Martina Pezer, Senior Research Associate, participated on 26 May 2026 in the workshop “Families, Welfare Policies and Child Human Capital”, held in Luxembourg and organised by the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER). The workshop brought together complementary theoretical and empirical perspectives on the formation of children’s human capital.

The central focus of the workshop was how families and public policies shape children’s development. The contributions examined the mechanisms through which parental characteristics, beliefs, investments and family interactions, as well as welfare policies, educational interventions and early childhood education and care, influence children’s cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes. The keynote lecture was delivered by Prof. Isabelle Brocas from the University of Southern California.

Martina Pezer gave an invited presentation entitled “Public policies supporting families with children across welfare regimes: An empirical assessment of six European countries”. The presentation provided a comparative assessment of public policies supporting families with children across European welfare regimes, focusing on cash benefits, tax reliefs and other instruments through which governments seek to compensate for the costs of raising children and reduce child poverty. The results highlight the importance of combining universal and targeted measures, as well as ensuring sufficient budgetary investment, for more effective support to families with children.

Participation in the workshop was funded as part of the project Social Protection, Taxation, and Social Welfare in Croatia, funded by the European Union (NextGenerationEU).