The study of income inequality is of fundamental importance to economics, although it has been largely overlooked since the 1980s. This book provides a long-overdue review of the study of income inequality and of its importance both to the economic welfare of modern advanced economies and their social cohesion. This book both widens the traditional scope of the subject to include, for example, the long-run effects of globalisation on income inequality, but also integrates the various models models to provide a coherent and consistent analysis of this important issue.' - Eric J. Pentecost, Loughborough University, UKWith the increased interest in the role of inequality in modern economies, this timely and original book explores income distribution as an equilibrium phenomenon. Though globalization tends to destroy earlier equilibria within industrialized and developing countries, new equilibria are bound to emerge. The book aims at a better understanding of the forces that create these new equilibria in income distribution and examines the concept at three distinct levels: market equilibrium, bargaining equilibrium and political economy equilibrium. In particular, the author addresses the question of how the main factor markets of labour and capital are related to income distribution. Sell's theoretical and empirical analysis investigates global income quotas, the aggregate distribution of income between labour and capital, and between labour income earners and profit income earners. New models are used to explain the dynamics of income distribution during business cycles and as a companion to long-term economic growth. A main focus of the monograph is on the ways in which globalization affects income distribution via trade flows, capital flows and labor mobility. Throughout, income distribution is regarded as a result of the struggle between different social preferences such as inequity aversion and equity aversion. This erudite and extensive tome will be of value to all economists, scholars and students interested in economic growth and inequality.

Outside the United States, the idea of a consumer housing subsidy is a highly developed concept. Housing allowances, shelter allowances, rent allowances--or rent rebates as they are called--have been paid out on a larger scale for longer periods of time on an entitlement basis, with a much greater variety of rationales than in the United States. As the United States moves ahead with its demonstration program, it is timely to examine and evaluate foreign experiences with the consumer housing approach.

E. Jay Howenstine addresses common questions that have puzzled many policymakers: How do consumer housing subsidies work? For tenants? Homeowners? Builders? And government officials? Gathered here is the definitive experience of the countries that have employed them. From Australia to the United Kingdom, here is the reality gleaned from a dozen countries and brought to bear on the United States. Both the virtues and the limitations of the approach are presented in detail for everyone interested in housing.

This study is divided into three major parts. First, Howenstine reviews the historical background and analyzes housing allowance strategies that foreign governments have adopted. A second part examines in detail the major principles and elements with which governments have fashioned their systems. The third part examines the impact of housing allowance systems and weighs them in the light of the original objectives. Conclusions are also drawn about foreign experiences: Should financial assistance to low-income families be in the form of consumer housing subsidies or producer housing subsidies, or some synthesis of the two systems? Should the housing allowance be maintained as a separate housing policy, or should it be integrated into a general income maintenance policy? This book addresses an increasingly prominent portion of the housing market.

Originally published in 1979, The Idea of Welfare critically reviews the concepts of egoism and altruism as they are expressed in residual and intuitional models of social welfare. The book describes the way in which the scope and limits of obligation and entitlement are determined in practice by the interplay of familial, communal, national and international loyalties. It also looks at the similarities and differences between economic and social forms of exchange and mutual aid. These major themes are developed in a comparative review, which explores the effects of social change on the ways in which people seek to preserve and enhance their welfare through self-help and collective action. The book focuses on Britain, the USA and Russia, it challenges conventional definitions of welfare, largely concerned with formal social policies sponsored by government and uses historical material to illustrate the dominant forms of a mutual aid which were practised before the development of modern welfare states.

Residential Property Appraisal is a handbook not only for students studying surverying but also for surveyors and others involved in the appraisal of residential property for lending purposes. It focuses on the distinct professional competencies required by Mortgage Valuations and Home Buyers Surveys and Valuations, identifying and advising the reader on the extent and limitations of their activities. Generously illustrated, supported by real-life case studies and drawing on the latest research, professional and legal developments.

The challenge of meeting the growing cost of welfare is one of the most pressing issues facing governments of our time. Glennerster's authoritative Understanding the cost of welfare assesses what welfare costs and how it is funded sector-by-sector. The book is written in a clear, accessible style, ideally suited to both teaching and study, and the general reader. This substantially revised third edition includes: * Discussion of the many funding issues now facing welfare states, such as demographic change, tax resistance, slow growth and austerity programmes * The theory and practice of devolved tax and budgetary responsibilities between UK nations and in comparison with other countries * New chapters on pensions and post-16 education * More regular and extensive comparative analysis Divided into 3 sections, covering Principles, Service funding, and The Future, the book Includes questions for discussion and suggestions for further reading, making it an easy-to-use, essential resource for both undergraduate and post-graduate students of Social Policy, Sociology, Politics and Public Administration.

Philippe Sands has extensively revised this leading textbook to include all new developments since 1994, including all the international case-law (ICJ, ITLOS, WTO, human rights etc.) and new international legislation (genetically modified organisms, the Kyoto Protocol, oil pollution, chemicals etc.). It is the most comprehensive account of the principles and rules relating to the protection of the environment and the conservation of natural resources. It incorporates all the key material from the 1992 Rio Declaration and subsequent developments. Topics include: the legal and institutional framework; the field's historic development; standards for general application in addition to the protection of the atmosphere, oceans etc.; the techniques available for implementation such as the environmental impact assessment and liability/compensation for environmental damage. It will be used on its own as an academic course text, as well as a reference text for practitioners.

Bringing together researchers from the fields of social policy, economics, sociology and clinical psychology, this book offers new evidence on the inter-related problems faced by disability claimants, and identifies important lessons for policy. * Explores how reducing the level of UK benefit claiming among those with health limitations has been a priority for successive governments * Argues that current policy fails to reflect the evidence that people on long-term disability benefits face a complex combination of barriers to work and social inclusion * Demonstrates that there is a need for continuing inter-disciplinary research on the nature of the disability benefits problem and the efficacy of current policy solutions and public services

This volume of Research on Economic Inequality contains research on how we measure poverty, inequality and welfare and how these measurements contribute towards policies for social mobility. The volume contains eleven papers, some of which focus on the uneven impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on poverty and welfare. Opening with debates on theoretical issues that lie at the forefront of the measurement of inequality and poverty literature, the first two chapters go on to propose new methods for measuring wellbeing and inequality in multidimensional categorical environments, and for measuring pro-poor growth in a Bayesian setting. The following three papers present theoretical innovations for measuring poverty and inequality, namely, in estimating the dynamic probability of being poor using a Bayesian approach, and when presented with ordinal variables. The next three chapters are contributions on empirical methods in the measurement of poverty, inclusive economic growth and mobility, with a focus on India, Israel and a unique longitudinal dataset for Chile. The volume concludes with three chapters exploring the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as an economic shock on income and wealth poverty in EU countries and in an Argentinian city slum.

Volume 41 of Research in Economic Anthropology explores a wide range of topics of interest to economic anthropology. The opening paper presents a novel approach to anthropological-economic infrastructural research in England, specifically London's Thames Tideway Tunnel. The volume's first section consists of four papers that are tied together by two common threads: the roles of money in social ties between people, and moral concerns regarding these and other roles and uses of money in society. The section covers commercial surrogate mothers in Russia, social welfare provision in Pakistan, the management of a communal fund within a school alumni association in South Korea, and a credit scheme's impact on women in Nigeria. Part two focuses on two basic necessities of human life-food and clothing - examining a New Zealand food security initiative that rescues "waste" food, modern transformations of a pre-owned clothing market in Hamburg, Germany, and Muslim fashion retail business in the same country's capital city, Berlin. Finally, the volume closes with a third section that fixes an anthropological lens on contemporary developments in Latin America, analyzing the larger fair trade movement and its particular manifestations and implications in Oaxaca, Mexico, the cost-effectiveness of the reintegration of ex-combatants in Colombia, and patron-client relations in Brazil and how these have been politically perceived and presented by domestic and foreign intellectuals and academics, respectively.

How to overcome barriers to the long-term investments that are essential for solving the world's biggest problems There has never been a greater need for long-term investments to tackle the world's most difficult problems, such as climate change, human health, and decaying infrastructure. And it is increasingly unlikely that the public sector will be willing or able to fill this gap. If these critical needs are to be met, the major pools of long-term, patient capital-including pensions, sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, and wealthy individuals and families-will have to play a large role. In this accessible and authoritative account of long-term capital investment, two leading experts on the subject, Victoria Ivashina and Josh Lerner, highlight the significant hurdles facing long-term investors and propose concrete ways to overcome these difficulties.

This book examines the recent evolution of the Mediterranean Welfare regime, and how the economic crisis may be contributing to redefine its basic traits. Moving from the macro comparative analysis of long-term socio-demographic trends to the study of specific welfare programs, the chapters included in this book employ a variety of methods and approaches to review the specificities of the Mediterranean Welfare model. All chapters aim to analyze the role that the recent transformations experienced by Southern European societies (ageing, increasing women labour market participation, decreasing expectations for care within the family, immigration) have had over this model. The basic characteristics of this regime type are supposed to be strongly grounded in the values shared by these societies (familistic tendencies, clientelism, lack of generalized trust), but the modernization which these countries experienced in recent years have contributed, with a different speed and to a different degree, to a significant transformation in their axiological foundations. The impact of the current fiscal and economic crisis on the Mediterranean Welfare regimes may be contributing to the growing de-legitimatisation of political systems of these countries, something particularly important in a region that established democratic regimes only (relatively) recently. This book was originally published as a special issue of European Societies.

The Welfare State Reader has established itself as a vital source of outstanding original research since its original appearance in 2000. In the third edition, Pierson, Castles and Naumann have comprehensively overhauled the content, bringing it wholly up to date with contemporary discussions about this most crucial area of social and political life. The book includes seventeen new selections, all reflecting the latest thinking and research in welfare state studies. These readings are organized around contemporary debates, such as the current trajectories of, constraints on and challenges to contemporary welfare regimes, as well as evolving ideas and emergent forms that constitute the future of welfare. In particular, new readings focus on issues such as ageing populations and low fertility, climate change and global financial uncertainty, and nascent 'politics of happiness'. As in previous editions, the volume begins with a collection of readings that provide a grounding in core approaches to welfare, and each section is set in context by a new editorial introduction. As well as bringing together classic debates, The Welfare State Reader represents an invaluable guide to what is happening at the cutting edge of welfare research, giving the reader an unrivalled overview of debates surrounding the welfare state.

Healthcare has an impact on everyone, and healthcare funding decisions shape how and what healthcare is provided. In this book, Stephen Duckett outlines a Christian, biblically grounded, ethical basis for how decisions about healthcare funding and priority-setting ought to be made. Taking a cue from the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), Duckett articulates three ethical principles drawn from the story: compassion as a motivator; inclusivity, or social justice as to benefits; and responsible stewardship of the resources required to achieve the goals of treatment and prevention. These are principles, he argues, that should underpin a Christian ethic of healthcare funding. Duckett's book is a must for healthcare professionals and theologians struggling with moral questions about rationing in healthcare. It is also relevant to economists interested in the strengths and weaknesses of the application of their discipline to health policy.

It has always been an important task of economics to assess individual and social welfare. The traditional approach has assumed that the measuring rod for welfare is the satisfaction of the individual s given and unchanging preferences, but recent work in behavioural economics has called this into question by pointing out the inconsistencies and context-dependencies of human behaviour. When preferences are no longer consistent, we have to ask whether a different measure for individual welfare can, and should, be found.

This book goes beyond the level of preference and instead considers whether a hedonistic view of welfare represents a viable alternative, and what its normative implications are. Offering a welfare theory with stronger behavioural and evolutionary foundations, Binder follows a naturalistic methodology to examine the foundations of welfare, connecting the concept with a dynamic theory of preference learning, and providing a more realistic account of human behaviour.

This book will be of interest to researchers and those working in the fields of welfare economics, behavioural and evolutionary economics."

Throughout the history of European integration, economic wealth has increased to the benefit of citizens in the European Union (EU). However, inequalities in well-being persist within and between Europe's regions, undermining the legitimacy of the EU in the eyes of citizens. This book investigates how the EU can use its regional funding programmes in ways that increase citizen well-being. The book shows that while EU social investments improve labour market performance in rich regions, they exacerbate income inequality in poor regions. Based on this insight, the book presents a theory on the conditions under which EU funding will enhance well-being. Crucially, it argues the case for enhancing the inclusivity of EU growth, which yields the promise of a more legitimate and stronger union.

In this third edition of Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia, Amitav Acharya offers a comprehensive and critical account of the evolution of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) norms and the viability of the ASEAN way of conflict management. Building on the framework from the first edition, which inspired the establishment of the ASEAN Political-Security community, this new edition has been extensively updated and revised based on new primary sources that are not publicly available. Updates for this edition include: Expanded and updated coverage of the South China Sea Conflict and how it affects regional order and tests ASEAN unity Analysis of new developments in the US role in the region, including ASEAN's place and role in the US pivot/rebalancing strategy and the evolution of the East Asian Community, the newest summit-level multilateral group Extensive analysis of the ASEAN Political-Security community An examination of US-China relations and China-ASEAN relations Coverage of ASEAN's institutional development and the controversy over reform of the ASEAN Secretariat. An updated outlook on ASEAN's future as a security community and the issue of ASEAN Centrality in the regional security architecture. The new edition will continue to appeal to students and scholars of Asian security, international relations theory and Southeast Asian studies, as well as policymakers and the media.

In this third edition of Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia, Amitav Acharya offers a comprehensive and critical account of the evolution of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) norms and the viability of the ASEAN way of conflict management. Building on the framework from the first edition, which inspired the establishment of the ASEAN Political-Security community, this new edition has been extensively updated and revised based on new primary sources that are not publicly available. Updates for this edition include: Expanded and updated coverage of the South China Sea Conflict and how it affects regional order and tests ASEAN unity Analysis of new developments in the US role in the region, including ASEAN's place and role in the US pivot/rebalancing strategy and the evolution of the East Asian Community, the newest summit-level multilateral group Extensive analysis of the ASEAN Political-Security community An examination of US-China relations and China-ASEAN relations Coverage of ASEAN's institutional development and the controversy over reform of the ASEAN Secretariat. An updated outlook on ASEAN's future as a security community and the issue of ASEAN Centrality in the regional security architecture. The new edition will continue to appeal to students and scholars of Asian security, international relations theory and Southeast Asian studies, as well as policymakers and the media.

What was American welfare like in George Washington's day? It was expensive, extensive, and run by local governments. Known as "poor relief," it included what we would now call welfare and social work. Unlike other aspects of government, poor relief remained consistent in structure between the establishment of the British colonies in the 1600s and the New Deal of the 1930s. In this book, Gabriel J. Loiacono follows the lives of five people in Rhode Island between the Revolutionary War and 1850: a long-serving overseer of the poor, a Continental Army veteran who was repeatedly banished from town, a nurse who was paid by the government to care for the poor, an unwed mother who cared for the elderly, and a paralyzed young man who attempted to become a Christian missionary from inside of a poorhouse. Of Native, African, and English descent, these five Rhode Islanders utilized poor relief in various ways. Tracing their involvement with these programs, Loiacono explains the importance of welfare through the first few generations of United States history. In Washington's day, poor relief was both generous and controlling. Two centuries ago, Americans paid for-and many relied on-an astonishing governmental system that provided food, housing, and medical care to those in need. This poor relief system also shaped American households and dictated where Americans could live and work. Recent generations have assumed that welfare is a new development in the United States. This book shows how old welfare is in the United States of America through five little-known, but compelling, life stories.

First published in 1992, this book explores the efforts to counteract the high maternal and infant death rates present between the end of the nineteenth century and the Second World War. It looks at the problem in five different continents and shows the varying approaches used by the governments, institutions and individuals in those countries. Contributors display how policy and practice have been shaped by the structure of maternity services, nationalism, the conflict of colonization and cultural factors. In doing so, they illustrate how welfare policy and funding were moulded throughout the world in the times considered.

A candid assessment of why the job market is not as healthy as we think Don't trust low unemployment numbers as proof that the labor market is doing fine-it isn't. Not Working is about those who can't find full-time work at a decent wage-the underemployed-and how their plight is contributing to widespread despair, a worsening drug epidemic, and the unchecked rise of right-wing populism. In this revelatory and outspoken book, David Blanchflower draws on his acclaimed work in the economics of labor and well-being to explain why today's postrecession economy is vastly different from what came before. He calls out our leaders and policymakers for failing to see the Great Recession coming, and for their continued failure to address one of the most unacknowledged social catastrophes of our time. Blanchflower shows how many workers are underemployed or have simply given up trying to find a well-paying job, how wage growth has not returned to prerecession levels despite rosy employment indicators, and how general prosperity has not returned since the crash of 2008. Standard economic measures are often blind to these forgotten workers, which is why Blanchflower practices the "economics of walking about"-seeing for himself how ordinary people are faring under the recovery, and taking seriously what they say and do. Not Working is his candid report on how the young and the less skilled are among the worst casualties of underemployment, how immigrants are taking the blame, and how the epidemic of unhappiness and self-destruction will continue to spread unless we deal with it.

Western culture has 'faith' in the labour market as a test of the worth of each individual. For those who are out of work, welfare is now less of a support than a means of purification and redemption. Continuously reformed by the left and right in politics, the contemporary welfare state attempts to transform the unemployed into active jobseekers, punishing non-compliance. Drawing on ideas from economic theology, this provocative book uncovers deep-rooted religious concepts and shows how they continue to influence contemporary views of work and unemployment: Jobcentres resemble purgatory where the unemployed attempt to redeem themselves, jobseeking is a form of pilgrimage in hope of salvation, and the economy appears as providence, whereby trials and tribulations test each individual. This book will be essential reading for those interested in the sociology and anthropology of modern economic life. Chapters 1 and 3 are available Open Access via OAPEN under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

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.

Russell provides a groundbreaking critique of the orthodox position on the nature of New Deal reforms as well as an innovative analysis of the unraveling of those reforms. Russell argues that the success of the New Deal banking reforms in the post-war period initially produced a "pax financus" in which the competitive struggles amongst financial capital were moderated. However, the success of these reforms also produced incentives to undermine the New Deal regulatory framework via a regeneration of competitive struggles among financial capitalists. As these struggles intensified, financial innovations designed to circumvent regulatory restrictions changed the conduct of commercial banking and other financial capitalist activity. As these developments progressed, there has been a resurgence in the diversified financial conglomerates (financial holding companies) reminiscent of those that flourished just prior to the Great Depression. This exceptional work will appeal to historians, economists, and those interested in this vital period of American history.

Why hope matters as a metric of economic and social well-being In a society marked by extreme inequality of income and opportunity, why should economists care about how people feel? The truth is that feelings of well-being are critical metrics that predict future life outcomes. In this timely and innovative account, economist Carol Graham argues for the importance of hope-little studied in economics at present-as an independent dimension of well-being. Given America's current mental health crisis, thrown into stark relief by COVID, hope may be the most important measure of well-being, and researchers are tracking trends in hope as a key factor in understanding the rising numbers of "deaths of despair" and premature mortality. Graham, an authority on the study of well-being, points to empirical evidence demonstrating that hope can improve people's life outcomes and that despair can destroy them. These findings, she argues, merit deeper exploration. Graham discusses the potential of novel well-being metrics as tracking indicators of despair, reports on new surveys of hope among low-income adolescents, and considers the implications of the results for the futures of these young adults. Graham asks how and why the wealthiest country in the world has such despair. What are we missing? She argues that public policy problems-from joblessness and labor force dropout to the lack of affordable health care and inadequate public education-can't be solved without hope. Drawing on research in well-being and other disciplines, Graham describes strategies for restoring hope in populations where it has been lost. The need to address despair, and to restore hope, is critical to America's future.

In a unique comparative ethnography of two family therapy programs, Gubrium deftly shows how differing organizational perceptions make visible the social construction of domestic disorder. Contrasting images of home life--one viewing domestic order as a system of authority, the other as a configuration of emotional bonds--serve to highlight different senses of the family as being out of control and to recommend alternate forms of intervention. The idea that the reality of home life and domestic troubles are embedded in organizational activities and institutional images is an important commentary on the understanding of domestic life and the postmodern family. Out of Control provides stimulating reading for professionals and students in clinical psychology, family therapy, family studies, sociology, and qualitative methods.