Welfare Reform on the Web (October 2000): Social Security - Overseas

CHANGE AND IMMOBILITY: THREE DECADES OF POLICY ADJUSTMENT IN THE NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM

A. Hemerijck and J. Visser

West European Politics, vol. 23, Apr. 2000, p. 229-256

In negotiated political systems like Belgium and the Netherlands, constrained by the rules of consociationalism and corporatism, policy change is dependent on the agreement of ruling coalition partners and support from the social partners. In the Netherlands the trade unions came to support wage restraint and increased labour market flexibility in order to protect jobs and control spiralling social security costs. Their Belgian counterparts could not embrace this approach, possibly due to the increasing salience of ethnic and linguistic conflict within the country.

DID THE AFDC PROGRAM SUCCEED IN KEEPING MOTHERS AND YOUNG CHILDREN LIVING TOGETHER?

P. D. Brandon

Social Service Review, vol. 74, 2000, p. 214-230

Article suggests that the AFDC program succeeded in keeping intact poor female - headed families with young children. In states paying higher welfare benefits, the AFDC program met its goal of keeping poor children and their biological mothers together.

Canadian Public Policy, vol. 26, 2000, p. 157-169

In recent years there has been a renewed interest in direct job creation programmes as part of the active labour market policy, especially in European OECD countries. Study provides a review of the cost-effectiveness of Canadian direct job creation programmes introduced by the federal government over the past 20 years. In the light of the review, two issues are identified as being of major importance. The first concerns the job-displacement effect and the related level of incrementality in job creation. The second concerns tensions within programmes between their objectives of providing counter-cyclical economic stimulus and of reducing structural problems among certain demographic groups, regions or industry sectors.

THE DISSEMINATION AND UTILIZATION OF WELFARE-TO-WORK EXPERIMENTS IN STATE POLICYMAKING

D. Greenberg, M. Mandell and M. Onstott

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, vol. 19, 2000, p. 367-282

Reports results of a telephone survey of US state-level officials as to the influence on them of evaluations of three state welfare innovations. In no instance were estimates of the effects of tested programmes decisive in the decision to adopt or not to adopt a tested policy. Other factors, such as political appeal, case of implementation, and consistency with current state objectives of federal policy weighed more heavily.

FINANCIAL CRISIS AND SOCIAL SECURITY: THE PARADOX OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

D. M. Shin

International Social Security Review, vol. 53, 2000, p. 83-107

Changes to the social security system in Korea have proceeded as a crucial measure in coping with soaring unemployment as well as alleviating the insecurities associated with structural adjustments. They have not been limited to the establishment of social safety net but have been developing towards a more redistributive and comprehensive welfare system. The ongoing expansion of the social security system after the financial crisis is due to the appearance of new policy networks characterizing a tripartite corporatism together with growing demands for social welfare provision.

D. Kasente

International Social Security Review, vol. 53, 2000, p. 27-41

Formal social security systems do not reach the majority of people in Africa, because they are designed only for the small percentage of the population in formal employment. Most women and rural-based men would benefit from some alternative form of social protection. Even among the few who are reached by formal schemes, women tend to be disadvantaged because of gender inequalities in the labour market. Non-formal, traditional systems of social security tend to exploit women for the benefit of other members of the extended family, with no guarantee of the women's own social protection.

LONE MOTHERS AND POLICY DISCOURSE IN NEW ZEALAND

S. Uttley

Journal of Social Policy, vol. 29, 2000, p. 441-458

In New Zealand policies towards lone parents are framed in terms of ensuring that non-custodial parents make a significant financial contribution and that lone mothers are provided with help to achieve independence and economic self-sufficiency through participation in the labour market. Article argues that the women's movement contributed to the definition of lone mothers as aberrent, and in need of being enticed or disciplined back towards normalcy.

MOTIVES, MEANS AND OPPORTUNITIES: REFORMING UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION IN THE 1990s

J. Clasen

West European Politics, Vol. 23, Apr. 2000, p. 89-112

This discussion of developments in unemployment compensation in the 1990s argues that the introduction of obligatory activation policies targeting young unemployed people in the UK and Denmark indicates an important type of welfare reform which is difficult to classify as either retrenchment or expansion. While Germany has moved some way in the same direction, a similar restructuring has not occurred. Reasons for these differences are explored.

THE ROLE AND DESIGN OF INCOME-RELATED HOUSING ALLOWANCES

P. A. Kemp

International Social Security Review, vol. 53, 2000, p. 43-57

Means-tested housing allowances have replaced breaks and mortar subsidies and rent control as the main means by which advanced welfare states provide financial assistance with housing costs.