Social Security Policy Research Articles

Development and Poverty Dynamics in Severe Mental Illness: A Modified Capability Approach in the Chinese Context.

Albeit poverty reduction has been listed as an overarching objective in many countries’ development plans, little is known about how development could shape poverty dynamics in disadvantaged groups. Guided by a modified capability framework, this study aimed to explore the long-term experiences of poverty dynamics in severe mental illness. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 20 caregivers who provided care for persons with severe mental illness in Chengdu, China. Their perceptions on development, the illness, and social security were addressed. Content analysis was employed to analyze data. Participants experienced an overall improvement of life quality due to changes on urban infrastructure and transformed lifestyle. However, they were more disadvantaged while facing ability-based opportunities. These families were hindered from transferring opportunities into incomes. Negative impacts of the illness were also reflected in multiple stigma and conversion difficulties. Additionally, the high threshold for payment made those inclusive social security policies not inclusive for them. Poverty associated with severe mental illness was unlikely to be alleviated automatically within the process of development. Social isolation and high caregiving burden had aggravated poverty for those disadvantaged families. Poverty alleviation should be closely linked to the improvement in social policies in China.

Rights to enjoy benefit from social insurance of the femalelabor

Social insurance is the mainstay of the social security policy associated with the employee. The right to have social insurance is the basic and specific right associated with a female worker. This group right includes the right to enjoy the sickness benefit, maternity benefit, Work Injury, Occupational Disease Benefit, Old-age Benefit, Survivor’s Benefit, Medical Benefit (Health Insurance). The state has promulgated the Labor Code, the Law on Social Insurance, and other legal documents to create an implementation guide in order to build an effective legal corridor to protect the rights of female employees in enjoying social insurance. However, in reality, the right to enjoy social insurance of female employees is violated, and there is a gap between legal provisions and practical applications. This scientific paper evaluates the current status of legal provisions on the right to enjoy social insurance of female employees and the practical application of the law. From there, this paper proposes some solutions to improve the law on the right to enjoy social insurance of female employees.

Research on the Influence of Roosevelt's New Deal on American Social Security System

The social security system that ensures the most basic living needs of residents is very important for a country. The Roosevelt administration advocated the establishment of a government led social security system, taking different key and forms of unemployment relief, employment expansion, social security legislation and other measures to solve the problems of employment and poverty in American society, and achieve the goal of national intervention in the economy, regulating social production and easing political contradictions, which had a huge and far-reaching impact on the whole American society. On the basis of summarizing the relationship between Roosevelt's new deal and social security system, according to the applicable background and specific content of Roosevelt's new deal, this paper focuses on the impact of social security policy in the "New Deal" on American economy, society and politics, in order to provide useful reference for establishing and perfecting China's social security system.

Population ageing: experiences from some “super-aged” Asian countries and feasible solutions for Vietnam

The statement of "aging in the 21st century" raised by the United Nations Population Fund Association has been a prominent socio-economic issue around the world, and in reality, the rate of aging has occurred in many countries at an unprecedented pace. Though the aged population could be considered as the huge achievement of human beings in terms of socio-economic growth along with the blended life expectancy, the aging population possibly causes difficulties and challenges toward elderly people and the society as well. Some Asian countries have been confronted with the demographic change as the life expectancy gradually increases but the fertility and mortality are significantly declined. Vietnam among Asian countries was one of the nations with the highest pace of aging rate across the world. Thereby, grasping the deep understanding of the factors impacting on aging and its consequences on socio-economics become a crucial social issue for Vietnam. With the aim towards prescribing appropriate and sustainable social security policies from the perspective of the population, we will focus on analyzing and comparing the challenges and difficulties faced by Asia's 'super-aged' countries as well as the effective policies that they have implemented to solve their problems. For the purpose of harnessing the merits of the "golden population" period and improving the current quality of population, we then propose some policy implications relative to financial security, health care, and expect to create a friendly environment for the elderly.

Factors affecting the livelihood diversification of Vietnam households

Sustainable livelihood is not only the livelihood objective but also households’ expectations. Livelihood diversification is aimed at ensuring the farmer's resilience to shocks and improving livelihood sustainability. Research on livelihood diversification in rural areas contributes to the development of agricultural development policies, social security policies for all farm households in Vietnam. The authors applied statistic and regression methods to analyze VARHS’s database which is surveyed 12 provinces in Vietnam over years. This paper is carried out to analyze and evaluate factors affecting the probability of choosing to diversify the livelihoods of Vietnamese farmers by developing a diversification index (SID) and SID’s determinants based on the DFID framework. The results show that the decision to diversify livelihood is influenced by many factors, including age, planted areas, asset value, saving money. Since then, the authors propose some implications for promoting the livelihood diversification of Vietnamese farmers.

Can a Basic Income Grant Improve the Quality of Life for the Poor in South Africa: An Analytical Review

The relevance of this scientific problem is that there are numerous calls and arguments from civil society organisations, labour unions, progressive economists, and policy experts to the South African government regarding the introduction of basic income grant. This will help protect the unemployed from poverty and stimulate economic growth. Systematization of the literary sources and approaches for solving the problem of improving the quality of life of the poor indicates that the government (led by the African National Congress) since 1994 implemented a social security policy (the child support grant for women). At the same time, the government’s position regarding the feasibility of introducing of basic income grant as a tool for economic stimulation has changed. The African National Congress disagrees with the need for basic income grant as a tool for poverty alleviation and economic growth. The main purpose of the research is the analysis of the prerequisites for the change in the position of the African National Congress regarding the feasibility of introducing basic income grant: basic income grant is a tool for stimulating economic growth and overcoming poverty for most of the disadvantaged population of South Africa, or a means for the government to preserve its positions, which are weakening among the South African electorate. The paper presents the results of an empirical analysis, which proved that basic income grant will contribute to the increase of the national tax base as those not earning an income can start buying and selling goods and be taxed. At the same time, at the initial stage, the introduction of basic income grant will lead to an increase in the level of income taxation of the employed population. Analytical methods of scientific literature analysis became the methodical tools of the conducted research. The research empirically confirms and theoretically proves that the introduction of basic income grant could stimulate the economy by ensuring that the unemployed become economic participants by having disposable cash to spend and start business activities.

Design of Gender-Specific Benefits in Social Security Schemes: Experience from Tanzania

This study aimed to investigate designing and challenges of the implementing gender-specific benefits in social security schemes (NSSF and PSSSF) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Twenty-four (24) respondents were involved in this study. Face-to-face Semi-structured interviews were the main method used in data collection. Data collected were analyzed through Thematic and Content analysis. The findings revealed that the Maternity benefit is the only gender-sensitive benefit included in social security schemes. Additionally, the findings revealed that policies, programs, strategies, and laws concerning social protection are gender blind while social security benefits are characterized by the exclusion of paternity benefits and informal sectors. The study concludes that gender-centered social security benefits can be viewed in the design and implementation of social security benefits. The study recommends that the government should reform social security policies to suit gender as a primary factor in its design. The study recommends that members should demand changes in benefits because members’ contribution is a great source of income in social security schemes.

Social Provision of Disabled People in Welfare States: the Scope of Social Benefits and Anti-Crisis Regulation. Part 2

The article consists of two separate publications (Part 1 and Part 2) and analyses social security policy towards people with disability at working age in developed welfare states (social-democratic, conservative-corporatist and neoliberal regimes). Part 2 analyses reform strategies of state assistance programmes for disabled people on the basis of international research as well as statistical data of the EU and OECD for the past 30 years, while considering the changes in the economic climate. The article attends for the funding: expenditures for the programmes (as percentage of GDP and per capita) during periods of economic growth, the 2008–2009 crisis and the following decade. The connection between cyclic economic changes and the number of people with disability is considered. The author examines the combination of approaches to anticrisis management and the dynamics of public spending on programmes for people with disabilities as well as on alternative support schemes and social security in general. The author analyses the level of social protection of people with disability: poverty and inequality data based on research data and self-administered health condition evaluation. The article discusses the factors which mitigate the negative effects of the reforms, contribute to the reduction of social tension or, on the contrary, decrease social security in the long-term perspective.

Index, 2021

The article consists of two separate publications (Part 1 and Part 2) and analyses social security policy towards people with disability at working age in developed welfare states (social-democratic, conservative-corporatist and neoliberal regimes). Part 2 analyses reform strategies of state assistance programmes for disabled people on the basis of international research as well as statistical data of the EU and OECD for the past 30 years, while considering the changes in the economic climate. The article attends for the funding: expenditures for the programmes (as percentage of GDP and per capita) during periods of economic growth, the 2008–2009 crisis and the following decade. The connection between cyclic economic changes and the number of people with disability is considered. The author examines the combination of approaches to anticrisis management and the dynamics of public spending on programmes for people with disabilities as well as on alternative support schemes and social security in general. The author analyses the level of social protection of people with disability: poverty and inequality data based on research data and self-administered health condition evaluation. The article discusses the factors which mitigate the negative effects of the reforms, contribute to the reduction of social tension or, on the contrary, decrease social security in the long-term perspective.

Spillover Effects of Retirement on Physical and Mental Health of a Spouse or Partner: Do Gender and Sexuality Matter?

This study evaluated the role of the built environment on residents’ wayfinding behaviours at Louis Brier Home in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The goal of this study was to explore baseline mobility challenges for the residents traveling between their bedrooms and social spaces. In response to this, low-cost environmental interventions were proposed and implemented to support safe and independent wayfinding for the residents. The project consisted of three phases. First phase involved a mixed methods approach using behavior mapping and spatial observations of the residents interacting with their physical environment, combined with one focus group with the staff members. In the second phase, researchers presented actionable environmental interventions for the care home administration to consider and implement. The final phase involved post-implementation behaviour mapping, spatial observations and a focus group session. The implemented environmental interventions influenced in improved resident wayfinding and orientation in the long-term care home.

Effective immunization scenarios by vaccination against COVID-19 obtained through Bayesian analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a health crisis on an unprecedented scale, due to the unstoppable spread of the disease through the global integration provided by the current strongly globalized society. Isolation policies recommended by WHO impacted countries economies, making it necessary to implement a range of economic, health, social and economic security policies, such as: financial aid packages for the population and companies, investment of resources for the structuring of hospital beds for the treatment of patients, implementation of population testing programs, among others. The impact of the pandemic proved to be quite significant especially for the so-called "developing countries", due to the difficulties in establishing the aforementioned range of security policies as well as mass testing of the population in order to reliably map the disease spreading. The implementation of those measure were limited not only by economic reasons, but also by political impediments. In the present study, a Bayesian analysis of the immunization rate against COVID-19 through vaccination, evaluating the immunization scenarios lasting or temporary. The logistics required for the vaccination campaign in Brazil were assessed by considering uncertainties in determining the daily rate of immunization, as well as the effectiveness of the vaccine made available for the population. In this intent, an epidemiological model was used compartmentalized, calibrated against historical data using the CATMIP stochastic algorithm. The obtained results indicate that the daily vaccination rate is the most important parameter of a successful immunization program, given an effectiveness rate equal or superior to 50%. However, a massive immunization rate needs to be conjugated with a responsible relaxing of the social distancing measures after the vaccination program start, under the risk of compromising any positive result in terms of the number of contaminated and deceased individuals.

Impact of Economic Downturn on Child Labor in Vietnam

The economic recession led to the economic downturn, loss of jobs and income, and the risk of falling back into the poverty of near-poor and poor households. This recession caused an increase in child labor. This study aimed to analyze the concept of child and child labor under a regulatory framework and assess how the economic downturn affects child labor in Vietnam. This study used analytical research methods through synthesis, comparison, and legal analysis, emphasizing literary research based on secondary research data. This study showed that the economic downturn increased the proportion of child labor because the parents and the family's breadwinner are unemployed or cut down on their income. Children were out of school to help household businesses or look for work for extra income. The economic downturn increased the number of children working in unsafe working conditions. It increased the risk of children being forced into illegal jobs prohibited and exposing children to labor to risk forced labor. It resulted in difficulties preventing and eliminating child labor, especially in a developing country like Vietnam, due to the high number of employees working in the informal sector, who were often unsupported by social security policies such as unemployment insurance and social insurance. This study suggested that the Government should establish policies to promote sustainable economic development and promulgate appropriate social security policies to promptly support workers and their families out of difficulties caused by job loss. Also, it should organize the effective implementation of regulations on eliminating child labor and raise social awareness in preventing and eliminating child labor.
 KEYWORDS: Economic Downturn, Child Labor, COVID-19 Pandemic.

Guiding principles for social security policy: Outcomes from a bottom‐up approach

AbstractCovid‐19 has highlighted the inadequacy of UK social security but also the lack of consensus among progressive actors about what would be a better system. One way forward is to focus on the principles that should underpin social security. We present outcomes from a project in which principles were considered by a panel of Expert by Experience benefit claimants. We argue that while scholars often engage in descriptively identifying social security principles in existing policy, the bottom‐up approach presented here offers a way of generating normative principles to guide an improved future system. We identify key contributions of this bottom‐up approach relating to: the critical importance of principles as a guide to the fundamental purpose of social security, and policy making; the relationship between the treatment of claimants and benefit levels as co‐dependent; and how a bottom‐up process can produce results that engage with and contribute holistically to the debate.

Users’ Satisfaction to Medical Examination and Treatment Services with Health Insurance Cards In NINH BINH Province, Vietnam

Health insurance is an important social policy with humanitarian meaning and profound community sharing, which is highly valued and promoted by the Vietnamese Government in the social security policy system. Therefore, it is necessary to study users’ satisfaction to medical examination and treatment services with health insurance cards. Based on the questionnaire surveys, the research team conducted Cronbach's Alpha analysis of each factor, assessed the scale reliability. Multivariate regression and ANOVA test showed that all four components: health services, human resources, medical examination and treatment costs, medical information and medical products positively affected users’ satisfaction to medical examination and treatment services with health insurance cards in Ninh Binh province, Vietnam. Based on the survey results and the information exchanged directly with people who came for medical examination and treatment, the research team drew out shortcomings in medical examination and treatment for users of health insurance card sin Ninh Binh province. Shortcomings in medical examination and treatment with health insurance cards were pointed out as an important basis for proposals to improve the medical examination and treatment quality for insured subjects including: Health insurance costs and response levels; Medical examination and treatment process with health insurance and doctor’s responsibility. Reasonable waiting time and hospital environment; Health insurance-based drug delivery.

Institutional Design and Incentives for Migrant Workers to Participate in Social Insurance in China: Evidence From a Policy Experiment in Chengdu City.

Rural-to-urban migration has increased rapidly in China since the early 1980s, with the number of migrants has reached 376 million by 2020. Despite this sharp trend and the significant contributions that migrants have made to urban development, the migrant workers have had very limited access to the social insurance that the majority of urban workers enjoy. Against the background of the social insurance system adjustment in Chengdu in 2011, this study uses a difference-in-differences (DID) model to empirically test the impacts of changes in the social insurance policy contribution rates on the social insurance participation rates of migrant workers, using the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) data for 2009–2016. We find that the social insurance participation rate of migrant workers was significantly reduced after they were incorporated into the urban worker insurance system. There was no significant change in the wages of migrant workers, but the working hours were increased and their consumption level decreased. In other words, simply changing the social insurance model of migrant workers from “comprehensive social insurance” to “urban employee insurance” reduces the incentives for migrant workers to participate in insurance and harms the overall welfare of migrant workers. Our study indicates that the design of the social security policy is an important reason for the lower participation rate of migrants. It is necessary to solve the problem of insufficient incentives through the targeted social security policies; primarily, the formulation of a social security policy contribution rate suitable for the migrants, and the establishment of a comprehensive social security policy and the gradual integration of the social security system.

Social Provision of Disabled People in Welfare States: the Scope of Social Benefits and Anti-Crisis Regulation. Part 1

The article consists of two separate publications (Part 1 and Part 2) and analyses social security policy towards people with disability at working age in developed welfare states (social-democratic, conservative-corporatist and neoliberal regimes). Part 1 considers various approaches to reformation of state disability assistance aimed at overcoming “dependency culture” and increasing personal responsibility for wellbeing. The analysis is conveyed on the basis of international research as well as statistical data of the EU and OECD for the past 30 years. The article discusses the reasons for the growing assistance demand, the grounds for tightening the requirements for selection standards as well as the approaches to evaluation of disability. Institutional schemes of social welfare and participation conditions are accounted for. The author analyses the approaches to reducing poverty and inequality: redistribution of state expenditures within disability programmes and alternative support schemes offering people with disabilities a wide scope of social benefits based on research data and individual evaluation of health condition.

Want: Still the easiest giant to attack?

Beveridge claimed that ‘want’ was ‘in some ways the easiest [giant] to attack’ and yet 80 years after his report was published, poverty persists and indeed, has been increasing in recent years. In this article, we review both the key features of the Beveridge Report in relation to poverty and its implementation by the Labour government 1945–51, before turning to an analysis of how social security policy has changed since then. We then review changes in poverty levels since World War Two and attitudes to poverty. We conclude that Beveridge's plan helped to reduce poverty in the immediate post-war years not least because of full employment. Nevertheless, poverty was not eradicated even at this time due to low levels of wages in work and low levels of benefits out of work. Since then, a number of reforms have generally moved further away from the Beveridge plan including a renewed focus on means testing and cuts in benefit levels. These have also contributed to increased levels of poverty, particularly for those of working age in recent years.

Risk-adjusted valuation in the worker's economic decision making

We suggest a risk-adjusted valuation approach for workers at retirement risk to make decisions in an overlapping generations economy. The risk-averse workers use greater weights than expected, so-called risk-adjusted probability, on their retirement cash flows to assess the residual lifetime income. This method can be consistently applied to value financial and non-financial assets, and on the risk-adjusted valuations, the workers will make optimal investments. To predict capital returns and economic variables, comparative statics will be numerically implemented via demographic structure, preference, and social security policy by aggregating workers’ decisions.

Beyond Financial Support: Helping Citizens in Welfare Programs

Governments are turning to Social Media as a way to engage citizens in public policies through online debates and discussion forums. Together with the communication team of a government department, we are exploring another facet of government-citizens communication, and another opportunity for governments to exploit Social Media. In particular, we are investigating whether online communities could become a new channel to support specific groups of citizens. In this model, a government would facilitate the creation of online communities for specific cohorts of people sharing goals and needs as well as act as mediator. This model would enable governments to capitalise on the power of crowd-sourcing and the social capital that gets created through such communities to provide social and emotional peer-support. These communities would also serve to provide direct feedback on social security policies. We propose to explore the issues that arise in this context.

Household Responses to Social Security Policy Risk

Household Responses to Social Security Policy Risk