Social Sector Development Research Articles

Challenges of Social Sector Development in Balochistan during Musharraf Era (1999-2008)

Challenges of Social Sector Development in Balochistan during Musharraf Era (1999-2008)

EDUCATIONAL EXPENDITURE IN INDIA: AN ANALYSIS OF GOVERNMENT SCHEMES AND PROGRAMMES

The study concentrates on the educational expenditure in India with a prior attention to the schemes and programmes introduced by the central government. Free and compulsory education for children between 6 to 14 years is a mile stone in the education sector. The government has introduced several programmes for the inclusiveness of all sections in to the mainstream. The enrolment of marginalised section was mainly by the impact of the step taken by the central government. The study tried to give an analytical view of the extensiveness with respect to the money spent by the government to create a successive story in the field of education. Various programmes were introduced by the central government to ensure education for all. Different schemes are implemented with a unique objective to give a perfect platform for educating the people; especially it is shown in the field of higher education. Many of the students are a part of the central schemes to fulfil their dream career through scholarships and education loans provided by the government. A large number of marginalised community were attracted by the Scholarships and educational loans provided by the government. As an impact of this, a drastic change was happened in the field of education. KEY WORDS: Education, Expenditure, Central Government, Social Sector Development.

The health and well-being impacts of a work integration social enterprise from a systems perspective.

Recent research has drawn upon the social determinants of health (SDH) framework to attempt to systematize the relationship between social enterprise and health. In this article, we adopt a realist evaluation approach to conceptualize social enterprises, and work integration social enterprises in particular, as 'complex interventions' that necessarily produce differential health outcomes for their beneficiaries, communities and staff. Drawing upon the findings from four social enterprises involving a range of methods including 93 semi-structured interviews with employees, managers and enterprise partners, together with participant observation, we demonstrate that these health outcomes are influenced by a limitless mix of complex and dynamic interactions between systems, settings, spaces, relationships and organizational and personal factors that cannot be distilled by questions of causality and attribution found in controlled trial designs. Given the increased policy focus on the potential of social enterprises to affect the SDH, this article seeks to respond to evidence gaps about the mechanisms and contexts through which social enterprises promote or constrain health outcomes, and thereby provide greater clarity about how research evidence can be used to support the social enterprise sector and policy development more broadly.

The role of social innovation policy in social service sector reform: Evidence from Hong Kong

AbstractThis article illustrates how the term “social innovation” is used in the public policy domain in Hong Kong in relation to the new public management (NPM) reform of the social service sector, which originated in the early 2000s. Through document reviews and interviews, the role that social innovation policy has played in instigating changes in the contemporary social service field in the post-NPM era is identified. This includes facilitating emergence of “new” forms of social entrepreneurial activities to fill unmet social needs, empowering new actors in entering the social service sector, and reinforcing the government’s position in the NPM reform. Adopting historical institutionalism as the analytical framework, multiple path-dependent characteristics arising from the historical legacies of the incumbent social service environment – such as the longstanding partnership between the state and non-profits – are highlighted. These historical factors have weakened the efficacy of the policy efforts aimed at enacting institutional change. Overall, this article demonstrates how historical context matters in the emergence and framing of social innovation policy. It contributes to the theorisation of the role of social innovation in social service sector development in East Asia.

Managing the COVID-19 pandemic: does social infrastructure matter? Evidence from India

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic educed extraordinary policy responses globally, including in India, to flatten the infection-growth curve. The trajectories of infections, recovery, and deaths vastly differed across Indian states. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether persistent investments by states in critical social sectors, such as health and education, explain their preparedness and hence better management of the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses secondary data on the number of infected, recovered and deceased due to COVID-19, along with data on population and income across 302 districts in 11 major states in India. Data on health and education indices are collected at the state-level. Linear regression models that also control for heteroskedasticity are applied.FindingsThis study finds that higher investments in health care and education reduce the propensity of the infection spread. Further, states with persistent investments in health care and education exhibit a higher rate of recovery. This study also finds that death rates are significantly lower in states with higher investments in education.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings support the conjecture that states that have consistently invested in social sectors benefited from the associated positive externalities during the crisis that helped them manage the pandemic better.Originality/valueThis study will help policymakers understand the underlying social forces critical to the success in the fight against pandemics. Apart from improving preparedness for future pandemics, the evidence provided in the paper may help give better direction and purpose to tax-financed public spending in states where social sector development has hitherto received low priority.

MODERN PROBLEMS AND ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE STATE SOCIAL POLICY AND SOCIAL SECURITY OF THE POPULATION

Purpose of the study: This article aims to analyze the theoretical and practical issues of public administration in the social sphere in a market economy; to consider the implementation of social programs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Recommendations were also made to assess areas for improving the social system. Special attention is paid to the analysis of political activities and policies in all spheres of society.
 Methodology: The study was based on the analysis of the development of social sectors in a market economy and evaluated the directions for improving the system of social sectors in a market economy. General scientific methods of cognition-dialectical, analysis, synthesis, system and functional approaches, generalization, comparison, analogy; methods of empirical research have been employed for this study.
 Main Findings: In the article were studied and suggested ways to support the poor and low-income segments of the population, help them find employment in society, reduce the level of crime in society, develop social spheres (education, health, science, culture, residential homes, etc.), and ensure the country's environmental security.
 Applications of this study: The results of the study can be used by public authorities in the development and implementation of policies in the field of social protection and income regulation, population and development, gender, and family policy.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: The study includes the development of theoretical foundations of social protection of the population, taking into account the current rules of economic social dynamics; the development of a model for the implementation of social protection of the population related to the justification of parameters of its demographic effectiveness and the justification of new directions and practical recommendations in the development of methodological approaches for the development of social protection of young families.

THE ROLE OF GOOD GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Emerging trends point to good governance as a panacea towards accelerated development in economic, political and social sectors of nations. Nigeria, wishing to realize, promote or maintain economic, political and social strides, should strive to embrace good governance. Efficient political and economic strands promote social order. The leaders and the led should embrace the good governance philosophy if development administration is to meet the underlying rationale it stands for. Both the leaders and the led have their (individual) roles to play to embrace good governance and strengthen development administration. Good governance in development administration is showcased in government‘s ability to design, formulate and implement policies and programmes which are development oriented and committed to the improvement of the quality of life of the citizens. It is especially accepted, that to promote good governance, the civil society should be obedient to the policies or constitutional dictates expected of them. However, the government through its arms should lead while the citizens follow.

Assessing and Prioritizing the Climate Change Policy Objectives for Sustainable Development in Pakistan

The world is facing the observable and direct impacts of climate change in the shape of extreme weather events, irregular precipitation, glacial melt, sea-level rise, an asymmetric average temperature trends, higher oceanic temperatures, damage to natural ecosystems, and biodiversity. In 2015, collective wisdom stirred the global community to agree upon two unprecedented milestones in recent human history—the Paris agreement and sustainable development goals (SDGs). The twin global agreements set a platform for collective efforts to secure socio-economic and climatic sustainability. Pakistan also joined the board to put forth policy interventions for the mitigation and adaption of climate change risks to maintain symmetry between the environmental quality and economic development. The government of Pakistan (GOP) formulated the National Climate Change Policy (NCCP (2012)) and passed the Pakistan Climate Change Act (PCCA (2017)) to provide an impetus for the implementation of the NCCP. Yet, an appropriate assessment and prioritization of the objectives of the NCCP are indispensable for productive and effective policies to achieve the targets. This study serves this purpose by prioritizing the climate change policy objectives (CCPOs) based on symmetric principles, i.e., energy, transport, urban and town planning, industry, and agriculture as criteria, with 17 sub-criteria in total. The fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) results show that the energy sector is the most pivotal while implementing the NCCP. Energy production is the most critical area that needs mitigation policy intervention for shifting the energy mix of the economy from high-carbon to low-carbon energy. The fuzzy AHP analysis further revealed the railway, population and urbanization, air pollution, crop growing practices and techniques as the most important related to transport, urban planning, industry, and agriculture sub-criteria, respectively. The fuzzy VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) analysis showed the ranking of the CCPOs from high to low through the integration of policies, institutional capacity building, water security, natural resource management, natural disaster management, environmental financial structure development, and social sector development. The findings of the present research would be helpful for experts and policymakers to re-examine the NCCP and put forth action plans to achieve sustainable climate and SDGs.

Growth and Convergence of Social Sectors’ Expenditure in Indian States: Upshots from Neoclassical Growth and Panel Unit Roots Models

In a world of having large part suffering from the inadequacies of basic needs and inter-class and inter-regional income disparities, investing upon the development of different social sectors from the state exchequers have been one of the top agendas of the policymakers. It is not a different issue for the states and provinces of the developing countries like India. Besides having positive roles on economic betterment, spending on social expenditures sometimes work in favour of the ruling political parties to gain confidence from the voters. The states thus compete in this area. Under this background, the present study attempts to examine whether the states of India are converging in social sector’s expenditure for the period 1980–81 to 2017–18. Applying the neoclassical growth and panel unit roots models the study observes unambiguously that there are absolute and conditional β convergence and σ convergence in per capita social expenditure among the states. JEL Classification: H72, O470, C23, O530

The imperative of social sector development for achieving the goal of inclusive growth in India: an analytical study

Growth inclusiveness has remained the prime agenda of India’s economic development policy. India did experiment with trickle down approach to development for achieving the objective of income redistribution and social justice, but floundered on that by the end of fourth plan. Since then the focus is on human welfare and development approach. Indian planners targeted the removal of poverty and inequality as the goal and the fundamental element of our growth strategy. This inclusive growth model necessitates the social sector development, an approach which is an adjunct to the capability approach of human development and also ensures rapid and sustained growth. The present study intends to construct the composite index of inclusiveness for India by deploying principal component analysis. The study also examines the relationship between different components of social sector development and inclusiveness index of growth in India, using an autoregressive distributed lag model for the period of 1986–2016. The empirical results suggest that the estimated coefficients of the long-run relationship between social sector development and growth inclusiveness are significant for ‘education outlays’, ‘expenditure of water supply and sanitation’, ‘housing and urban development’, ‘welfare for marginalized class’, ‘spending on social security and welfare’ and ‘food storage and warehousing’. For the short-run coefficients ‘labour and employment’, ‘rural development’ and ‘food storage and warehousing’ are statistically significant for inclusive growth of India. The analysis reveals a tardy progress towards rendering growth inclusiveness in India.

Has Social Sector Development Catalysed the Inclusiveness of India’s Economic Growth?

The study attempts to examine the impact of social sector development on inclusive growth in India. Ever since Independence, India’s encounter with gnawing poverty and stark deprivation, particularly of the weaker and the marginalised sections of society, cajoled India’s planners to moot the development policies with the sole objective of exacerbating growth with equity. That is why since the beginning of the planning era, the stress had been laid on strengthening and expanding the social sectors with the premise that it would boost the inclusive growth agenda, manifesting in equal access to employment and economic opportunities; equal participation in decision-making and reduction in poverty and inequality. In conformity with the objective of our study, we intend to gauge the effect and contribution of different components of social sector development in India, on inclusiveness of growth using time series data for the period of 1985–1986 to 2015–2016. It was found that the expenditure related to ‘social security and welfare’ contributes significantly towards inclusive growth in India while the expenditure incurred on ‘welfare of marginalised class’ and ‘rural development’ exudes negative association with inclusiveness of growth.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Governance through a Conceptual Blockchain Framework

The objective of this paper is to analyse the feasibility and associated benefits of using blockchain technology for the management of corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds which have to be deployed in government-mandated areas of social sector development. The paper addresses the specific problems that exist in the current ways of managing CSR activities by comparing the current model to the proposed blockchain-based framework. The paper further goes on to show how this proposed method could bridge this gap in terms of accountability and transparency using blockchain-enabled technology, while at the same time increasing citizen involvement, i.e., pervasive participation, in the process.

Role of SME in Poverty Alleviation in SAARC Region via Panel Data Analysis

The key objective of the formation of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is to join hands collectively for slow economic growth, poverty eradication, deprived health and education sectors. In the 12th SAARC Summit, it has been declared that poverty eradication is the main area of concentration and SAARC countries would strive their best to minimize all types of poverty with the help of any possible strategy. The main objectives of the current study are to evaluate the development of the agenda of poverty eradication in SAARC countries through small and medium enterprise (SME) development because it would be considered as a short-routed remedy to mitigate poverty. The poorest 20% income holder as a percentage of GDP has been used as the proxy for poverty in the SAARC region. SME development has been measured through the SME share in GDP in respective countries. The panel dataset has been developed for the period of 1990 to 2015. The fixed effect method (FEM) and regression equation techniques were used to analyse the observed data. The results of the FEM were misleading. The regression equations for the respective countries were used for empirical analysis. The results have identified that there are three main factors that are essential in reducing poverty in the SAARC region: SME growth, openness of trade and social sector development.

Growth of the Social Enterprises

Social Entrepreneurs are individuals who recognize a social problem and then create and manage a social venture to solve that problem. They use entrepreneurial principles to organise, establish and manage an enterprise to achieve social change. Social Entrepreneurship is a kind of entrepreneurship initiative that aims to resolve a social problem and bring transformation in the society. It is an entrepreneurial activity embedded with some social purpose. The growth of Social Entrepreneurship is due to various economic and social changes . Over the past two decades, business development depicts inclusive growth in entrepreneurship. The focus of entrepreneurship has shifted from profit to social impact. This development and emergence of the social enterprise sector have taken different paths in different regions in the Entrepreneurship‘. Social principles of conventional entrepreneurship. It is the recognition of a social problem and the uses of entrepreneurial principles to organize create and manage a social venture to achieve a desired social change. Iam here made attempt to present the growth of the social enterprises in the country.

Development of social sector through institutional change

The article analyses the preconditions of institutional changes in the social sector of Ukraine with the focus on the analysis of institutional regime quality and the analysis of the current model of social services management and financing. A comparative analysis of countries by the Knowledge Economy Index showed that it is due to institutional component that this index value decreases. High-income countries do not show significant growth dynamics as well. It is a quite representative fact that countries on path to creating competitive institutions (Baltic countries, Poland) are demonstrating the increasing dynamics of the Knowledge Economy Index, by the development of institutions as well. The analysis of individual components of the Knowledge Economy Index is also informative. Thus, Ukraine demonstrates a decline in the institutional environment quality over the period from 2000 to 2012 according to quantitative indicator of the economic and institutional regimes. The article also compares models of social services management in Ukraine and in developed countries. A multi-level model of social services management in Ukraine is formed. Its feature isthat most services are attributed to all three levels of management and financing. The results of the analysis show that the management of social service delivery is distributed to a wide range of stakeholders. The main difference between the models of social services management in Ukraine and in the countries of the analysed group is in the degree of private capital attraction. Current trends in the social sector development indicate the need for development of market economy institutions there: the social services market, social entrepreneurship in combination with the development of social impact investments. These processes should be regulated based on the following principles: priority of social goals in stakeholder cooperation, continuous improvement of quality, priority of one level of management of budgetary funds, stage-by-stage and comprehensive assessment of consequences of implementing new models of social services management.

RATIONALE OF DIRECTIONS OF STATE REGULATION OF SOCIAL SECTOR OF NATIONAL ECONOMY

It is proposed to substantiate the directions of state regulation of the social sector of the national economy using a methodological approach to assess the level of development of the social sector of the national economy, which provides on the basis of an integrated assessment (which combines the national and regional level, includes the following components: income / expenditure, demography, macroeconomics employment) to determine the level of development of the social sector of the national economy with the subsequent identification of the problem field by specific composition ymi. The sequence of assessment of the level of development of the social sector of the national economy includes the following stages: formation of components and systems of indicators for assessing the level of development of the social sector of the national economy; an integrated assessment of the level of social sector development at regional and national levels; identification of the problematic field of state regulation of the social sector of the country. Keywords: state regulation, social sector, national economy, integral indicator.

CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP OF FINANCIAL LITERACY WITH INDICATORS OF THE FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL SECTORS

In a situation where the growing likelihood of financial sector crises in both individual countries and globally, the issue of fragility of financial institutions as a result of significant credit, accumulation of "toxic" loans is becoming increasingly important. And low level of financial literacy of the population also plays an important role.Low financial literacy of the population has many consequences, including: excessive credit, lack of proper responsibility for their own financial decisions, etc. All this, as a result, has an impact on the personal financial status, and even on the spread of poverty.A significant contribution to the development of the theory, methodology and practical issues of financial literacy development has been made by the following famous scientists: A. Lusardi, O.Mitchell; A.Hasler; A. Meir, Y. Mugerman, O. Sade; V. R. Maarten, others.At the same time, there are not enough scientific papers that highlight the peculiarities of influencing the level of financial literacy on the development of the financial and social sectors.In this research, the task of checking hypotheses about the existence of a relationship between the level of financial literacy and the indicators of financial and social sectors development is set. The article deals with the relationship between the level of financial literacy and the indicators of the development of financial and social sectors according to the data of the EU-28 and countries of the world as a whole. The results are: as financial literacy grows, the borrowers less often take money from a private informal lender and from a family or friends and more frequently - from a financial institution; there is an inverse interrelation between the level of financial literacy among adults and the NPL (nonperforming loans); also, for the EU-28 countries, the direct interrelation between the severely materially deprived people (% of total population) and the NPL level has been confirmed.The problem of raising the level of financial literacy should be a public priority in countries with high rates of "bad" loans, with widespread poverty.

Regulation of institutional changes in the social sector of the national economy: conceptual approach

Introduction. The development of the national economy under the modern conditions is increasingly determined by the potential both of the commercial sector and also of the social sector development level since a number of economic policy tasks concern this sector. Issues of economic and social inequality are increasingly being explored in terms of their impact on economic growth in a long run. The complexity of implementing state regulation of the social sector to ensure inclusive growth raises a number of problems, because policies need to be coherent and institutional arrangements are effectively implemented.
 Aim and tasks. The purpose of the study is to substantiate a conceptual approach to institutional transformations regulating of the social sector of the national economy, based on the principles of inclusive economic growth.
 Results. According to the institutional changes theory, the formation of a coherent strategy regarding the state regulation of institutional changes in the social sector of the national economy requires consideration of the dependence on the previous way of development. So, the structure that is being formed requires both vertical (with basic institutions) and horizontal (with institutions formed within the social sector) coordination. Development of two mentioned types of interactions should be aligned with the strategy of state regulation of the social sector of the national economy - market-coherent and socially-coherent and gives the opportunity to achieve both social and economic (commercial) results, to balance the measures aimed at these interactions.
 Conclusions. Within the framework of the problem of creation of an effective system of state regulation solution for ensuring inclusive growth within the proposed approach, the necessity of stakeholder interaction development, creation of an institutional and economic environment for the development of market-coherent and socially-coherent interactions considering achievement of economic growth with simultaneous achievement of social goals is ensured. Strategic direction of state regulation of institutional changes in the social sector of the national economy can be considered a gradual shift from the institutions of income redistribution to participation institutions (education, infrastructure, etc.). Education development is one of the priorities, as research findings indicate that the problem of access to education is a significant factor in inequality.

Federal Resource Allocation and Social Sector Development: Evidence from Nigeria

Nigeria has a revenue allocation scheme which ensures that national wealth is shared among the three tiers of government. This fiscal relationship is expected to ensure national development and improve the quality of life of the citizenry. Thus, federal resource allocation is, among other things, expected to be channelled towards the development of the critical sectors, particularly the social sector for the overall wellbeing and welfare of the citizenry. Using a blend of secondary and primary data, this paper assesses the link between federal resource allocation and its implications on social sector development in Nigeria. The paper found that the utilisation of federal allocation has not enhanced the development of the social sector in Nigeria and that there was low commitment to the development of the social sector at all levels, reflecting in poor budgetary allocation and weak policy framework. Specifically, we recommend an enhanced federal resource allocation to the social sector in line with international benchmarks, increased political commitment, consistent policy framework and effective anti-graft measures.

Fine-Grained Big Traffic Data Reverse-charge System: A Method of Saving Expenses

The number of mobile users and the volume of big traffic data generated by user terminals are dramatically increased with diverse applications. Development in different economic and social sectors not only require higher network speed but also need low-cost on information exchanges. The market needs a complete set of solutions, which can provide a comprehensive management system for the operation and billing of a fine-grained data traffic system. This study addresses issues related to big traffic data reverse-charge for customers, which is a new type of consumption model that enables customers to save money with the cooperation of operators and online enterprises. We apply virtual private networking to identify apps, so as to help operators easily calculate the big traffic data of each app and reverse the related charges from the consumer to the relevant online enterprise. Online enterprises are willing to pay the expenses of some of their apps to enhance the user experience of customers exploring wireless services. To prove the popularity of our proposed system, we have experimentally employed the proposed reverse charge system, and participants’ responses to questionnaires indicate a win−win situation for customers as well as online enterprises. We hope that the proposed system will be implemented in practice, subject to customers, online enterprises, and operators agreeing to upgrade conventional charging infrastructures.