Cash transfers and female labor supply—how public policy matters? A bibliometric analysis of research patterns

Abstract

This paper employs bibliometric analysis to determine the scientific landscape of the influence of social transfers on female labor supply. We determine the scale and scope of the subject, as well as interconnections between various research fields, utilizing the Scopus database. The most significant areas of the research landscape are (i) labor, (ii) socioeconomics, and (iii) maternity, with multiple and complex connections between and among them. However, these areas are specific within given countries, and there is little collaboration between countries and researchers. This implies that the current state of research may not be sufficient to explain how, in fact, cash transfers affect human behavior in case of women’s labor. It is important for policymakers, particularly those governing non-homogeneous structures, such as the European Union, to avoid generalizing conclusions on the success or failure of a given policy in a given country. Research results demonstrate that the large scientific landscape investigated is divided into clusters which encompass ideas that are strongly interconnected outside their clusters. Nevertheless, the degree of collaboration between authors from different countries is low. A map of keywords reveals that certain aspects of the landscape may be associated only with a specific country or group of countries.