This book explores the adoption of "active ageing" policies by EU15 nations and the impact on older peoples' work and retirement policy options. It explores the labor market policies (including unemployment benefits, active labor market policies and partial pension receipt) and pension policies (pension principles, early retirement and incentives for deferral) adopted by these nations from the mid-1990s onwards, addressing three main questions. First, to what extent was the EU's vision of "active ageing" adopted in EU15 nations between 1995 and 2010? Second, what was the nature of policy reforms in these nations over this time period? Finally, which sub-groups within the older age cohort were subject to active ageing policies in these countries? The data indicate convergence towards the EU-vision of active ageing is complex, with nations adopting a variety of different reforms and policy mixes, which in turn focus on different groups within the older age cohort.

In India today only 35 percent of people have access to medicines. This book examines the rise of drug prices in India, and develops a new healthcare model, which if implemented, would extend access to medicines to India's entire population. Sensitivity tests show that the proposed model is affordable, equitable and implementable

Chapters in this work describe and analyze homelessness in 15 states, from all geographic regions of the US. The diversity of survey locations reveals a variety of forces contributing to homelessness. There are frequent efforts to situate the problem within the sociopolitical context of the 1980s. An occasional chapter contains rich theoretical commentary. . . . the scope of the findings is compelling and the contradiction of stereotypes is effective. Choice This volume reads and holds together well even though each of the 14 chapters was written by a different individual or group, covers a different section of the country, uses different types of data sources and analytical methods, and evidences differing perspectives. An excellent foreword and introduction (Bruce Wiegand, Howard M. Bahr) put everything in context . . . Library Journal The essays in this volume attempt to answer some of the basic questions involved in the study of homelessness. They address such issues as the nature and extent of homelessness in the United States, the socioeconomic and demographic features of the homeless population, and how homelessness is conceptualized. Other examined matters include family background, duration of homelessness, shelter and social needs, socioeconomic causes, and the demands of the homeless issue on national policy. This work provides a unique sociological and demographic perspective on the problems of homelessness. Its emphasis on local and state-level studies will make it invaluable for civic groups and policy makers. It will also interest scholars in the fields of housing, urban sociology, and social problems.

This book is about how much people earn and why the distribution of earnings has been changing over time. The gap between the top and bottom in the United States has widened significantly since 1980. Why has this happened? Is it due to new technologies? What is the role of globalisation? Are there historical precedents?
The book begins with the "race" between technology and education, and shows that continuing technical progress does not necessarily imply a continuing rise in dispersion. It then examines the experience of 20 OECD countries over the twentieth century, material presented in the form of 20 country case studies. The book breaks new ground in assembling data on the distribution of individual earnings covering much of the twentieth century and drawing on a variety of under-exploited sources.
The findings overturn a number of widely-held beliefs. It is not the earnings of the low paid that have been most affected by the recent changes; widening is largely due to what is happening at the top. The recent rise in earnings dispersion is not unprecedented, but should be seen as part of a longer-run history of successive compression and expansion of earnings differences.

The Oxford Handbook of Health Economics provides an accessible and authoritative guide to health economics, intended for scholars and students in the field, as well as those in adjacent disciplines including health policy and clinical medicine. The chapters stress the direct impact of health economics reasoning on policy and practice, offering readers an introduction to the potential reach of the discipline.
Contributions come from internationally-recognized leaders in health economics and reflect the worldwide reach of the discipline. Authoritative, but non-technical, the chapters place great emphasis on the connections between theory and policy-making, and develop the contributions of health economics to problems arising in a variety of institutional contexts, from primary care to the operations of health insurers. The volume addresses policy concerns relevant to health systems in both developed and developing countries. It takes a broad perspective, with relevance to systems with single or multi-payer health insurance arrangements, and to those relying predominantly on user charges; contributions are also included that focus both on medical care and on non-medical factors that affect health. Each chapter provides a succinct summary of the current state of economic thinking in a given area, as well as the author's unique perspective on issues that remain open to debate. The volume presents a view of health economics as a vibrant and continually advancing field, highlighting ongoing challenges and pointing to new directions for further progress.

This is a response to the need for up-to-date information about three major challenges posed by urbanization: buildings, transportation, and land use. Planning the built environment involves integrating all aspects of human life so that an esthetic, economic, and sustainable system is established. There are challenges which arise from this, but the primary goal is to provide adequate, safe, efficient, and affordable housing for the populations. The goal is to convert chaos to order, to make cities workable, to bar bad development, to encourage the building of necessary facilities, and to improve land use.

Basic Income in Japan is the first collective volume in English entirely devoted to the discussion of Japan's potential for a basic income program in the context of the country's changing welfare state. Vanderborght and Yamamori bring together over a dozen contributors to provide a general overview of the scholarly debate on universal and unconditional basic income, including a foreword by Ronald Dore. Drawing on empirical data on poverty and inequality as well as normative arguments, this balanced approach to a radical idea is essential reading for the study of contemporary Japan.

For some, Sweden is proof that a generous welfare state is fully compatible with a growing competitive economy. For others, it is a frightening example of what big government can do to a once thriving economy. Sweden and the Revival of the Capitalist Welfare State tackles a number of controversial questions regarding Sweden's economic and political development: How did Sweden become rich? How did Sweden become egalitarian? Why has Sweden since the early 90s grown faster than the US and most EU-countries despite its high taxes and generous welfare state? The author uses new research on institutions and economic reforms to explain the rise, the fall and the recent revival of the Swedish welfare state. The central argument is that a generous welfare state like that of Sweden can work well, provided that it is built on well-functioning capitalist institutions and economic openness. The book expertly explains how Sweden developed from a poor and highly unequal society to one of the richest and most egalitarian countries in the world by building a universal welfare state on a capitalist foundation. It also engages in an important discussion about the current and future challenges for the welfare state in general. The book will fit well in introductory and advanced courses on welfare state policy, social work, sociology, economic history, institutional economics and political science. In all these disciplines, the case of Sweden has always provoked interest and debate, due to Sweden's combination of prosperity, equality and extensive welfare state. The rapid pace of change in Sweden over the last 25 years, however, means that most other books are descriptively dated. Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Prosperity and equality: The golden years 1870-1970 3. The 'not quite so golden' years 1970 - 1995 4. The return of the capitalist welfare state 5. The capitalist welfare state's bloc-transcending history 6. The consequences of increasing competition 7. The resilience of labor market regulation and rent control 8. Challenges ahead: Can the capitalist welfare state survive? Appendices Bibliography Index

The compulsory nature of social security makes it possible for income to be distributed within and across beneficiary cohorts. Focusing on the Federal Social Security system, encompassing OASDI and Medicare, this volume examines the equity and adequacy criteria that serve as standards for determining how payroll tax revenues are to be distributed. Social Security distributes cash benefits to retired and disabled workers in accordance with past taxable earnings, and the book describes and evaluates the procedures for determining each worker's earnings-related benefit base. The benefit base serves as a standard of individual equity. Primary worker payments are determined by applying a cohort-specific benefit formula to the benefit base of each worker. The benefit formula includes a rate structure with a progressive tilt, resulting in a higher benefit-to-earnings ratio for workers with lower prior earnings. Other features of the benefit structure adjust benefits to allow for age at entitlement and presence of eligible dependents or survivors. This book examines all of these features from an individual equity perspective. The authors also use equity considerations to provide a framework for examining the disability determination process and the current procedure for financing the Hospital Insurance and Supplementary Medical Insurance components of Medicare. In conclusion, the authors contrast the existing system with alternatives that would conform more closely with an actuarial standard. They also conclude with a discussion of the effects of the impending OASI trust fund surplus on successive generations of beneficiaries.

There is a growing body of work on white farmers in Zimbabwe. Yet the role played by white women - so-called `farmers' wives' - on commercial farms has been almost completely ignored, if not forgotten. For all the public role and overt power ascribed to white male farmers, their wives played an equally important, although often more subtle, role in power and labour relations on white commercial farms. This `soft power' took the form of maternalistic welfare initiatives such as clinics, schools, orphan programmes and women's clubs, most overseen by a `farmer's wife'. Before and after Zimbabwe's 1980 independence these played an important role in attracting and keeping farm labourers, and governing their behaviour. After independence they also became crucial to the way white farmers justified their continued ownership of most of Zimbabwe's prime farmland. This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the role that farm welfare initiatives played in Zimbabwe's agrarian history. Having assessed what implications such endeavours had for the position and well-being of farmworkers before the onset of `fast-track' land reform in the year 2000, Hartnack examines in vivid ethnographic detail the impact that the farm seizures had on the lives of farmworkers and the welfare programmes which had previously attempted to improve their lot.

Based on the findings of a large-scale, comparative research project, this book systematically assesses the institutional design and national influence of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) on Social Inclusion and Social Protection, at the European Union (EU) level and in ten EU Member States. Besides offering novel empirical and theoretical insights into the operation and impact of the OMC, the book presents an up-to-date perspective on the future of social policy coordination within the Europe 2020 Strategy. The book is required reading for anyone concerned with understanding the contribution of new forms of governance to the past and future development of Social Europe.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

aWell organized, tightly written and full of interesting and provocative information. The authors produced a very good piece of scholarship that is theoretically grounded and attentive to detail, especially concerning methodological issues including the potential limitations of their study.a
--Victoria Basolo, University of California, Irvine

aThis well written book makes a major contribution to urban sociology and race/ethnic studies.a--"Choice"

a[W]ill be fascinating for policy makers and scholars concerned with housing patterns and racial discrimination.a
--"Jewish Book World"

"An excellent and timely volume, very well written, clearly organized, and cogently argued."
--Douglas S. Massey, author of "Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration"

"The Housing Divide brilliantly transforms the Big Apple into a crystal ball for glimpsing the racial and ethnic future of 21st century America. The core finding--that, just as in the past, racial discrimination keeps Americans with African ancestry from taking advantage of opportunities used by the newest immigrants and their children to get ahead--portends a troubling future in which American society may cleave between blacks and non-blacks. This book is a wake-up call to America to finally address racial discrimination in housing."
--Richard Alba, co-author of "Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration"

"The Housing Divide takes a hard look at housing and neighborhood quality in the nation's largest and most diverse city. It exposes longstanding features that are found in most American cities, including the potential for upward mobility by some immigrant newcomers, the traps that others fall into, and the continuing reality of racial discrimination that limits progress for too many New Yorkers."
&3151;John R. Logan, editor of "The New Chinese City: Globalization and Market Reform"

The Housing Divide examines the generational patterns in New York City's housing market and neighborhoods along the lines of race and ethnicity. The book provides an in-depth analysis of many immigrant groups in New York, especially providing an understanding of the opportunities and discriminatory practices at work from one generation to the next. Through a careful read of such factors as home ownership, housing quality, and neighborhood rates of crime, welfare enrollment, teenage pregnancy, and educational achievement, Emily Rosenbaum and Samantha Friedman provide a detailed portrait of neighborhood life and socio-economic status for the immigrants of New York.

The book paints an important, if disturbing, picture. The authors argue that not only are Blacks--regardless of generation--disadvantaged relative to members of other racial/ethnic groups in their ability to obtain housing in high-quality neighborhoods, but that housing and neighborhood conditions actually decline over generations. Rosenbaum and Friedman's findings suggest that the future of racial inequality in this country will increasingly isolate Blacks from all other groups. In other words, the "color line" may be shifting from a line separating Blacks from Whites to one separating Blacks from all non-Blacks.

Examines the consequences of welfare reform for black women fleeing domestic violence.

This timely and compelling ethnography examines the impact of welfare reform on women seeking to escape domestic violence. DC na-Ain Davis profiles twenty-two women, thirteen of whom are Black, living in a battered women's shelter in a small city in upstate New York. She explores the contradictions between welfare reform's supposed success in moving women off of public assistance and toward economic self-sufficiency and the consequences welfare reform policy has presented for Black women fleeing domestic violence. Focusing on the intersection of poverty, violence, and race, she demonstrates the differential treatment that Black and White women face in their entanglements with the welfare bureaucracy by linking those entanglements to the larger political economy of a small city, neoliberal social policies, and racialized ideas about Black women as workers and mothers.

The result of a conference organized to address problems raised by the housing crisis of the 1980s, this volume brings together academic and professional housing experts representing a variety of disciplines and political The essays evaluate the nation's housing stock and assess progress toward reaching national housing goals, address the issue of specialism and the problems of groups with special housing needs, and examine the range of policies aimed at meeting the housing needs of those for whom the market fails to offer acceptable options.

The result of a conference organized to address problems raised by the housing crisis of the 1980s, this volume brings together academic and professional housing experts representing a variety of disciplines and political perspectives. Their papers fall into three major groups. Those in the first group are concerned with establishing criteria for evaluating the nation's housing stock and assessing progress toward reaching national housing goals. A second set addresses the issue of specialism and the problems of groups with special housing needs, while the final section examines the range of policies aimed at meeting the housing needs of those for whom the market fails to offer acceptable options. The result is a major contribution to the ongoing dialogue regarding the needs of those for whom adequate housing is not currently available.

Grandparenting in divorced families is the first in-depth exploration of grandparents' relationships with their adult children and grandchildren in divorced families. It asks what part grandparents might play in public policy and whether measures should be taken to support their grandparenting role. Do grandparents have a special role in family life that ought to be recognised in law? This book examines grandparents' roles and functions and gives voice to their attitudes and opinions. Grandparenting is often represented sentimentally with too little account taken of the diversity of attitudes and behaviour. The study asks challenging questions about grandparents' contributions to family life and comments on the legal and policy implications. It includes fascinating discussion of issues such as: grandparents who are excluded and ignored; partisan behaviour and its effect on family relationships; communicating across the family divide; change and continuity in grandparents' relationships with their grandchildren. This groundbreaking book is intended for a wide readership. Grandparents and parents in divorced families will identify with many of the thoughts, feelings and experiences reflected here. Academics in social science and law departments will encounter new thinking about the nature of the grandchild-grandparent relationship. Policy makers will discover more about recent policy initiatives and their strengths and limitations.

Pete Alcock provides a comprehensive introduction to the analysis of poverty and social exclusion covering the definition, measurement, distribution and causes of poverty and the policies developed to combat it. The third edition has been rewritten to include recent developments while maintaining the successful broad approach of earlier editions.

This broad-ranging new text applies economics analysis to the aims, instruments and outcomes of land use planning and housing policies. The core focus is on providing students with a substantive and sophisticated understanding of the relation of the state and market and such key current issues as sustainable development, urban renaissance, affordable housing and the relationships between planning, housebuilding and house prices. Drawing examples from Britain, the rest of Europe and the US, it emphasizes the role of economics in promoting a theoretically-informed and evidence-based approach to policy formation and implementation.

Health Care is a central pillar of the Welfare State, in fact, the second pillar in terms of expenditure after pensions. However, we know little about how they perform. European Health Care Systems have been put increasingly under pressure during the last two decades. They have had to face a quadrilemma: to control costs and the increase in public expenditure; to guarantee equality of access; to maximize the quality of care; and to guarantee the responsiveness of the health system and the satisfaction of patients and professionals working in the field. Achieving good results on all these four objectives is extremely difficult and often trade-offs arise among different objectives. Using in-depth case study analysis on eight health care systems, belonging to different Welfare State traditions, and comparative statistical analysis on a broader group of countries, the book connects the main policy reforms of the last two decades with how well these systems perform, in terms of economic efficiency, medical achievements, social inequalities, and patients' and workers' conditions.

This book attempts to develop a recognition of the scale of the problem of prison suicide internationally, and to set in the context of the prison as an institution. The sequel to this book, "Deaths in Custody: Caring for people at risk" is, also published by Whiting and Birch.

There is a clear trend in rich countries that, despite rising incomes and living standards, the gap between rich and poor is widening. What does this mean for our health? Does increasing income inequality affect outcomes such as obesity, life expectancy and subjective well-being? Are rich and poor groups affected in the same ways? This book reviews the latest research on the relationship between inequality and health, and provides a pedagogical introduction to the tools and knowledge needed to understand and assess the vast literature on the subject. The book includes discussion of the definitions and measurement of objective and subjective health and income inequality, and illustrates how various measures have been developed in different countries. Main conclusions from the literature are then summarized and discussed critically. It incorporates a substantial research overview of the field, as well as a detailed debate of the empirical challenges that arise during research. The book concludes that results are surprisingly contradictory, but that several studies have found that higher inequality is directly linked to lower subjective well-being. Students and scholars in public health, social work, economics, and sociology will find this book an essential exposition of conceptual issues and empirical methods applied to the controversial topic of the health consequences of inequality.

This volume provides fresh empirical evidence of far reaching welfare state transformations in Europe and Japan that have changed the boundaries of the 'public' and 'private' domain within the mixed economies of welfare. Various modes of policy intervention are investigated, providing a nuanced account of reforms in the past decade.

With 50 percent new material, this third edition breaks this complex topic into key elements, examining the roots of the problem, programs that address it, current research, and public perceptions of homelessness. American Homelessness covers who the homeless are and why they are in such a situation; important events that have contributed to the problem; and a who's who of homelessness activism including people such as MacArthur Fellow Robert M. Hayes, the former securities lawyer who filed the landmark New York City right-to-shelter case in l979. It also includes a chronology; facts and statistics; key documents and reports; a discussion of the International Bill of Rights; a directory of organizations, associations, and government agencies; and an annotated bibliography. Documents include European legislation on homelessness, the International Bill of Rights, and the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements Includes a directory of organizations, associations, and government agencies-national, federal, and international

How do young people get by in hard times and hard places? Have they become a "lost generation" disconnected from society's mainstream? Do popular ideas about social exclusion or a welfare-dependent underclass really connect with the lived experiences of the so-called "disaffected," "disengaged" and "difficult-to-reach"? Based on close-up research with young men and women from localities suffering social exclusion in extreme form," Disconnected Youth?" will appeal to all those who are interested in understanding and tackling the problems of growing up in Britain's poor neighborhoods.