Suchergebnisse

The article analyses temporal patterns in social assistance receipt in Sweden in the 2000s by looking at which circumstances facilitate versus reduce the possibilities of a person ceasing to be a recipient of social assistance. The analysis is guided by the following questions: What conditions lead people to terminate periods of social assistance receipt? Which factors are central to exits with different subsequent income patterns? How do these explain the different situations of recipients prior to termination? We focus particularly on income maintenance prior to spells of social assistance. We use event history data on monthly social assistance take-up covering the total adult Swedish population for the years 2002–2004. We adopt a gamma mixture model to control for unobserved heterogeneity. The results suggest that previous experience of both employment and social assistance receipt are important determinants for all types of exits from social assistance recipiency. A negative duration dependence is found also when unobserved heterogeneity is controlled for.

The declining gender gap in crime, observed in many Western countries, including Sweden, is often interpreted as showing an alarming shift in the offending of young women. Explanations to the observed pattern are often based on an assumption that women are increasingly coming to mimic the criminal behaviour of men, while we in this essay argue that to the extent behavioural change is at play, it is rather the other way around: men mimic women's behaviour.

Intro -- Innehåll -- Sammanfattning -- Förord -- 1. I globaliseringens tid -- 2. Nordisk globaliseringspolitik och dess konsekvenser -- 2.1 Handelspolitik -- 2.2 Finansmarknadspolitik -- 2.3 Migrationspolitik -- 2.4 Ekonomisk globalisering och nordisk arbetsmarknad -- 3. Att möta globaliseringen -- 3.1 Utbildning som globaliseringspolitik -- 3.2 Globaliseringen och arbetsmarknadspolitiska reformer -- 4. Slutord -- Referenser -- Summary in English -- Bilagor -- Bilaga 1. Presentation av datamaterialen -- Bilaga 2. SELMA: En nordisk modell för att mäta anknytningsgrad till arbetsmarknaden -- Bilaga 3. Fullständiga resultat för inkomstdekomponering -- Bilaga 4. Särdrag i det svenska gymnasiesystemet - åldersgränsen och det individuella programmet.

De nordiska ländernas ekonomiska utbyte med omvärlden har ökat dramatiskt. I debatten har globaliseringens förespråkare sett internationellt utbyte som en förutsättning för fortsatt välstånd, medan kritikerna varnat för arbetslöshet och ojämlikhet. Utvecklingen av inkomstfluktuationer och -skillnader kan emellertid inte förklaras av globaliseringen. Internationell handel, kapitalrörlighet och migration har således inte lett till ökad osäkerhet och ojämlikhet så som befarats - alternativt så har länderna varit framgångsrika i försöken att möta globaliseringen. De nordiska länderna har alla sökt bemöta utmaningarna genom reformer av utbildnings- och aktiveringspolitiken. Medan reformerna av yrkesutbildningen och arbetsmarknadspolitiken generellt inte har motverkat risken för social exkludering har däremot expansionen av utbildningssystemen tenderat att minska inkomstskillnaderna i Norden

The article explores the extent to which the organization of vocational tracks in upper secondary school affects the labour market risks associated with early school exit. The Nordic countries share many features, but the upper secondary school systems differ significantly in how their vocational tracks are organized. Denmark and Norway have dual vocational tracks, that is, they combine school-based education and workplace apprenticeships, whereas in Finland and Sweden they are primarily school based. We analyse administrative longitudinal data from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s in the four countries and find the highest vocational track dropout rates in Norway and the lowest in Finland. The results indicate that the relative labour market effect of dropping out from a vocational track is most detrimental in Norway. It is also in Norway that we find the greatest gender differences in this respect.

We analyse the determinants of social assistance receipt among young adults in three Nordic countries, focusing on social-background and life-course events during early adulthood. We ask whether they are related differently to short-term and long-term receipt. Short-term poverty could be more individualized than long-term poverty which can be expected to be more strongly related to social background. We applied generalized ordinal logit modelling to longitudinal register-based data. Both social-background and life-course factors were found to be important, but our results did not confirm the hypothesis of social background predicting mostly long-term receipt and life-course factors predicting mostly short-term receipt. Leaving the parental home early and parental social assistance receipt were important determinants of social assistance receipt, and both factors predicted longer duration of receipt as well. We found some differences between the countries, which may be related to differences in youth unemployment and social welfare systems.

Since the 2008 economic crisis, each year has brought new challenges to welfare states. This important annual volume with contributions from an exciting mix of internationally renowned experts within the social policy community examines the economic and political challenges that have confronted governments, and highlights the diverse ways in which nations have responded. Part One explores the most pressing questions confronting British social policy, from the school-leaving age, employment, in-work benefits to taxation. Part Two examines the political and professional dilemmas involved in the delivery and financing of social policy. Part Three identifies the challenges in integrating social policy with other areas of the welfare state, including social care, health policy and labour market policy. This comprehensive discussion of the most challenging issues arising during the past year provides academics and students with an invaluable up-to-date analysis of the current state of social policy