The collection of taxes, in any economic system, clearly requires the use of resources. In modern democratic states tax legislation is almost always controversial, and subject to extensive lobbying. In developing counties the wealthy often successfully avoid payment of taxes and the burden has to be borne by relatively impoverished rural classes, who are themselves not easy to tax directly because of poor record -keeping and difficulty of communications. In earlier times kings and princes often lacked the necessary means of direct taxation and were forced to rely on decentralized institutions such as feudalism. To convince the skeptical reader that the issue of tax-collection costs is neither trivial nor obvious, we pose the following question. What is the effect of greater efficiency in tax collection on the welfare of the tax-paying public? If the government is benign, taxing only to defray socially necessary public expenditure, a reduction in the costs of collecting these minimal taxes would clearly be a 'good thing'. What, however, if the state is inherently "predatory" in nature, as argued by Brennan and Buchanan (1980) and a number of others? In this case the state taxes not only to pay for public services but also to raise revenue for its own, possibly nefarious, purposes. Would an increase in the efficiency if tax-collection be undesirable under this alternative scenario?
This paper explores the impact of the race of individual clients and of the local racial context on the implementation of sanctions for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in a Midwestern state. We find that although nonwhites are sanctioned at lower rates than whites overall, nonwhites are sanctioned more compared to whites in each local area. This paradox occurs because nonwhites tend to live in areas with lower sanction rates. Consistent with the literature on race and policy, we find that sanction rates increase as the nonwhite population increases until a threshold is reached where nonwhites gain political power.
A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A stable and highly skilled child welfare workforce is necessary to effectively provide child welfare services that meet federal goals. This report identifies (1) the challenges child welfare agencies face in recruiting and retaining child welfare workers and supervisors, (2) how recruitment and retention challenges have affected the safety and permanency outcomes of children in foster care, and (3) workforce practices that public and private child welfare agencies have implemented to successfully confront recruitment and retention challenges."
The present study examines the hypotheses that progressive welfare-state policies are likely to increase women's labor force participation, but at the same time to increase both occupational segregation and earning gaps between economically active men and women. Using data from 20 industrialized countries (obtained from the Luxembourg Income Study), we combine both individual-level and country-level variables into one data file. The country-level variables pertain to a series of family oriented policies enacted by the state, and to the size of the public welfare sector. The data are analyzed to estimate the net effects of welfare state policies on female labor force participation, occupational segregation, and gender earnings inequality across the 20 countries. The analysis lends firm support to the hypothesis that progressive welfare policies are associated with higher rates of female labor force participation and with higher rates of gender-based occupational segregation but only limited support to the hypothesis that welfare-policies are likely to decrease gender inequality in earnings. The direct and indirect effects of welfare-state policies on earnings inequality obtained from multilevel regression models are discussed and re-evaluated in light of sociological theory.
IN CROATIAN: Ovaj rad odnosi se na prikaz pilot projekta kojeg je u suradnji s Vukovarsko-srijemskom županijom i Općinom Drenovci provodio Državni zavod za zaštitu obitelji, materinstva i mladeži, s ciljem afirmiranja izvaninstitucionalnih oblika skrbi o starijim osobama, u naseljima Drenovci, Đurići, Posavski Podgajci, Račinovci i Rajevo Selo. U radu su prikazani i rezultati istraživanja kojeg je u svrhu evaluacije provedbe pilot-projekta i procjene opravdanosti pružanja ovog oblika pomoći starijim osobama proveo Državni zavod za zaštitu obitelji, materinstva i mladeži 2002. godine, na uzroku od 164 ispitanika – korisnika Programa. Istraživanje se temelji na Upitniku o obilježjima staračkih domaćinstava koji uključuje varijable o općim obilježjima ispitanika, njihovom soco-ekonomskom statusu, strukturi obitelji, zdravstvenom statusu, posebnim potrebama, procjeni potreba i dostupnosti službi podrške u lokalnoj zajednici i zadovoljstva provedbom Programa. Pokazalo se da Program značajno pridonosi poboljšanju kvalitete života starih i nemoćnih osoba. Njegovo provođenje pridonijelo je zapošljavanju određene skupine teže zapošljivih žena, korisnicima Programa bitno je olakšalo zadovoljenje mnogih potreba, poglavito u obavljanju svakodnevnih kućanskih poslova i brizi o osobnoj higijeni i zdravlju. Uz određene modifikacije, Program je primjenjiv i u drugim lokalnim zajednicama, a njegova cijena koštanja prihvatljiva je i pristupačna. --- IN ENGLISH: This paper deals with the presentation of a pilot project carried out by the National Institute for the Protection of Family, Motherhood and Youth in cooperation with the Vukovar-Srijem County and Drenovci Municipality. Its goal is to affirm non-institutional forms of care for elderly people in the settlements Drenovci, Đurići, Posavski Podgajci, Račinovci and Rajevo Selo. The paper presents the results of research of the National Institute for the Protection of Family, Motherhood and Youth conducted in 2002 to evaluate the pilot project and assess the justifiability of this form of aid for the elderly. The research was carried out on a sample of 164 examinees – users of this programme. It is based on a questionnaire examining the features of elderly households which also includes variables of examinees' general characteristics, their socio-economic status, family structure, health status, special needs, assessment of needs and accessibility of the support service in the local community, as well as satisfaction with the programme's realisation. It has been maintained that the programme considerably contributes to the improvement of elderly and infirm people's quality of life. Its realisation has brought about the employment of a particular group of less easily employable women, and has facilitated the fulfilment of many needs of the programme's beneficiaries, especially in performing everyday domestic chores, satisfying personal hygiene and health demands. This programme is therefore a considerable contribution to the realisation of a number of measures of the National Family Policy adopted by the Croatian Government in January 2003.
Economic Theory, Applications and Issues (Working Paper N° 20) Income inequality has increased sharply in higher income countries. Theories attributing this to bifurcation of labor markets are examined. Some theorists attribute this bifurcation primarily to technical change with influence from globalization. Others take an opposite viewpoint. A contrasting view presented here is that globalization is strongly linked with technological change more significantly even if globalization increases economic efficiency and growth in high-income countries, it can raise income inequality and reduce social welfare. International fiscal competitiveness may, it is argued, contribute to income inequality and make all nations worse off. Trends in public social expenditure and in taxation receipts in higher income countries, including Singapore, are examined to determine the empirical support for the theory.
The paper is a contribution to a book edited by Simon Green and Willie Paterson, Semi-sovereignty Revisited: Governance, Institutions and Policies in United Germany. The book will appear in 2003 or 2004. It explores to what extent Peter Katzenstein's seminal study of the semi-sovereign German state in the 1980s is still valid. The paper looks at one of the showpieces of Katzenstein's theory of beneficial semi-sovereignty, German industrial relations, and follows their development from the Modell Deutschland of the 1976 election campaign to Schröder's Bündnis für Arbeit. It comes to the conclusion that as far as Germany is concerned, the days are gone when it was an advantage for the governance of industrial relations to have a weak state. ; Das Papier ist ein Kapitel in dem von Simon Green und Willie Paterson herausgegebenen Buch Semi-sovereignty Revisited: Governance, Institutions and Policies in United Germany, das 2003 oder 2004 erscheinen soll. Das Buch untersucht, inwieweit Peter Katzensteins epochemachende Studie über den halbsouveränen deutschen Staat noch Gültigkeit hat. Das Papier behandelt eines von Katzensteins wichtigsten Beispielen für die Vorteile begrenzter staatlicher Souveränität, die Arbeitsbeziehungen. Es verfolgt die Entwicklung der deutschen Arbeitsbeziehungen von Modell Deutschland aus dem Wahlkampf von 1976 bis hin zum Schröderschen Bündnis für Arbeit. Dabei kommt es zu dem Schluss, dass, zumindest was Deutschland angeht, die Tage vorbei sind, als eine schwache Regierung für die Regulierung der Arbeitsbeziehungen von Vorteil war.
We analyze a simple model of local public good provision in a country consisting of a large number of heterogeneous regions, each comprising two districts, a city and a village. When districts remain autonomous and local public goods have positive spillover effects on the neighbouring district, there is underprovision of public goods in both the city and the village. When districts unite, underprovision persists in the village (and may even become more severe), whereas overprovision of public goods arises in the city as urbanites use their political power to exploit the villagers. From a social welfare point of view, inhabitants of the village have insufficient incentives to vote for unification. We examine how national transfers to local governments can resolve these problems.
We analyze a simple model of local public good provision in a country consisting of a large number of heterogeneous regions, each comprising two districts, a city and a village. When districts remain autonomous and local public goods have positive spillover effects on the neighbouring district, there is underprovision of public goods in both the city and the village. When districts unite, underprovision persists in the village (and may even become more severe), whereas overprovision of public goods arises in the city as urbanites use their political power to exploit the villagers. From a social welfare point of view, inhabitants of the village have insufficient incentives to vote for unification. We examine how national transfers to local governments can resolve these problems.
Reorganisation policies in the field of water management, in Italy, are an interesting issue to analyse, in order to evaluate the new role of public utilities in an innovative and complex strategy for local development. The core of the reform, started with "Legge Galli" (Law 36 of 1994), is the delicate balance between the public administration role of promotion and check, and the private sector role of implementation of investments and management of new water agencies. Due to the crucial role of networking strategies between local authorities and industries, the success of the Galli Reform will be the success of a innovative strategy of local development, in which co-operative linkages, management innovation, technology transfer and advanced training will be the basic tools. All these issues are crucial in Southern Italy, particularly in Campania, a region that policy of European Union classified as "Ob. 1" (under-developed region), for the high levels of unemployment. The analysis of the Campania's "Regional Operative Plan" for 2000-2006, shows, above all in the field of water management, the choice of a strategy of local development, linking together public and private sector. In fact, the "Regional Operative Plan" for Campania give to private sector a crucial role fort the fund raising for the implementation of the reform, in co-operation with public funds. In this perspective, new organisational strategies and price policies are very important, but the core of the management innovation choice is the role of project financing. Another key question is the protection of local environment and the correct management of water supply and demand. The adoption of these innovative strategies in the field of public utilities are functional to a new policy of local development, based on participation, cost and responsibility sharing among all the actors of local innovation system. Key question of the Italian reform of the water management sector are common to all the Italian public utilities sector, that, in recent years, has been living an important evolution towards new management models balancing economic efficiency and public welfare.
Women who experience significant barriers to employment may be unable to either obtain or retain jobs and may require intensive services to help them overcome their problems and achieve economic self-sufficiency. The National Center for Children in Poverty's innovative Vignette Study tested the opinions of the general public toward governmental assistance by creating a female subject, Lisa, whose description randomly varied 11 characteristics, including her obstacles to employment (physical disability, mental illness, living in an area with high unemployment, and trouble with reliable child care among them) and whether she works or receives welfare. In all cases, she was described as the mother of two children who faces difficulties providing basic necessities for her family.
International help to care for Africa's orphans is essential not only for their immediate welfare but also to protect the long term prosperity of these countries. A researcher in child health and former Ugandan government peace minister assess how to make the best use of resources
A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "With the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), the Congress made sweeping changes to federal policy for needy families. PRWORA ended the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant to states. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversees the TANF block grant program, which provides grants to states totaling up to $16.5 billion each year and requires states to maintain a historical level of state spending on welfare reform programs. Under TANF, states have greater flexibility and face greater uncertainty than they did under AFDC. States have greater flexibility to design, finance, and implement programs for low-income families, including determining who is to be served and what services to provide. TANF also emphasizes the transitional nature of assistance and the importance of employment for welfare recipients. Because the amount of the TANF block grant is fixed, as caseloads decline--as they did in all states through the late 1990s--states have had additional resources that they have used to expand their programs, achieve some budgetary savings, and create reserves; however, states bear most of their TANF program's fiscal risks if their programs' costs rise as a result of higher caseloads or other factors. Welfare reform was initially implemented in a time of economic growth, when there was a strong demand for labor and the fiscal situation of the states was favorable. More recently, the economy has slowed and welfare reform is being implemented in less favorable economic conditions. To obtain information on welfare reform under changing labor market and fiscal conditions, Congress asked us to determine (1) how labor market conditions have changed in recent years; (2) how cash public assistance caseloads and the employment activities of current and former welfare recipients have changed in recent years; (3) how the fiscal situation of states has changed in recent years; and (4) to what extent states have made changes to their welfare programs as a result of fiscal changes."
The current deterioration of the American economy is bringing new attention to the problem of poverty in the United States. After falling over the last few years, the number of Americans living in poverty has begun to rise once again. Notwithstanding the achievements of recent "welfare reforms," the American poor continue to be numerous by any measure. Unfortunately, decades of affluence have exacerbated American tendencies to view liberal concepts such as freedom, autonomy, tolerance, and choice in ways that accentuate personal autonomy over community integration. These liberal values have been increasingly unhinged from strong countervailing principles like duty and responsibility, and many Americans feel no strong impetus to sacrifice in order to help the weakest members of their society. This situation continues unabated as a lack of common purpose in American life and a materialistic vision of society have made it extremely difficult for American law and public policy to confront poverty in the United States in a meaningful way. After explaining how strong propensities toward materialism and individualism in American culture have affected views toward welfare in the United States, I will explain how current American reforms of economic assistance for the poor are creatures of a political rendering of poverty that fails to take seriously the low regard in which many Americans hold the poor. From this it becomes clear that, in the long run little should be expected from American welfare reform. For an alternative vision, I will draw on Catholic social thought and David Hollenbach's recent work in Christian ethics to argue that the principles of solidarity and the common good as understood in Catholic social thought would: (1) offer the poor a more integrated role in American society, (2) function as a corrective to the ongoing erosion of a sense of communal responsibility in American culture, and (3) provide the theoretical foundation for a more comprehensive structure of income and social support for the American poor.
