Review of the Empirical Literature Assessing the Impacts of Government Policies on Family Form

Policymakers need to consider possible impacts on families when designing and implementing policies and services. This report documents a systematic review of empirical literature that considers the impacts of government policies on partnership formation, dissolution and reconstitution, fertility decision-making and family size, and family living arrangements. 

New Zealand has seen major changes in family patterns since the 1960s. The government’s role in these changes is subject to intense debate.

This report adopts a systematic review methodology to: 

• assess New Zealand and international evidence on the actual impacts of government policies on family formation, size, dissolution, reconstitution, and living arrangements, regardless of family legal status
• identify areas for further empirical research in New Zealand
• outline implications for New Zealand policy.

The report concludes that government plays a relatively minor role in influencing decisions to form couples, bear children, or end relationships. There is no evidence that government policies have been a primary driver of the major social and demographic changes affecting family form that have occurred over the past 40 years.

The importance of social and cultural context is highlighted by variations in patterns of partnering, relationship breakdown, and childbearing across countries and between different ethnic groups within the same country. Thus the applicability of international findings to the New Zealand setting may be limited.

The report identifies a lack of high-quality New Zealand research and concludes with specific recommendations for future research in the New Zealand context.