South Korea is a recently rich country with dramatic demography - expensive children, very low fertility, long life and rapid population aging. Its policies and institutions must adjust rapidly to these new economic and demographic realities, and this excellent collection of studies of the welfare state in Korea, North America, and Europe will help guide Korean policy makers in this task.' - Ronald Lee, University of California, Berkeley, US'This book explores a highly topical issue which is of immense importance throughout the world, in both advanced and developing countries. While the demand for social policies has grown strongly in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the fiscal space required for such policies has shrunk. On the basis of rigorous analysis and evidence, the authors of this path-breaking work provide concrete and specific directions for fiscally sustainable yet effective social policies that empower and protect the common citizen.' - Donghyun Park, Asian Development Bank, Philippines In response to the global financial crisis, many OECD countries reduced public spending on social policies, with economists now often referring to 'permanent austerity'. Long before the crisis, however, slow economic growth and population aging had already increased the need for rebalancing social expenditure and yet social protection was still far from adequate in many countries. Social Policies in an Age of Austerity is the first major publication on this important topic. The authors of the ten chapters in this book review recent developments in social policies in OECD countries, focusing on the United States and the Republic of Korea, and examining the use of program evaluation in social policies and drawing lessons for policymakers. The contributions cover social and fiscal policy and issues in labor market policy, in addition to the effectiveness of social insurance, education and antipoverty policy. The policies outlined and lessons provided in the book will continue to be valuable to governments, and scholars of advanced and developing countries for decades to come, and to research institutes involved in government and social policy. Contributors: D. Autor, B.-G. Chun, W. Chung, H. Kim, Y. Koh, A.B. Krueger, S.-H. Lee, H.-H. Li, H. Moon, D.W. Schanzenbach, J.K. Scholz, H. Yoo, J.P. Ziliak

Karl Scholz's translation of the study Mengenplanung und Preisplanung in der Sovijunion by Hans Hirsch reproduces the provocative thesis of the author in concise, lucid English. The need for such a book is made dear in Hans Hirsch's introduction: "The question of economic accounting under socialism has attracted much interest for a long time. This is primarily due to its key position in the controversy over the economic order. However, if understood correctly, it is just as important to pure economic theory. Here lies the best opportunity first to examine price theory statements and to perceive how far price theory has either general validity or is merely applicable to particular historical phenomena and, secondly, to separate out the items that are not determined by the logic of the theoretical system but by the incidental peculiarities of the empirical economy to which the theory is related. Hans Hirsch's treatise deals with the Soviet experience and difficulties. The treatise also shows the methods of economic guidance employed in Russia by considering the following significant theoretical economic series of topics: the principles determine quantities of product and the direction of their use; the distribution of authority and influence between higher and lower guiding agencies; the role of prices in the guiding process; and finally the operating forces and viewpoints, in setting prices. In the presentation the conflict between the system of material planning, which forms the basis, and the effects of the financial means of guidance, especially of prices, becomes clearly visible. This gives occasion to attempt a theoretical interpretation of the material guidance system, as such, and in its relationship to a financial guidance system. In so doing the author expresses views as to the basic compatibility of material and financial guidance methods, contrary to hitherto prevailing doctrine. The knowledge thus acquired will serve as renewed stimulus to further development of the theory of economic planning.