{"title":"Ferrera, Maurizio; Miró, Joan; Ronchi, Stefano. Social reformism 2.0: Work, welfare and progressive politics in the 21st century. Northampton, MA, Elgar, 2024. 181 pp. ISBN 97810353.","authors":"Silvia Borzutzky","doi":"10.1111/issr.12370","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/issr.12370","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44996,"journal":{"name":"International Social Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142359954","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":"Reforming the Dutch pension system to ensure sustainability","authors":"Ed Westerhout, Eduard Ponds, Peter Zwaneveld","doi":"10.1111/issr.12368","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/issr.12368","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Netherlands is on the brink of reforming its system of occupational pensions as part of a more general reform of its three-pillar pension system. This reform features important changes to first pillar pension benefits. The focus of this article is however on the coming reform of occupational pensions, the second pillar of the system, which concerns both pension contributions and benefits. This reform is related to a series of reforms that have gradually transformed the pension contract that was dominant 20 years ago, a final salary defined benefit contract, into a collective defined contribution contract. We argue that these reforms are a response to changes in the external environment, such as population ageing and a secular decline of interest rates. The coming reform responds to the call for a pension scheme that is more individualistic, more closely connected to the labour market, and which does not share interest rate risks between generations. The New Pension Contract remains in part collective, since the assets of participants are invested collectively, and a mandatory solidarity fund can be used for intergenerational risk sharing.</p>","PeriodicalId":44996,"journal":{"name":"International Social Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/issr.12368","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142359902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social insurance for gig workers: Insights from a discrete choice experiment in Malaysia","authors":"Yashodhan Ghorpade, Amanina Abdur Rahman, Alyssa Jasmin","doi":"10.1111/issr.12365","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/issr.12365","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The rise of “gig” work globally has led to both enthusiasm for its potential to create lucrative employment for a large number of workers, as well as concerns about its implications for social protection. Even where social insurance systems allow for voluntary coverage, take-up among gig workers has remained low, leaving them unprotected against a range of risks. Looking at the Malaysian labour market, this article investigates whether the low take-up of social security coverage among gig workers can be explained by the inability or unwillingness of these workers to make the necessary social insurance contributions? We deploy a novel vignette-based experiment to ascertain gig workers’ willingness to pay for social insurance coverage. We find a large unmet need for social insurance among gig workers, as well as a high level of willingness to pay for unemployment insurance, retirement savings, and work-related injury insurance. Our analysis suggests that gig workers could benefit more from better tailored, more flexible, and more easily accessible instruments for social insurance, rather than from subsidies or matching contributions alone. We also find evidence of substitution between distinct insurance instruments; those gig workers with access to retirement savings are less willing to pay for unemployment insurance, and those with private medical insurance are less likely to contribute to the public work-related injury insurance programme. This underlines the need to consider a wider range of insurance instruments for gig workers, including those offered by the private sector.</p><p>L’essor du travail de plateforme dans le monde entier a fait naître un enthousiasme face à sa capacité à créer des emplois rémunérés pour de nombreux travailleurs, mais aussi des inquiétudes concernant ses conséquences du point de vue de la protection sociale. Même lorsque les systèmes d’assurance sociale permettent une couverture volontaire, les travailleurs de plateforme sont peu nombreux à utiliser ce droit, si bien qu’ils restent dépourvus de protection contre de nombreux risques. Cet article, qui porte sur le marché du travail de la Malaisie, examine si ce taux de recours faible s’explique par l’incapacité ou le refus de ces travailleurs de verser les cotisations de sécurité sociale nécessaires. Nous faisons appel à une expérimentation par vignettes novatrice pour évaluer le consentement des travailleurs de plateforme à cotiser pour accéder à une couverture sociale. Nous constatons l’ampleur des besoins d’assurance sociale non couverts parmi ces travailleurs, de même qu’un fort consentement à payer pour avoir droit à l’assurance chômage, au régime d’épargne-retraite et à l’assurance contre les accidents du travail. Notre analyse laisse penser que les travailleurs de plateforme pourraient tirer un meilleur parti de mécanismes d’assurance sociale plus adaptés, plus souples et accessibles plus facilement, que de subventions ou de l’abondement des cotisations. Nou","PeriodicalId":44996,"journal":{"name":"International Social Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142359898","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 impact of Malta's Tapering of Benefits scheme on employment outcomes","authors":"Kurt Sant","doi":"10.1111/issr.12366","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/issr.12366","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article analyses the Tapering of Benefits scheme introduced in Malta in 2014, aimed at unlocking the poverty trap stalemate. Survival analysis and Cox proportional hazard models are employed to analyse the impact that the scheme has had on the job-finding rate and the chances of retaining employment once individuals who were previously on benefits find a job. The analyses are based on high-quality national data on the whole population of beneficiaries and their employment histories. The results show that the scheme doubles the job-finding probability, whilst the chance of job termination drops by 11.8 percentage points for eligible individuals. Furthermore, the scheme's impact once it finally tapers out is not different from the first 36 months, showing that its impact is robust in the medium term.</p><p>Cet article porte sur le régime de diminution progressive des prestations introduit à Malte en 2014 afin de rompre l’engrenage de la pauvreté. Il fait appel à une analyse de survie et à des modèles à risque proportionnel de Cox pour étudier l’impact de ce régime sur le taux d’accès à l’emploi et sur les chances des anciens chômeurs indemnisés de conserver leur emploi une fois qu’ils en ont trouvé un. Les analyses reposent sur des données nationales de grande qualité portant sur l’ensemble des bénéficiaires et sur leur parcours professionnel. Elles montrent que le régime multiplie par deux la probabilité d’accéder à un emploi et réduit de 11,8 points de pourcentage le risque de perte d’emploi des bénéficiaires. De surcroît, l’impact du régime une fois que les prestations cessent totalement d’être versées est le même que celui mesuré pendant les 36 premiers mois, ce qui montre qu’il est robuste à moyen terme.</p><p>En este artículo se analiza el programa de reducción progresiva de las prestaciones, puesto en funcionamiento en Malta en 2014 para superar el estancamiento que provoca la trampa de la pobreza. Se utilizan análisis de supervivencia y modelos de riesgos proporcionales de Cox para analizar la repercusión del programa en las tasas de inserción laboral y en las posibilidades de conservar el empleo cuando las personas que recibían prestaciones encuentran un trabajo. Los análisis se basan en datos nacionales de alta calidad sobre el conjunto de beneficiarios de prestaciones y su historial laboral. Los resultados muestran que el programa duplica las probabilidades de encontrar trabajo, mientras que las posibilidades de extinción del contrato de trabajo disminuyen 11,8 puntos porcentuales. Además, cuando concluye el programa, su repercusión no difiere de la de los primeros 36 meses, lo que pone de relieve que tiene un fuerte impacto a medio plazo.</p><p>Im vorliegenden Artikel wird das 2014 in Malta eingeführte Programm zum schrittweisen Abbau von Sozialleistungen (<i>Tapering of Benefits</i>) analysiert, das darauf abzielt, die Armutsfalle zu überwinden. Mit Hilfe von Überlebensanalysen und <i>Cox-Proportional-Hazard</i>-Modellen werden","PeriodicalId":44996,"journal":{"name":"International Social Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142359956","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":"Remittance-financed social protection programmes for international migrant workers in Latin America","authors":"Cristina López-Cancio García","doi":"10.1111/issr.12369","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/issr.12369","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In recent years in Latin America, a small number of contributory social protection programmes have been extended on a voluntary basis to cover migrant workers, with affiliation financed by these workers’ remittances. That remittances offer a means to finance social protection programmes demonstrates the possibilities presented by international migration not only as regards improving social protection coverage but in contributing towards achieving target 1.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Agenda. This article addresses voluntary insurance programmes introduced in Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico for nationals working abroad and by means of which the families of such international migrant workers can also access health care and benefits in their home countries. In turn, international migrant workers on returning home can gain eligibility for a contributory retirement pension and disability benefits if they satisfy eligibility as well as the contribution conditions.</p><p>Les Pays-Bas s’apprêtent à réformer leur régime de pensions professionnelles dans le cadre d’une réforme plus vaste du système de retraite à trois piliers. Cette réforme transformera en profondeur les prestations versées par le premier pilier. L’article porte cependant sur les changements qui toucheront le deuxième pilier, formé des pensions professionnelles, et qui concerneront à la fois les cotisations et les prestations. Ce projet s’inscrit dans le prolongement d’une série de réformes qui ont progressivement fait évoluer le modèle à prestations définies basé sur le salaire final qui était dominant il y a 20 ans pour le transformer en un modèle collectif à cotisations définies. Nous avançons que ces réformes constituent une réponse aux mutations de l’environnement extérieur, par exemple au vieillissement de la population et à une baisse séculaire des taux d’intérêt. La réforme à venir répond à la volonté de créer un régime caractérisé par une dimension individuelle plus forte et par un lien plus étroit avec le marché du travail, et dans lequel les risques de taux d’intérêt ne sont pas partagés entre les générations. Néanmoins, le nouveau contrat de pension demeure en partie collectif puisque les actifs des cotisants sont investis collectivement et qu’un fonds de solidarité peut être utilisé pour assurer un partage intergénérationnel des risques.</p><p>En los últimos años, un pequeño número de programas de protección social contributivos en América Latina se ha extendido a los trabajadores migrantes de forma voluntaria, cuya afiliación se financia gracias a las remesas de estos trabajadores. La posibilidad de financiar los programas de protección social mediante remesas pone de manifiesto las oportunidades que ofrece la migración internacional, no solo para mejorar la cobertura de protección social, sino también para contribuir a la consecución de la meta 1.3 de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible de la Agenda 2030. En este artículo se examinan los programas de segur","PeriodicalId":44996,"journal":{"name":"International Social Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142359899","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":"Reflections on government-led social assistance programmes under Zimbabwe's National Social Protection Policy Framework: A social contract lens","authors":"Tomy Ncube, Una Murray","doi":"10.1111/issr.12367","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/issr.12367","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Social protection has gained global recognition for its role in addressing poverty, yet delivering social protection remains an intractable challenge for governments in the Global South. In this article, we assess the performance of government-run social assistance in Zimbabwe. Our assessment begins in 2016 when the National Social Protection Policy Framework (NSPPF) was promulgated to maximize returns on social investments. Utilizing a systematic review approach, we collated literature published between 2016–2023. We find that despite adopting the NSPPF, social protection programming remains a challenge in Zimbabwe. We find that the disbursement of transfers to beneficiaries are delayed, benefits are misaligned with market forces due to inflation, most programmes are run without monitoring and evaluation structures, funding in the sector remains inadequate to reduce poverty and vulnerability, and no grievance and redress mechanisms exist. Our synthesis underscores the need for the refreshment of the social contract in Zimbabwe, a renewal of political will to finance social assistance programmes, engagement to transform policy into action, the expansion of the civic space to ensure citizens effectively participate in calling for social assistance, as well as concerted efforts towards harmonizing existing social assistance programmes. We highlight the need to embed social protection within a human rights-based framework, and the need for robust monitoring frameworks along with predictable and dedicated financing.</p>","PeriodicalId":44996,"journal":{"name":"International Social Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/issr.12367","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142359901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Torry, Malcolm. A research agenda for basic income. Northampton, MA, Elgar, 2023. 365 pp. ISBN 9781803920955.","authors":"Gudrun Kaufmann","doi":"10.1111/issr.12351","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/issr.12351","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44996,"journal":{"name":"International Social Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140808139","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":"Flirting with a basic income in Canada: Were the lessons worth the risk of popular backlash?","authors":"Evelyn L. Forget, Sid Frankel","doi":"10.1111/issr.12354","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/issr.12354","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Canada responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with a series of supports, including direct payments to workers displaced by public health measures. While not a true basic income, the experience highlighted a number of issues including challenges with implementation and intergovernmental relations that affected public opinion and must be dealt with by basic income advocates. The operation of the Canadian social-liberal welfare state informed pandemic policy making and exhibited the path dependence of a deserving/undeserving binary that resulted in conditionality. The income supports associated with the pandemic represent a pragmatic response to an exogenous shock that highlights the inadequacies of existing policy and offers the possibility of change.</p>","PeriodicalId":44996,"journal":{"name":"International Social Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/issr.12354","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140808059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Flash in the pan or eureka moment? What can be learned from Australia's natural experiment with basic income during COVID-19","authors":"Troy Henderson, Ben Spies-Butcher, Elise Klein","doi":"10.1111/issr.12356","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/issr.12356","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread social and economic policy experimentation as governments sought to protect household finances while locking down economies. Cash transfers emerged as one of the most popular policy measures, leading many to reflect on new possibilities for enacting universal basic income through temporary or emergency interventions. We take Australia’s pandemic response, and particularly its Coronavirus Supplement, as an example of this broader experimentation. We analyse the Supplement through the lens of an emergency basic income, arguing the measure reflected existing institutional structures and norms, forms of national and international policy learning, and vulnerabilities in Australia’s liberalized housing and labour markets. While temporary, we consider how its apparent success might suggest ongoing policy relevance, either as a form of capitalist “crisis management” or as an alternative pathway for implementing forms of basic income.</p>","PeriodicalId":44996,"journal":{"name":"International Social Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/issr.12356","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140808136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jurgen De Wispelaere, Leticia Morales, Fabio Waltenberg
{"title":"Basic income as a pandemic social protection instrument: Lessons from Maricá, Brazil","authors":"Jurgen De Wispelaere, Leticia Morales, Fabio Waltenberg","doi":"10.1111/issr.12352","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/issr.12352","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article explores the connection between two related but distinct models of basic income proposals in the context of a pandemic emergency. While COVID-19 appears to have increased interest in basic income, this often ended up taking the form of a temporary emergency basic income (EBI) instead of a permanent universal basic income (UBI). In this article we argue that the “dial up/dial down” model of basic income allows us to link EBI and UBI in a way that offers both a practical response to important implementation challenges in emergency policy making and a strategic argument in favour of UBI as a pandemic policy instrument. We illustrate our argument by contrasting the <i>Renda Básica de Cidadania</i> (RBC) in the municipality of Maricá, Brazil, with two comparable programmes in the same region.</p>","PeriodicalId":44996,"journal":{"name":"International Social Security Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/issr.12352","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140808137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}