Suchergebnisse

Cash transfers (CT) whether as income support to the elderly, poor households or other vulnerable groups have been hailed as one of the most innovative and effective social policy initiatives in the developing world. Available evidence suggest that their success would depend on their financial sustainability, low inflation and maintenance of a broad social policy support in areas such as food, health, education and housing. It is against this international experience and evidence that this paper sets out to evaluate the Iranian CT programme that was introduced by Ahmadi-Nejad as part of a major liberalization of energy prices in 2010 in order to bring domestic prices of energy and public utilities (water and electricity) in line with international prices. The Iranian CT programme became one of the largest of its kind in the world, with 90 per cent of population covered and costing 12 per cent of the GDP in 2010. This paper discusses the main characteristics of the Iranian programme and evaluates its impacts on household income, inflation, poverty alleviation and related welfare issues in areas such as health and nutrition. Comparison will be made with some of the major CT programmes around the world (e.g. Mexico and Brazil) to explore lessons that can be learned from such international experiences to reform the Iranian programme towards a targeted approach. It is in this context that the paper will ask whether CT programmes are complementary to or a substitute for broader social policy measures in developing countries.

Summary Introduction The crisis which began in 2007 and deepened dramatically in 2008 has exposed deep rifts in the architecture of the European monetary union. Harsh austerity policies which were first imposed on countries in Eastern Europe, and subsequently on the countries in the euro area periphery, are now beginning to be implemented in countries of the European core. The crisis is highlighting the deeply undemocratic construction of the EU, as the Commission assumes ever greater powers to control national budgets, without any serious oversight by the European Parliament. At the same time, the position of the core countries of the North, and in particular Germany, has been strengthened in relation to the countries of the

The Dutch recessions of 2009, 2012 and 2013 kicked off a series of spending cuts, which were, among others, achieved by reforms of the social security system, as well as the long-term health care system. The Nether­lands placed an increasing emphasis on incentives for people to find employment, whilst access to care facilities was made more difficult, in part by making access require­ments more stringent or making access more expensive. As a result, both the number of social assistance benefit recipients and the numbers of citizens having difficulties with making ends meet rose. This RE-InVEST Work Package 6 country report analyses existing market regulations in the Netherlands reflecting social (dis)investment in relation to human rights and capabilities in five basic service sectors using two approaches. The first ‑ a macro ‑ approach articulates how the recent reforms in four service sector (early childhood education and care, health care, financial services and drinking water services) impacted on the Dutch population. The analyses are mostly based on a literature study, which was kicked off by our RE-InVEST sector experts and completed by the authors of this report. The approach involved analysing the experiences of seven of Rotterdam's residents, most of whom found themselves in a financially vulnerable position at the start of this project in the fourth quarter of 2015. For this report, they shared their experiences in the spring of 2017 in two group sessions. In the second group session employees from social landlords and the municipality, as well as members of a political party joined in the discussion. As framework of analysis, this participative study draws on the concept of capabilities which refer to the opportunities or freedom of persons to opt for certain beings or doings defining a person's well-being (Sen, 1999). The latter will be influenced by available resources and skills and prevailing norms and institutions, including human rights, which embody the universal values for well-being and a ...

Is Belgium (and Flanders in particular) a 'social investment state'? Belgium is a solid welfare state, with moderate income inequality and generous social expenditure. Never­theless, due to the 'conservative-corporatist' tradition, many services of general interest are actually provided either by local authorities, or by private (mainly not-for-profit) stakeholders, with government subsidies. This has probably led to a better match between the quality of services and the needs of consumers, but also to cream-skimming (e.g. in childcare), exclusion of households that are unable to pay (e.g. in financial services or water provision), shortages (e.g. in housing), and Matthew effects (mainly in housing, but actually in nearly all services). Government intervention has definitely ironed out the worst inequalities (e.g. in water provision or health care) but has never been very proactive in guaranteeing citizens' rights (e.g. through social minimum standards) by law. In the past decades, the redistributive capacity of social protection has come under serious strain since the 1980s: social security benefits have been lagging behind the general welfare trend, resulting in an increasing gap between working and non-working households. Furthermore, since the crisis of 2008, cut­backs have been imposed in nearly all sectors of public expenditure (including the five sectors examined in this report). As one of the most prosperous regions of Europe - and one of the least affected by the crisis, Flanders has been able to continue investing in the last decade (e.g. in water purification, extension of child­care provision and to some extent also social housing). However, the emphasis was put on economic motives (for childcare) and environmental sustainability (housing and water) rather than equity, as the investments went hand in hand with price increases and cutbacks in social tariffs. In addition to the reduced volume of social investment, the latest (right-wing) government is also sys­tematically re-introducing (quasi-)market ...