{"title":"Pensions across generations: scenarios for the Maltese Islands","authors":"M. Vella, Philip von Brockdorff","doi":"10.1080/21699763.2019.1593878","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21699763.2019.1593878","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper tests whether in a PAYG system there is an inter-generational balance between the contributions made during the working-career and the pension benefit received in retirement; covering different cohorts. The analysis takes Malta as a case study. Though the dependency ratio is comparatively low, the population is rapidly ageing. The results show that there is a generational imbalance with the young cohort unlikely to be any better off than those who have already retired. This however is sensitive to the assumed discount rate and the ‘no policy’ change scenario. The results also show that future generations may be net-gainers assuming a sustained level of wage growth. If, on the other hand, wage growth slows, the younger generation may become increasingly reliant on the bequests of older generations. This would explain why pressure has increased to regularly adjust the existing PAYG system as well to introduce other forms of pension schemes.","PeriodicalId":38249,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy","volume":"35 1","pages":"280 - 298"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21699763.2019.1593878","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48170579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The financialisation of transnational family care: a study of UK-based senders of remittances to Ghana and Nigeria","authors":"N. Yeates, Freda Owusu-Sekyere","doi":"10.1080/21699763.2019.1593879","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21699763.2019.1593879","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Transnational families occupy centre-stage in literatures on transformations in the social organisation and relations of care and welfare because they express how social bonds are sustained despite geographical separation. This paper examines some key themes arising from a research study into remittance-sending practices of UK-based Ghanaians and Nigerians in the light of research literatures on transnational family care and development finance. The data comprises qualitative interviews with 20 UK-based Ghanaian and Nigerian people who regularly send remittances to their families ‘back home’. This paper discusses a social issue that arises from the transnationalisation of family structures and relations, when migrant family members are positioned within family networks as ‘absent providers’, and familial relations eventually become financialised. The findings show the complexities of transnational living, the hardships endured by remittance-senders and the particular strains of remittance-mediated family relationships. The financialisation of family relations affects the social subjectivity and positioning of remittance-senders within the family. Strain and privation are integral to participants’ experiences of transnational family life, while themes of deception, betrayal, and expatriation also feature. The suppression of emotion is a feature of the significant labour inputs participants make in sustaining relationships within transnational families. The paper considers UK social policy implications of the findings.","PeriodicalId":38249,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy","volume":"35 1","pages":"137 - 156"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21699763.2019.1593879","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49316460","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An approach to the development of comparative cross-national studies of street-level bureaucracy","authors":"Michael Hill, M. Møller","doi":"10.1080/21699763.2019.1593880","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21699763.2019.1593880","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Propositions about street-level bureaucracy run the risk of violating the scientific precept that a theoretical generalisation should be tested by replication in a variety of contexts. Many examples can be found of writings that simply indicate that street-level discretion is pervasive. This prompts the questions, ‘but how’, and under what conditions ‘may’ that happen? Comparison is needed to answer these questions, particularly cross-national ones. It will be argued that good cross-national comparative work must rest upon precise specification of the contexts to be compared and avoiding comparing tasks that seem similar, but in fact serve different functions in different contexts. To explore this one particular task – pre-school child care – is selected. The discussion of this specific example is examined as a model for similar comparative work.","PeriodicalId":38249,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy","volume":"35 1","pages":"177 - 193"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21699763.2019.1593880","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46610743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Elstad, Å. Hermansen, H. Brønnum-Hansen, P. Martikainen, O. Östergren, L. Tarkiainen
{"title":"Income security in Nordic welfare states for men and women who died when aged 55–69 years old","authors":"J. Elstad, Å. Hermansen, H. Brønnum-Hansen, P. Martikainen, O. Östergren, L. Tarkiainen","doi":"10.1080/21699763.2019.1593877","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21699763.2019.1593877","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Income security when health impairment or other social risks occur is a major objective of welfare states. This comparative study uses register data from four Nordic welfare states for examining equivalized disposable income during the last 12 years alive among men and women who died when aged 55–69 years old. The analysed outcome indicates the aggregate result of a varied set of income maintenance mechanisms. Median income increased in the Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish samples, but decreased somewhat in Denmark, probably due to relatively frequent transitions to retirement and larger income drops after retirement than in the other Nordic countries. Analyses of comparison samples weighted by propensity scores indicated a better income development among those who lived beyond the observation period than among those who died. The higher educated had a more favourable income development during the years prior to death than those with low education.","PeriodicalId":38249,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy","volume":"35 1","pages":"157 - 176"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21699763.2019.1593877","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42813909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Bottom-up picture of intra-national welfare regimes: the case of marginalised communities in Puerto Rico","authors":"Gibrán Cruz-Martínez","doi":"10.1080/21699763.2018.1526696","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21699763.2018.1526696","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The main purpose of this article is twofold: (1) an examination of welfare regimes using a bottom-up approach, which enables a comprehensive analysis of welfare production based on recipients perceptions; and (2) an examination of more than one type of welfare-mix coexisting inside the national level across policy sectors. A classification of welfare regimes is carried out following a bottom-up approach and relying on the basis of the importance of welfare providers to satisfy social risks and promote well-being. Three traditional (e.g. state, market, family) and one alternative welfare providers (e.g. community) are considered. Data is collected through twenty semi-structured interviews in seven marginalised communities of Puerto Rico. The results show five configurations of intra-national welfare-mixes across the following welfare areas: housing, nourishment, health, education, maternity/paternity, disability, work-unemployment and older-age. This paper contributes to the theoretical proposals of intra-national welfare regimes, and alternatives providers in the welfare-mix.","PeriodicalId":38249,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy","volume":"36 1","pages":"175 - 199"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21699763.2018.1526696","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46716428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"ICS volume 35 issue 1 Cover and Front matter","authors":"","doi":"10.1017/s2169976300001388","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s2169976300001388","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38249,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy","volume":" ","pages":"f1 - f1"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/s2169976300001388","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47590716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Childcare deserts and distributional disadvantages: the legacies of split childcare policies and programmes in Canada","authors":"S. Prentice, L. White","doi":"10.1080/21699763.2018.1526700","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21699763.2018.1526700","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Early childhood education and care (ECEC) policies and services in Canada exhibit marked gaps in access, creating ‘childcare deserts’ and distributional disadvantages. Cognate family policies that support children and families, such as parental leave and child benefits, are also underdeveloped. This article examines the current state of ECEC services in Canada and the reasons behind the uncoordinated array of services and policy, namely, a liberal welfare state tradition that historically has encouraged private and market-based care, a comparatively decentralised federal system that militates against coordinated policy-making, and a welfare state built on gendered assumptions about care work. The article assesses recent government initiatives, including the federal 2017 Multilateral Framework on Early Learning and Child Care, concluding that existing federal and provincial initiatives have limited potential to bring about paradigmatic third-order change.","PeriodicalId":38249,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy","volume":"35 1","pages":"59 - 74"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21699763.2018.1526700","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41523556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Icon and taboo: single-payer politics in Canada and the US","authors":"C. Tuohy","doi":"10.1080/21699763.2018.1550010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21699763.2018.1550010","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In 1965 and 1966, the United States and Canada adopted single-payer models of government insurance for physician and hospital services – universal in Canada, but restricted to certain population groups in the US. At the time, the American and Canadian political economies of health care and landscapes of public opinion were remarkably similar, and the different policy designs must be understood as products of the distinctive macro-level politics of the day. Subsequently, however, the different scopes of single-payer coverage would drive the two systems in different directions. In Canada, the single-payer system became entrenched in popular support and in the nexus of interest it created between the medical profession and the state. In the US, Medicare became similarly entrenched in popular support, but did so as part of the larger multi-payer private insurance system. In the process universal single-payer coverage became politically iconic in Canada and taboo in the US.","PeriodicalId":38249,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy","volume":"35 1","pages":"24 - 5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21699763.2018.1550010","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49559318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"President Obama, poverty, and the scope and limits of social policy change","authors":"Alex Waddan","doi":"10.1080/21699763.2018.1563560","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21699763.2018.1563560","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT There has been a growing discussion in recent years about rising inequality in the U.S. Yet, this discourse, in focusing on the fortunes of the top 1%, distracted attention from the design of policy initiatives aimed at improving socio-economic conditions for the poor. This paper examines the development of anti-poverty politics and policy in the US during the Obama era. It analyses how effective the strategies and programmes adopted were and asks how they fit with models of policy change. The paper illustrates that the Obama administration did adopt an array of anti-poverty measures in the stimulus bill, but these built on existing programmes rather than create new ones and much of the effort was stymied by institutional obstacles. The expansion of the Medicaid program, which was part of the ACA, was also muted by institutional opposition, but it was a more path breaking reform than is often appreciated.","PeriodicalId":38249,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy","volume":"35 1","pages":"111 - 96"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21699763.2018.1563560","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47277169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Policy or window dressing? Exploring the impact of poverty reduction strategies on poverty among the Canadian provinces","authors":"C. Plante","doi":"10.1080/21699763.2018.1549090","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21699763.2018.1549090","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Poverty reduction strategies (PRS) have become a popular instrument for addressing poverty globally. According to their proponents, PRS focus and coordinate poverty reduction efforts in order to overcome traditional economic and socio-demographic obstacles and reduce poverty unconditionally. According to their detractors, however, governments use PRS as ‘window dressing’ to gloss over unsuccessful and/or partial poverty reduction efforts. In Canada, all ten provinces have committed to adopting PRS. In this study, I identify the timing of the introduction of PRS action plans and explore whether they have tended to coincide with changes in provincial poverty levels. I find that more often than not levels have actually dropped before rather than after the introduction of PRS. This suggests that governments may have indeed used PRS as window dressing – but to showcase and claim credit for poverty reduction successes.","PeriodicalId":38249,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy","volume":"35 1","pages":"112 - 136"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/21699763.2018.1549090","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41801848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}