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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social welfare & social services > Welfare & benefit systems

Family Welfare - Gender, Property, and Inheritance since the Seventeenth Century (Hardcover): David R. Green, Alastair Owens Family Welfare - Gender, Property, and Inheritance since the Seventeenth Century (Hardcover)
David R. Green, Alastair Owens
R2,231 R2,061 Discovery Miles 20 610 Save R170 (8%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

The history of welfare provision has generally focused on the rise of the so-called welfare state and institutional provision for the poor. Recent studies have begun to look beyond the state to other ways in which assistance, care, and support were provided in the past, but the focus remains primarily on the poor. This work widens our understanding of welfare by focusing not on the poor but on those who have some wealth. It draws attention to the importance of family as part of a "mixed economy" of welfare provision that also incorporates the state, the market, and the voluntary sector. This book offers an exciting new approach to the history of welfare by focusing attention on the complex range of sources of support drawn on to meet family needs. The chapters highlight the significance of the family as a link in in the provision of assistance. They also focus on the role played by gender relations in shaping welfare strategies. An extensive introduction is followed by ten chapters presenting detailed studies of the provision of family welfare across western Europe and the United States over the past four hundred years.

Family Violence (Hardcover): Mildred Pagelow Family Violence (Hardcover)
Mildred Pagelow
R2,841 R2,575 Discovery Miles 25 750 Save R266 (9%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Bringing together many different theoretical viewpoints and empirical findings, this volume provides an up-to-date state-of-the-art report on violence in families. Included are in-depth analyses of child, spouse, and parent abuse, sibling violence, and sexual abuse.

America's Shame - Women and Children in Shelter and the Degradation of Family Roles (Hardcover, New): Barbara A. Arrighi America's Shame - Women and Children in Shelter and the Degradation of Family Roles (Hardcover, New)
Barbara A. Arrighi
R2,211 R2,041 Discovery Miles 20 410 Save R170 (8%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Rejecting those who urge a bootstrap approach to people living in extreme poverty on the edge of society, sociologist Barbara Arrighi makes an eloquent, compassionate plea for empathy and collective responsibility toward those for whom either the boots or the straps are missing. This book further offers solutions in consciousness raising, community collaboration, and informed, responsible public policy. The book is a critique of a system that purports to serve yet sometimes impedes the welfare of those who are in need of the basic elements for survival, including affordable shelter. It analyzes the structural factors of poverty and the social psychological costs of being poor and lacking a home. Utilizing interview findings from families who have lived in a shelter in northern Kentucky and from staff members, the book examines the degrading effects of shelter life on women's self-respect and children's development. Rather than an examination of individual pathologies leading to lack of shelter, it centers on women and children living in shelters and offers a sociological study of poverty and the family.

Why Fight Poverty? - And Why it is So Hard (Paperback): Julia Unwin Why Fight Poverty? - And Why it is So Hard (Paperback)
Julia Unwin
R386 Discovery Miles 3 860 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Poverty, and calls to end it, date back centuries. Even in prosperous modern times, despite the huge transformation of society, poverty has persisted. The challenge is getting harder, not easier, because of more recent changes in society such as the social distance between people in poverty and others, changing family structures (and our mixed views about them) and changing community patterns. The recent economic crisis seems set to leave us with a very different economy in which some may never work. This book looks back at the struggle to rid the country of poverty and asks if the struggle is worth it. What would a poverty free country be like if we could overcome the obstacles which impede progress?

Soviet Social Reality in the Mirror of Glasnost (Hardcover): Jim Riordan Soviet Social Reality in the Mirror of Glasnost (Hardcover)
Jim Riordan
R2,647 Discovery Miles 26 470 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Soviet and Western sociologists come together in this book to present results of recent sociological surveys and to analyse important social issues against the background of the revelations of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The book spans six major issues: the family and women, social care, young people, deviance (including prostitution), leisure and privilege (including the black market).

New Risks, New Welfare - The Transformation of the European Welfare State (Hardcover, New): Peter Taylor-Gooby New Risks, New Welfare - The Transformation of the European Welfare State (Hardcover, New)
Peter Taylor-Gooby
R5,473 Discovery Miles 54 730 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

This book introduces the concept of new social risks in welfare state studies and explains their relevance to the comparative understanding of social policy in Europe. New social risks arise from shifts in the balance of work and family life as a direct result of the declining importance of the male breadwinner family, changes in the labor market, and the impact of globalization on national policy-making. They differ from the old social risks of the standard industrial life-course, which were concerned primarily with interruptions to income from sickness, unemployment, retirement, and similar issues. New social risks pose new challenges for the welfare policies of European countries, such as the care of children and the elderly, more equal opportunities, the activation of labor markets and the management of needs that arise from welfare state reform, and new opportunities for the coordination of policies at the EU level.
The book includes detailed and up-to-date case studies of policy development across these areas in the major European countries. These studies, written by leading experts, are organized in a comparative framework which is followed throughout the book. They highlight the way in which national welfare state regimes and institutional arrangements shape policy-making to meet new social risks.
A major feature of this volume is the analysis of developments at the EU level and their interaction with national policies. The EU has been largely unsuccessful in its interventions in old social risk policy, but appears to have more success in its attempts to coordinate policy for new social risks. Experience here may provide lessons for future developments in EU policy-making.
The comparative framework of the book seeks to inform an understanding of the development of new social risks in Europe and of the particular political opportunities and challenges that result. It provides an original analysis of pressing issues at the forefront of European welfare policy debate and locates it at the heart of current theoretical debates.

Popular American Housing - A Reference Guide (Hardcover, New): Ruth S. Brent, Benyamin Schwarz Popular American Housing - A Reference Guide (Hardcover, New)
Ruth S. Brent, Benyamin Schwarz
R2,080 R1,895 Discovery Miles 18 950 Save R185 (9%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Since the Garden of Eden, humanity has been concerned with shelter. Yet housing means different things to different people. This work is a comprehensive, historical reference guide that reviews housing concepts and issues. It introduces the reader to the current body of literature and seminal work in housing from a multidisciplinary perspective. The nature of the topic is multifaceted, fragmented, and demanding of serious study from diverse disciplines-this study spans the broad domains of housing knowledge in architectural history and theory; environment and behavior; design process and methods; and building and environmental technology. The book begins with a discussion of vernacular housing and American culture and makes the case that dwellings reflect the people of different regions, materials, techniques, and design traditions of an earlier time. The history of American housing is reviewed with biographies and bibliographies, setting the stage for the environmental and social science perspective of housing. Residential environments are then considered in the broad sense of home and housing. Neighborhood and community are examined with a special focus on people, behavior, and the physical setting. The arts and popular media chapter presents American popular housing as image and icon, focusing on the arts and popular media as channels of visual and symbolic information or communication. These channels include painting, prints, pattern books, photography, music, film, television and video, literature, how-to manuals, and newspapers and magazines. Taking a macro-level perspective, direct and indirect programs of public administration and policy for housing are discussed. Then, the complex systems of financing, and the prevalance and mechanisms for matching buyers with sellers is considered in the chapter that considers housing finance, marketing, economics and management. The chapter on environmental design, construction process, and technology reviews the professional disciplines and their perspectives on housing, special populations and accessibility needs, descriptions of building trades, terms, materials, construction processes and past industrial housing experiments, as well as issues of energy management, computer technology, futuristic housing, air quality and household hazards. Using current technology to conduct research, the final chapter breaks from the conventional ways of locating hard-copy, copyrighted references to a seemingly endless potential of electronic communication systems such as data tapes; on-line databases; other electronic databases; electronic mail; listserves, chat, and on-line communities; libraries; on-line electronic texts; software; and news and journals including electronic journals.

Tourism, Mobility and Second Homes - Between Elite Landscape and Common Ground (Hardcover): C. Michael Hall, Dieter K. Muller Tourism, Mobility and Second Homes - Between Elite Landscape and Common Ground (Hardcover)
C. Michael Hall, Dieter K. Muller
R2,617 Discovery Miles 26 170 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Second homes - the cottage, the summer house, the bach - are an important part of the tourism and leisure lifestyles of many people in the developed world. Second homes are therefore an integral component of tourism experiences in rural and peripheral areas. Yet, despite their significance not only for tourism but also for rural communities and the rural economy, relatively little research has been undertaken on the topic until recent times. This volume represents the first major international analysis and review of second homes for over 25 years. It will provide a significant resource for those interested in changing patterns of tourism and leisure behaviour as well as the use of the countryside and peripheral areas. The book describes the economic, social and environmental impacts of second homes as well as their planning implications and places such discussions within the context of contemporary human mobility. The volume represents essential reading for those interested in rural regional development processes and the development of new rural leisure landscapes.

Inheritance and Wealth Inequality in Britain (Paperback): Colin Harbury, David Hitchins Inheritance and Wealth Inequality in Britain (Paperback)
Colin Harbury, David Hitchins
R1,485 Discovery Miles 14 850 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Modern Britain is characterised by marked inequalities in the distribution of wealth, which continue to fuel controversy and arouse strong, if adverse, feelings. Originally published in 1979, Inheritance and Wealth Inequality in Britain provides detailed evidence on the relative importance of inherited and self-made wealth. It is the first major work in the field since Wedgwood's pioneering study in 1929, and represents a major contribution to current debates on justice and inequality. The study is based on more than fifteen years of detective work on successive generations of the wealthy. Professors Harbury and Hitchens have searched through the public records of registered wills, contacted relatives, executors and solicitors and have even tramped through graveyards in order to build up their picture of how wealth is actually transmitted from generation to generation. Results of this research challenge the commonly held view that inheritance is no longer a main force in the perpetuation of wealth and demonstrate unquestionably that it remains a factor of paramount importance. The book helps to answer such questions as: what proportion of wealthy men and wealthy women are self-made? Do the rich tend to marry the rich? Which industries tend to favour self-made as against inherited wealth? What are the chances today of inheriting or dissipating a fortune? Inheritance and Wealth Inequality in Britain is essential reading for those academically and professionally concerned with policymaking on income and wealth distribution and with the tax system; and to students taking courses in welfare economics, public finance and the sociology of class. It is also an important contribution to the history of modern Britain.

The Scandinavian International Society - Primary Institutions and Binding Forces, 1815-2010 (Hardcover): Laust Schouenborg The Scandinavian International Society - Primary Institutions and Binding Forces, 1815-2010 (Hardcover)
Laust Schouenborg
R4,640 Discovery Miles 46 400 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of Scandinavia as a regional international society, including the Nordic Peace and the rise of the Scandinavian welfare state.

Schouenborg aims to take the next big step in the theoretical development of the English School of International Relations - particularly the structural version introduced by Barry Buzan. He analyses the formation of a Scandinavian regional international society over a 200-year period and develops the concepts of primary institutions and binding forces as an analytical framework. In doing so, he not only offers one of the first systematic applications of English School structural theory, but also sheds a new comparative light on the distinctiveness of Scandinavian international relations, and provides a novel intervention in the debates about the emergence of the so-called Nordic Peace. In the first part of the book Schouenborg explains the core concepts and discusses how one may distinguish a regional international society from the broader global international society in which it is embedded. In the second part he provides an in-depth study of the Scandinavian case, focussing on the periods 1815 to 1919; 1919 to 1989; and 1989 to 2010.

The Scandinavian International Society will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations theory, Scandinavian international relations and history, and researchers engaged in comparative welfare state studies.

Consequences of Economic Downturn - Beyond the Usual Economics (Hardcover, New): M. Starr Consequences of Economic Downturn - Beyond the Usual Economics (Hardcover, New)
M. Starr
R1,408 Discovery Miles 14 080 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

The 2007-09 financial crisis and economic downturn inflicted considerable hardship on the U.S. population. This book argues that the financial crisis and ensuing recession reflected not just a malfunctioning of the financial system -- but also inequalities and insecurities in access to livelihoods that favor well-off groups and leave ordinary people shouldering undue burdens of downside risk. This book, a collection of original papers by leading social economists and scholars in related fields, examines social, distributional, and ethical dimensions of the downturn. It should be of broad interest to the social-science and economic-policy communities.

Ethnicity and Labor Market Outcomes (Hardcover, New): Amelie F. Constant, Konstantinos Tatsiramos, Klaus F. Zimmermann Ethnicity and Labor Market Outcomes (Hardcover, New)
Amelie F. Constant, Konstantinos Tatsiramos, Klaus F. Zimmermann
R4,088 Discovery Miles 40 880 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

How immigrants and their descendants fare in the host society and in particular in the labor market is a very important question. While differences among ethnicities have been found to be marked and persistent within many host countries, and while the labor market consequences of diversity have been recognized, they have not been sufficiently examined. This volume contains fresh knowledge to help better understand the complex relationship between ethnic or minority groups, the role of ethnic identity and their disparate economic performance; 12 papers that individually and collectively go to the heart of this question. Offering a new paradigm, they tackle and interlink four important themes of immigrants' integration: ethnic identity, citizenship, interethnic marriages, and immigrant entrepreneurship. These papers offer insights and answers to challenging questions for six different immigration countries while they study countless different ethnic and immigrant groups. It is the aim of this volume to bring the role of ethnic identity in the forefront of scientific and political discussion and provide a link among these themes, anticipating new trends and directions in this area. An anthology of these questions is: Does ethnic identity affect the employment and earnings of immigrant groups and in what way? Does dual nationality affect assimilation? To what extent do social interactions determine the employment outcomes of ethnic minorities? Why do Mexican-Americans exhibit low self-employment rates? Which are the factors that influence the composition of the workforce in terms of ethnic-background? Do interethnic marriages influence transitions into and out of ethnic self-employment? And, are interethnic marriages a guarantee to high human capital achievement of their offsprings?

Law and Economics - Toward Social Justice (Hardcover): Dana Gold Law and Economics - Toward Social Justice (Hardcover)
Dana Gold
R3,829 Discovery Miles 38 290 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

This volume explores the relationship between law and economics principles and the promotion of social justice. By social justice, we mean a vision of society that embraces more than traditional economic efficiency. Such a vision might include, for example, a reduction of subordination and discrimination based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability or class; increased wealth dispersion throughout all sectors of society; a safe and healthy environment; worker rights; and, a flourishing political democracy. The volume chapters here fall into four main categories, Assumptions of Law & Economics; Law & Economics: Implications of Behavioralism; Economics and Corporate Governance: Finding the Holes; and, Gender, Class and Race: Implications of and Alternatives to the Dominant Economic Paradigm. In addition, most of the chapters invoke the lens of corporate law theory or the corporate context as part of their analysis of the intersection of economics and social justice.

Inheritance and Wealth Inequality in Britain (Hardcover): Colin Harbury, David Hitchins Inheritance and Wealth Inequality in Britain (Hardcover)
Colin Harbury, David Hitchins
R4,630 Discovery Miles 46 300 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Modern Britain is characterised by marked inequalities in the distribution of wealth, which continue to fuel controversy and arouse strong, if adverse, feelings. Originally published in 1979, Inheritance and Wealth Inequality in Britain provides detailed evidence on the relative importance of inherited and self-made wealth. It is the first major work in the field since Wedgwood's pioneering study in 1929, and represents a major contribution to current debates on justice and inequality. The study is based on more than fifteen years of detective work on successive generations of the wealthy. Professors Harbury and Hitchens have searched through the public records of registered wills, contacted relatives, executors and solicitors and have even tramped through graveyards in order to build up their picture of how wealth is actually transmitted from generation to generation. Results of this research challenge the commonly held view that inheritance is no longer a main force in the perpetuation of wealth and demonstrate unquestionably that it remains a factor of paramount importance. The book helps to answer such questions as: what proportion of wealthy men and wealthy women are self-made? Do the rich tend to marry the rich? Which industries tend to favour self-made as against inherited wealth? What are the chances today of inheriting or dissipating a fortune? Inheritance and Wealth Inequality in Britain is essential reading for those academically and professionally concerned with policymaking on income and wealth distribution and with the tax system; and to students taking courses in welfare economics, public finance and the sociology of class. It is also an important contribution to the history of modern Britain.

Public and Private Social Policy - Health and Pension Policies in a New Era (Hardcover): D. Beland, B Gran Public and Private Social Policy - Health and Pension Policies in a New Era (Hardcover)
D. Beland, B Gran
R1,441 Discovery Miles 14 410 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Exploring the increasing involvement of the private sector in social policy, this collection examines the complex relationship between the public and private sectors from an international perspective, focusing on health and pension policies.

Family and Kinship in East London (Hardcover): Michael Young, Peter Wilmott Family and Kinship in East London (Hardcover)
Michael Young, Peter Wilmott
R4,628 Discovery Miles 46 280 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

First published in 1957, and reprinted with a new introduction in 1986, Michael Young and Peter Willmott's book on family and kinship in Bethnal Green in the 1950s is a classic in urban studies.

A standard text in planning, housing, family studies and sociology, it predicted the failure in social terms of the great rehousing campaign which was getting under way in the 1950s. The tall flats built to replace the old ?slum? houses were unpopular. Social networks were broken up. The book had an immediate impact when it appeared ? extracts were published in the newspapers, the sales were a record for a report of a sociological study, Government ministers quoted it. But the approach it advocated was not accepted until the late 1960s, and by then it was too late.

This Routledge Revivals reissue includes the authors' introduction from the 1986 reissue, reviewing the impact of the book and its ideas thirty years on. They argue that if the lessons implicit in the book had been learned in the 1950s, London and other British cities might not have suffered the 'anomie' and violence manifested in the urban riots of the 1980s.

The Welfare State as Crisis Manager - Explaining the Diversity of Policy Responses to Economic Crisis (Hardcover): P. Starke, A... The Welfare State as Crisis Manager - Explaining the Diversity of Policy Responses to Economic Crisis (Hardcover)
P. Starke, A Kaasch, F. Van Hooren, Franca Van Hooren
R1,841 Discovery Miles 18 410 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Written during an ongoing period of global economic crisis, The Welfare State as a Crisis Manager examines the practice and potential of using social policy to cope with crises. Through an in-depth analysis of social policy reactions in the wake of international economic shocks in four different welfare states, over a 40-year period, the book reveals the ways in which expansion and retrenchment are shaped by domestic politics and existing welfare state institutions. Moreover, the study addresses the kind of policy change triggered by economic crisis. In contrast to conventional wisdom and previous scholarship, reactions tend to be characterised by incrementalism and 'crisis routines' rather than fundamental deviations from earlier policy patterns. For the first time, the study of domestic political dynamics following crisis is systematically embedded in the transnational policy debate, linking the Comparative Welfare State literature with scholarship on Global Social Policy.

The Work Connection - The Role of Social Security in British Economic Regulation (Hardcover, New): J. Stewart, Chris Grover The Work Connection - The Role of Social Security in British Economic Regulation (Hardcover, New)
J. Stewart, Chris Grover; Edited by Jo Campling
R2,650 Discovery Miles 26 500 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

The authors use regulation to explain the antecedents to current welfare developments in Britain. They show how first a Conservative and more recently "New Labour" governments have used in-work benefits so that today they have become the preferred instrument of intervention in the labor market for setting wages. The authors discuss the ways in which these measures address issues of child poverty and the adequacy of incomes, and how far they are disciplining devices to encourage a new moral order.

From transmitted deprivation to social exclusion - Policy, poverty, and parenting (Hardcover): John Welshman From transmitted deprivation to social exclusion - Policy, poverty, and parenting (Hardcover)
John Welshman
R2,772 Discovery Miles 27 720 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

John Welshman's new book fills a major gap in social policy: the history of debates over 'transmitted deprivation', and their relationship with current initiatives on social exclusion. The book explores the content and background to Sir Keith Joseph's famous 'cycle of deprivation' speech in 1972, examining his own personality and family background, his concern with 'problem families', and the wider policy context of the early 1970s. Tracing the direction taken by the DHSS-SSRC Research Programme on Transmitted Deprivation, it seeks to understand why the Programme was set up, and why it took the direction it did. With this background, the book explores New Labour's approach to child poverty, initiatives such as Sure Start, the influence of research on inter-generational continuities, and its new stance on social exclusion. The author argues that, while earlier writers have acknowledged the intellectual debt that New Labour owes to Joseph, and noted similarities between current policy approaches to child poverty and earlier debates, the Government's most recent attempts to tackle social exclusion mean that these continuities are now more striking than ever before. Making extensive use of archival sources, private papers, contemporary published documents, and oral interviews with retired civil servants and social scientists, "Policy, Poverty and Parenting" is the only book-length treatment of this important but neglected strand of the history of social policy. It will be of interest to students and researchers working on contemporary history, social policy, political science, public policy, sociology, and public health.

The Politics of Extreme Austerity - Greece in the Eurozone Crisis (Hardcover): G. Karyotis, R. Gerodimos The Politics of Extreme Austerity - Greece in the Eurozone Crisis (Hardcover)
G. Karyotis, R. Gerodimos
R1,919 Discovery Miles 19 190 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

This volume investigates the policies and politics of extreme austerity, setting the crisis in Greece in its global context. Featuring multidisciplinary contributions and an exclusive interview with former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, this is the first comprehensive account of the economic crisis at the heart of Europe.

Can the Welfare State Compete? - A Comparative Study of Five Advanced Capitalist Countries (Hardcover): Ian Gough, Alfred... Can the Welfare State Compete? - A Comparative Study of Five Advanced Capitalist Countries (Hardcover)
Ian Gough, Alfred Pfaller, Goran Therborn
R2,682 Discovery Miles 26 820 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

The authors examine how the USA, Great Britain, France, Sweden and Germany have responded to the increasing challenge of international competition since the mid-1970s. Apart from in Sweden, the pursuit of competitiveness has undermined economic and social citizenship rights, and this has, in Britain and the USA, engendered an assault upon the idea of the welfare state. Solidarity and social discipline will be severely tested if the welfare state is to remain economically and politically viable in a highly competitive modern world.

Feminism and Motherhood in Western Europe, 1890-1970 - The Maternal Dilemma (Hardcover, 2005 ed.): A Allen Feminism and Motherhood in Western Europe, 1890-1970 - The Maternal Dilemma (Hardcover, 2005 ed.)
A Allen
R2,699 Discovery Miles 26 990 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

According to Allen, motherhood and citizenship are terms that are closely linked and have been redefined over the past century due to changes in women's status, feminist movements, and political developments. Mother-child relationships were greatly affected by political decisions during the early 1900s, and the maternal role has been transformed over the years. To understand the dilemmas faced by women concerning motherhood and work, for example, Allen argues that the problem must be examined in terms of its demographic and political development through history. Allen highlights the feminist movements in Western Europe - primarily Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands, and explores the implications of the maternal role for women's aspirations to the rights of citizenship. Among the topics Allen explores the history of the maternal role, psychoanalysis and theories on the mother-child relationship, changes in family law from 1890-1914, the economic status of mothers, and reproductive responsibility.

Restructuring Welfare Organizations in Europe - From Democracy to Good Management? (Hardcover, New): P Mattei Restructuring Welfare Organizations in Europe - From Democracy to Good Management? (Hardcover, New)
P Mattei
R1,402 Discovery Miles 14 020 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Providing a new comparative analysis of the changes which have radically questioned the 'old' organizational arrangements of the delivery of welfare services since the early 1980s, this book argues that new managerial accountability regimes severley undermine the democratic foundations of the welfare state in Europe.

The Marketization of Social Security (Hardcover): John Dixon, Mark Hyde The Marketization of Social Security (Hardcover)
John Dixon, Mark Hyde
R2,804 R2,538 Discovery Miles 25 380 Save R266 (9%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Much could be gained from the privatization of social security--but can the gains actually be delivered? Dixon, Hyde, and their contributing authors take a balanced look at where we are now, and where we seem to be moving, on the issues of social security privatization and come up skeptical. There will be tradeoffs, but will the benefits outweigh the costs? Their volume examines a variety of settings in Latin America, Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa, where the marketization of social security appears most hotly contested. As a contribution to this new, energetic gobal policy discourse, the book will be of special interest to policymakers in the public and private sectors, and particularly in organizations where concerns about the growing cost of employee benefits have become critical.

Dixon, Hyde, and the others start by showing how the concept of social security has changed dramatically over the last 20 years--not just in the United States but throughout the world. The collectivist ideology that has long underpinned social security policy has been challenged by the emergence of an ideology of individualism. But can one presume that the desires of government to privatize are driven purely by the need to achieve neoliberal policy goals by that means? Too simplistic, say the contributors. Marketization offers the promise of reduced dependency on the state, reduced public expenditure and thus lower taxes, enhanced competitiveness internationally, more efficient delivery of social security services, and other advantages--but whether these promises would be kept seems to depend on a variety of factors. Among them, explored in this volume, are the level of development and sophistication of the capital markets, the degree of market competition that can be achieved and sustained, and the capacity of the state to develop and implement governance mechanisms to ensure that private providers act in the public interest. The volume also examines two daunting challenges to governments: how to design a set of regulations that can protect the public interest in perpetuity, and how to resist the calls for government subsidies to support the economic rent expectations of privatized providers. The contributors and editors develop these and other points concisely and readably, and in doing so offer important lessons from the experiences of others worldwide.

Welfare States in Transition (Hardcover): I. Collier, H. Roggemann, O. Scholz, H. Tomann Welfare States in Transition (Hardcover)
I. Collier, H. Roggemann, O. Scholz, H. Tomann
R4,008 Discovery Miles 40 080 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Social policy in East and West finds itself today in the middle of a fundamental transition. The former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the successor states to the former Soviet Union are attempting to create the institutions needed for a modern market economy and a modern democratic welfare state. At the same time, the mature welfare states of Europe are struggling to solve the contemporary financial crisis of their systems of social entitlements. Because of fundamental economic and demographic trends, these systems will become increasingly difficult to sustain over the coming decades. The contributors overwhelmingly agree that it would be mistaken policy to simply copy the institutions of Western welfare states to the eastern economies in transition. Instead one can learn much from the experience gathered over the past half century in Western welfare states.

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