outcomes

Jeffrey Hicks, Gaëlle Simard-Duplain, David A. Green, William P. Warburton

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16430

Graying and Staying on the Job: The Welfare Implications of Employment Protection for Older Workers

Todd Morris, Benoit Dostie

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16336

Debt Relief for the Financially Vulnerable: Impact on Employment, Welfare Receipt, and Mental Health

Ernst-Jan de Bruijn, Heike Vethaak, Pierre Koning, Marike Knoef

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16336

Debt Relief for the Financially Vulnerable: Impact on Employment, Welfare Receipt, and Mental Health

Ernst-Jan de Bruijn, Heike Vethaak, Pierre Koning, Marike Knoef

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16294

Certification and Recertification in Welfare Programs: What Happens When Automation Goes Wrong?

Derek Wu, Bruce D. Meyer

forthcoming in: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16285

Welfare Reform and Migrant's Long-Term Labor Market Integration

Johannes S. Kunz, Anna Zhu

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16209

Health and Wellbeing Spillovers of a Partner's Cancer Diagnosis

Viola Angelini, Joan Costa-Font

published in: Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation, 2023, 212, 422 - 437

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16130

On a Tendency in Health Economics to Dwell on Income Inequality and Underestimate Social Stress

Oded Stark

published in: Economics & Human Biology, 2023, 49, 101232

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16077

Refugee Benefit Cuts

Christian Dustmann, Rasmus Landersø, Lars Højsgaard Andersen

published in: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2024, 16 (2), 406 - 441

IZA Discussion Paper No. 16066

Minimum Income Support Systems as Elements of Crisis Resilience in Europe

Werner Eichhorst, Annabelle Krause-Pilatus, Paul Marx, Mathias Dolls, Max Lay

updated version available as DP 17463

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15976

The Employment Effects of Generous and Unconditional Cash Support

Timo Verlaat, Federico Todeschini, Xavier Ramos

published as 'The employment effects of a means-tested guaranteed income policy' in: Journal of Public Economics, 2025, 248, 105420

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15923

A Pure Theory of Population Distribution When Preferences Are Ordinal

Holger Stark, Grzegorz Kosiorowski

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15904

Explaining Happiness Trends in Europe

Richard A. Easterlin, Kelsey J. O'Connor

published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022, 119 (37), e2210639119.

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15891

Activating the Long-Term Inactive: Labor Market and Mental Health Effects

Mareen Bastiaans, Robert Dur, Anne C. Gielen

published in: Labour Economics, 2024, 90, 102593

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15867

Dynastic Measures of Intergenerational Mobility

Olivier B. Bargain, Maria C. Lo Bue, Flaviana Palmisano

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15738

Welfare and Distributional Impact of Soaring Prices in Europe

Denisa M. Sologon, Cathal O'Donoghue, Jules Linden, Iryna Kyzyma, Jason Loughrey

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15670

Households in Transit: COVID-19 and the Changing Measurement of Welfare

Laura Caron, Erwin R. Tiongson

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15592

The Fiscal Effect of Immigration: Reducing Bias in Influential Estimates

Michael A. Clemens

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15579

Privatizing Disability Insurance

Arthur Seibold, Sebastian Seitz, Sebastian Siegloch

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15466

Evaluating the Impacts of Minigrid Electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sinem H. Ayhan, Giacomo Falchetta, Jan C. Steckel

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15431

Stigma in Welfare Programs

Pablo Celhay, Bruce D. Meyer, Nikolas Mittag

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15399

COVID-19 Private Pension Withdrawals and Unemployment Tenures

Tristram Sainsbury, Robert Breunig, Timothy Watson

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15317

The Economic and Fiscal Effects on the United States from Reduced Numbers of Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Michael A. Clemens

published in: Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 2022, 38 (3), 449-486.

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15294

Hiding the Elephant: The Tragedy of COVID Policy and Its Economist Apologists

Gigi Foster, Paul Frijters

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15203

Does Cutting Child Benefits Reduce Fertility in Larger Families? Evidence from the UK’s Two-Child Limit

Mary Reader, Jonathan Portes, Ruth Patrick

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15178

Universal Credit: Welfare Reform and Mental Health

Mike Brewer, Thang Dang, Emma Tominey

published in: Journal of Health Economics, 2024, 98, 102940

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15170

Making Activation for Young Welfare Recipients Mandatory

Espen S. Dahl, Øystein Hernaes

published in: Labour, 2023, 37 (1), 96-121

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15100

Progressing Towards Efficiency: The Role for Labor Tax Progression in Reforming Social Security

Krzysztof Makarski, Joanna Tyrowicz, Oliwia Komada

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15053

Socially Optimal Crime and Punishment

Eduardo Ferraz, Rodrigo R. Soares

IZA Discussion Paper No. 15046

The Marginal Labor Supply Disincentives of Welfare: Evidence from Administrative Barriers to Participation

Robert A. Moffitt, Matthew V. Zahn

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14995

What Leads to Measurement Errors? Evidence from Reports of Program Participation in Three Surveys

Pablo Celhay, Bruce D. Meyer, Nikolas Mittag

published in: Journal of Econometrics, 2024, 238 (2), 105581

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14968

Do Changes in Employment and Hours Worked Contribute to a Decreasing in the Mental Health of Single Mothers during a Period of Welfare Reform in the UK? A Longitudinal Analysis (2009-2019)

Julija Simpson, Clare Bambra, Heather Brown

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14932

Spatial and Time Spillovers of Driving Restrictions: Causal Evidence from Lima's Pico Y Placa Policy

Edgar Salgado, Oscar A. Mitnik

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14861

Increasing Women's Empowerment: Implications for Family Welfare

Kate Ambler, Kelly M. Jones, Michael O’Sullivan

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14805

Efficiency versus Insurance: Capital Income Taxation and Privatizing Social Security

Krzysztof Makarski, Joanna Tyrowicz, Oliwia Komada

published 'Capital income taxation and reforming social security in an OLG economy' in: Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 2024, 165, 104878

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14765

The Political (In)Stability of Funded Social Security

Roel M. W. J. Beetsma, Oliwia Komada, Krzysztof Makarski, Joanna Tyrowicz

published in: Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 2021, 133, 104237

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14761

A Social-Psychological Reconstruction of Amartya Sen's Measures of Inequality and Social Welfare

Oded Stark, Wiktor Budzinski

published in: Kyklos, 2021, 74 (4), 552 - 566

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14761

A Social-Psychological Reconstruction of Amartya Sen's Measures of Inequality and Social Welfare

Oded Stark, Wiktor Budzinski

published in: Kyklos, 2021, 74 (4), 552 - 566

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14752

Two Decades of Welfare Reforms in Australia: How Did They Affect Single Mothers and Their Children?

Alexandra de Gendre, Stefanie Schurer, Angela Zhang

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14729

Employer Sanctions: A Policy with a Pitfall?

Oded Stark, Marcin Jakubek

published in: Robert M. Sauer (ed.): World Scientific Handbook of Global Migration Volume 1: Immigration and the Labor Market: A Global View of Assimilation and its Aftermath, 2024, 205–223

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14720

Mobile Broadband Internet, Poverty and Labor Outcomes in Tanzania

Kalvin Bahia, Pau Castells, Genaro Cruz, Takaaki Masaki, Carlos Rodriguez Castelan, Viviane Sanfelice

published in: World Bank Economic Review, 2023, 37 (2), 235–256

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14601

Welfare Effects of Unemployment Benefits When Informality Is High

Hannah Liepmann, Clemente Pignatti

published in: Journal of Public Economics, 2024, 229, 105032.

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14585

Welfare versus Work under a Negative Income Tax: Evidence from the Gary, Seattle, Denver and Manitoba Income Maintenance Experiments

Chris Riddell, W. Craig Riddell

published in: Journal of Labor Economics, 2024, 42 (2), 427 - 467

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14546

School Health Programs: Education, Health, and Welfare Dependency of Young Adults

Signe A. Abrahamsen, Rita Ginja, Julie Riise

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14517

American Delusion: Life Expectancy and Welfare in the US from an International Perspective

Rodrigo R. Soares, Rudi Rocha, Michel Szklo

published in: Journal of Human Capital, 2022, 16 (1), 73 - 132

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14444

Capital Fundamentalism and Structural Transformation

Achmad Tohari, Christopher Parsons, Anu Rammohan

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14431

Happy to Help: The Welfare Effects of a Nationwide Micro-Volunteering Programme

Paul Dolan, Christian Krekel, Ganga Shreedhar, Helen Lee, Claire Marshall, Allison Smith

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14370

Death and Destitution: The Global Distribution of Welfare Losses from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Francisco H. G. Ferreira, Olivier Sterck, Daniel Gerszon Mahler, Benoit Decerf

published in: LSE Public Policy Review, 2021, 4 (2), 1- 11

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14195

Welfare Effects of Property Taxation

Max Löffler, Sebastian Siegloch

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14100

Prioritarianism and Equality of Opportunity

Paolo Brunori, Francisco H. G. Ferreira, Vito Peragine

published in: Matthew Adler and Ole Norheim (eds.), Prioritarianism in Practice, Cambridge: CUP, 2022

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14063

Does the Rise of China Lead to the Fall of European Welfare States?

Erling Barth, Henning Finseraas, Anders Kjelsrud, Karl Ove Moene

IZA Discussion Paper No. 14044

Competition Reform and Household Welfare: A Microsimulation Analysis of the Telecommunication Sector in Ethiopia

Carlos Rodriguez Castelan, Abdelkrim Araar, Eduardo A. Malásquez, Rogelio Granguillhome Ochoa

published in: Telecommunications Policy, 2022, 46 (2), 102243

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13848

Diagnostic Uncertainty and Insurance Coverage in Credence Goods Markets

Loukas Balafoutas, Helena Fornwagner, Rudolf Kerschbamer, Matthias Sutter, Maryna Tverdostup

largely revised version published as "Diagnostic uncertainty and insurance coverage in credence goods markets. An experiment" in: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2026, 247, 107608

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13761

An Adverse Social Welfare Effect of Quadruply Gainful Trade

Oded Stark, Grzegorz Kosiorowski

published in: East Asian Economic Review, 2020, 24 (3), 207-235

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13684

The Effect of Job Search Requirements on Welfare Receipt

Nicolas Herault, Ha Vu, Roger Wilkins

published in: Journal of Labor Economics, 2024, 42 (3), 635 - 657

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13675

Redistribution and Insurance in Welfare States around the World

Charlotte Bartels, Dirk Neumann

published in: Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 2021, 123 (4), 1116 - 1158

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13662

An Economics-Based Rationale for the Rawlsian Social Welfare Program

Oded Stark

published in: Rodríguez, J.G. and Bishop, J.A. (eds), Inequality, Redistribution and Mobility, Bingley, 2020, 179-186

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13662

An Economics-Based Rationale for the Rawlsian Social Welfare Program

Oded Stark

published in: Rodríguez, J.G. and Bishop, J.A. (eds), Inequality, Redistribution and Mobility, Bingley, 2020, 179-186

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13660

Do Europeans Care about Climate Change? An Illustration of the Importance of Data on Human Feelings

Adam Nowakowski, Andrew J. Oswald

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13625

Modern Infectious Diseases: Macroeconomic Impacts and Policy Responses

David E. Bloom, Michael Kuhn, Klaus Prettner

published in: Journal of Economic Literature, 2022, 60 (1), 85–131

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13600

Winners and Losers of Immigration

Davide Fiaschi, Cristina Tealdi

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13580

Behavioral Welfare Economics and Risk Preferences: A Bayesian Approach

Xiaoxue Sherry Gao, Glenn Harrison, Rusty Tchernis