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Evaluating the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Hong Kong Welfare Programmes in Reducing Child Poverty
Author(s) -
Cheung Kelvin ChiKin,
Chan WaiSum,
Chou KeeLee,
Lau Maggie KaWai
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1111/chso.12290
Subject(s) - poverty , welfare , sample (material) , face (sociological concept) , inclusion (mineral) , poverty reduction , economic growth , demographic economics , public economics , economics , socioeconomics , psychology , sociology , social psychology , social science , chemistry , chromatography , market economy
This paper examines the effectiveness and efficiency of welfare programmes that are relevant to child poverty reduction in Hong Kong. We employ data from a cross‐sectional survey of a representative sample of families, conducted in 2015 through face‐to‐face interviews. Our results indicate that all four welfare programmes were inadequate in alleviating child poverty. This was either due to the deep poverty gap to be filled or high rates of exclusion error. Most programmes are also inefficient because of inclusion error. We conclude by suggesting some policy implications for the welfare programmes.