ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the work of the European Observatory for National Family Policies, which from 1993 to 1996 was coordinated from the University of York. It presents an exploratory attempt to relate estimates of the level of child poverty derived from surveys of the population to the analysis of tax/benefit systems derived from model family matrix analysis. Factors which might justify some variation in financial provision include variations in the costs of a child in different countries and the extent to which services are publicly subsidised. All welfare states have some combination of cash benefits, tax reliefs or services in kind which provide relief for parents with the costs of raising children. Together these can be described as a ‘child benefit or family transfer package’. Some elements of the package in some countries may be explicitly or implicitly designed to target help on those families with children who have low or no earnings.
