@article{ref1,
title="Decomposing the effect of social policies on population health and inequalities: an empirical example of unemployment benefits",
journal="Scandinavian journal of public health",
year="2014",
author="Ferrarini, Tommy and Nelson, Kenneth and Sjöberg, Ola",
volume="42",
number="7",
pages="635-642",
abstract="AIM: The purpose of this study is to discuss and empirically contrast different conceptualizations and operationalizations of social policies in analysing health and educational differences in health cross-nationally. <br><br>METHODS: Country-level institutional and expenditure data on unemployment benefit schemes and individual-level data from the EU-SILC for 23 countries were used to analyse the association between unemployment benefits and self-assessed health for individuals with different educational attainment. <br><br>RESULTS: The analyses indicate that higher coverage rate (i.e. the proportion of the relevant population eligible for benefits) is associated with better self-related health among both low- and high-educated individuals, but is not linked to smaller educational differences in health. In contrast, replacement rate (i.e. the amount of benefits received) in isolation is not related to self-assessed health. However, in countries where coverage rates are high, higher replacement rates are associated with better health among both low- and high-educated individuals and smaller educational differences in health. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Decomposing unemployment benefit programmes into two main dimensions - the proportion in the labour force covered by such programmes and the replacement rate received in case of unemployment - may present further insights into institutional mechanisms linking macro-level social policies to individual-level health outcomes.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1403-4948",
doi="10.1177/1403494814546349",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1403494814546349"
}