Social Welfare Model Research Articles

A Model of Social Welfare of Village Farmers and Production Capacity: A Case of Agricultural Products in Indonesia

This research aims to understand the Social Welfare of Village Farmers and Production Capacity of Agricultural Products in Indonesia. This topic is of particular interest from both an ontological and a sociological perspective, in the context of public policyThe research questions were analyzed using a mixed methodology, combining qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative study data were collected through observation and documentation; the analysis was done through multiple steps like data reduction, presentation, verification also with the support of triangulation. Quantitative data were collected through 100 respondents survey, analysed using Partial Least Square (PLS). The qualitative findings indicated that there was a need for information to be provided to stakeholders regarding the social welfare of village farmers and the production capacity of agricultural products in Indonesia. The implementation of this information would be beneficial. The quantitative findings indicated that public policy and social welfare had a positive and significant impact on production capacity. This result provided inputs for the creation of more effective regulations and policies for state agencies as public officials and practitioners in managing social welfare of village farmers and production capacity of agricultural products.

Evaluating the social welfare model of Vietnam: An introductory overview

The focus of this article is on the social welfare model of Vietnam in an evaluative manner, with the aim of introducing this system to researchers and academics. It is argued that the right to social welfare is a fundamental human right as prescribed by the United Nations and Article 34 of the Constitution of Vietnam. Against this backdrop, this article first provides an overview of the current social welfare model in Vietnam, with a particular focus on domestic legislation. Fundamentally, it is noted that this system is based on four pillars: employment, income, and poverty reduction; social insurance; social assistance for individuals in exceptionally difficult situations; and guaranteeing a minimum level of access to certain basic social services. Secondly, the article evaluates the ways in which the government plans to improve this system based on their outlook for 2021–2030. This is fashioned on five pillars, namely: 1) the labor market, employment and income, supply and demand, infrastructure and projections for the labor market, labor market data, and employment services; 2) social insurance, encompassing mandatory, supplemental, and elective plans; 3) social assistance, encompassing emergency and ongoing help as well as social care; 4) a social welfare floor with a “basket” of necessities; and 5) expert social work for social welfare. Finally, the article underlines the way forward for Vietnam to materialise the aim of ameliorating their social welfare system through human rights and sustainable development.

Zwischen Sorbonne-Rede 2.0 und Neuwahlen – Macrons Visionen im Realitätstest

On 25 April 2024 President Emmanuel Macron described in his second Sorbonne speech the current state of the European Union (EU) in drastic terms and presented solutions to protect Europe and its model of peace, politics, social welfare and prosperity. Seven years after his first major speech on Europe at the Sorbonne, he took stock and once again made a passionate case for the European integration project. However, the speech must also be understood in light of his domestic political challenges and the new European legislative period. This article analyses the speech and the resulting implications for European policy.

A Brief Analysis of the Song Dynasty Social Welfare Model

A Brief Analysis of the Song Dynasty Social Welfare Model

Post-war Recovery Practices for Ukraine, based on the Experience of other Countries that have Undergone Similar Processes

"This article aims to study the specifics of post-war recovery practices in European countries to elaborate on the key recommendations for Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction policy. The research methodology is based on general scientific and empirical methods of studying political, economic, social, and institutional factors of Ukraine’s recovery and similar practices of the most developed countries. The study results of post-war reconstruction practices in European countries prove the importance of building institutional norms, European integration (political, economic, ideological, and value-based), and mechanisms for financing development projects to create a new innovative model of economic growth and social welfare. Furthermore, the implementation of the Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program) and the Dodge Line (Recovery Program for Japan) prove the importance of creating capable institutions and their political cooperation with the affected countries to promote industrial growth and transition to post-industrial societies dominated by a significant share of the quaternary and quinary economy sectors. Practical relevance. The article’s authors analyzed the Recovery Plan of Ukraine compared with the reconstruction plans of European countries and Japan. The authors have identified the need for institutional support from international partners due to high corruption risks in Ukraine, the resource-based structure of the Ukrainian economy, and the need to stimulate economic development through investment, innovation, and building effective education, social security, and healthcare systems. Therefore, as part of Ukraine’s recovery policy, it would be reasonable to use mechanisms of institutional and political support from partners and economic development financing means to address the problem of institutional failure in Ukraine."

Effective mechanism for trading generation rights in the context of carbon emission rights

In the global context of intensive energy resource consumption and substantial greenhouse gas emissions, as the energy sector with the highest share of carbon emissions, the power generation industry is destined to play a central role in China's efforts to promote energy conservation and emission reduction. With the emergence of local carbon pilot projects and the implementation of a national carbon market, key emission units in the power industry, in addition to the electricity market business, also need to fulfill and pay carbon emission rights on schedule. The power generation rights are a market-based mechanism for clean energy units to replace conventional energy units in electricity generation, which can promote carbon emission reduction by incorporating the actual carbon emissions from conventional energy units. This paper establishes an optimized social welfare model that incorporates the interdependency between the thermal power generation unit market and the electric carbon market. It is based on the social welfare model of power generation rights and the initial allocation of carbon emission rights for the units, while considering the cost increase of excess emission under monthly forecasted power generation by the thermal power units. Taking a certain hydropower province as the simulation object, it was verified that the optimized model has a higher transaction rate of power generation rights, greater social welfare, and no reduction in unit revenue.

Supply chain decision based on green investment subsidy and risk aversion.

Considering the risk aversion characteristics of supply chain members, how to effectively design the government subsidy strategy and green supply chain strategy is a realistic and urgent issue. Regarding this, we optimize and compare four three-stage Stackelberg game models between government and a two-echelon green supply chain, namely both manufacturer and retailer risk neutral (BN), manufacturer risk aversion while retailer risk neutral (MA), retailer risk aversion while manufacturer risk neutral (RA) and both manufacturer and retailer risk aversion (BA). The government as the leader decides the subsidy rate of green input cost with the goal of maximizing social welfare; the manufacturer as the first follower makes decisions on product greenness and wholesale price to maximize its own interests; and the retailer as the second follower determines retail prices to maximize its own interests. Employing mathematical reasoning and numerical simulation investigate thoroughly the effects of the government subsidies and the members' risk aversion. Results indicate that an appropriate government subsidy investment has a positive effect on optimal decisions and related benefits. Risk aversion is in favor of improvement of product greenness and social welfare while reduction of retail price. With the increase of manufacturer risk aversion, green subsidy investment rate and retailer expected revenue increase; on the contrary, the wholesale price and manufacturer expected revenue decrease. With the increase of retailer risk aversion, the wholesale price and manufacturer expected revenue increase, while green subsidy investment rate and retailer expected revenue decrease. In the model of BN, product greenness and social welfare are the lowest, while retail price is the highest. BA is opposite to BN. In the model of RA, green subsidy investment rate and retailer expected revenue the lowest, while wholesale price and manufacturer expected revenue the highest. RA is opposite to MA. The government should formulate appropriate subsidy policies to encourage manufacturers to produce green products and raise consumers' green awareness. Enterprises should control their own risk aversion and assess the risk aversion of the other party reasonably.

Ageing, Leisure Time Physical Activity and Health in Europe.

The goal of this article is to analyse leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and health-driven motivations to engage in such activity among elderly people in the European Union. We use as a base the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the theory of the correlation between physical activity according to individual factors (age, gender, socio-economic status) and contextual factors (habitat, community infrastructures, the model of the welfare state of the country of residence). Data are taken from Eurobarometer 88.4. The Generalized Structural Equation Model (GSEM) methodology was used, with the STATA program. The results show that 65.3% of EU citizens over the age of 60 engage in some form of LTPA, that 40.4% do so for health reasons, and that only 32.3% engage in LTPA that meets the minimum guidelines set by the WHO. In addition, there are large differences based on individual and contextual characteristics. The following group was found to be those who practice the most: men, with high socio-economic status, belonging to the middle and upper social classes, living in rural areas where there is infrastructure for physical activity, and above all, in the countries of the Nordic model of social welfare.

Universalism in Social Policy of the Scandinavian States

The article deals with the role of the principle of universalism as the “cornerstone” of the social policy of the Scandinavian states. It is emphasized that Scandinavian universalism is traditionally based on a higher level of social equality than the level that is present within other social welfare systems aimed at a selective approach and social stratification. The Scandinavian social welfare model has recently been facing a number of problems related to globalization, increased competition on the labor market, demographic changes and an expanding influx of migrants. In the current situation, this model is becoming more economical and market-oriented, and existing social programs are being adjusted by reducing their excessive generosity. There is a growing understanding of the need to expand the principle of universalism and introduce much greater differentiation into social policy, taking into account the real needs of individual segments of the population.

Mixed opinions: public attitudes towards the welfare state in Poland

This paper examines public opinion in Poland towards welfare policies and structures. We start by outlining the main research into welfare state models, in particular drawing on the welfare state typologies of Esping-Andersen. We then outline the existing contradictory research that exists on whether a distinct welfare state model is identifiable in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including Poland. We use this as a context to analyse the opinions of Poles towards the welfare state. Our research uses original quantitative data garnered from a survey carried out on a representative sample in Poland. There is particular strong support for aspects of the social democratic welfare state model within Polish society. Furthermore, large sections of Polish society remain supportive of some of the welfare structures that were existent during Communism. Concurrently, there is significant support for a liberal welfare state model within the most privileged sections of society. The analysis therefore finds that the opinions of Polish society are mixed, which to some degree reflects the hybrid nature of its welfare state.

Models for the Economic Impacts of Forest Disturbances: A Systematic Review

The frequency of forest disturbances has increased under intensifying climate changes, and the economic impacts of forest disturbances should receive more attention. This paper systematically reviews models of the economic impacts of forest disturbances and summarizes four commonly applied models, which are “with and without” analysis, equilibrium models, the intervention model, and the social welfare model. The advantages and disadvantages of these four models are presented and compared, and literature using these models is introduced. The review of the economic assessment of damage caused by forest disturbances is expected to provide insights for researchers in this field and useful information about economic losses, price dynamics, and welfare redistribution for policymakers.

Nonconvex multicommodity near equilibrium models: Energy markets perspective

In this paper we explore the application of the minimum total opportunity cost (MTOC) model of Fuller and Celebi (2017) to multicommodity market planning models containing binary variables and price sensitive demands, with or without substitution among commodities. We present a greatly simplified derivation of the MTOC approximation of Fuller and Celebi (2017), here called the near equilibrium (NE) model, a mixed integer program with nonlinearities only in the objective function. For some models, the NE solution achieves the MTOC solution exactly, as in an example. We provide a simple example of capacity expansion in gas and electricity markets that are linked through substitution in demand and in the possibility of using gas to produce electricity. In several cases, we compare the NE solution to the social welfare (SW) maximization solution calculated by a sequential optimization algorithm. In one case, the sequential optimization algorithm fails to converge, due to the binary variables. For the other cases, the NE model has smaller producer opportunity costs – in particular, in most cases, smaller make whole payments that bring negative producer profits up to zero – at some sacrifice of social welfare. We suggest that the NE model could be useful to government regulators as a supplementary tool along with SW models, as the NE solution usually reduces subsidies needed for make whole payments, and sometimes benefits consumers compared to the SW solution.

State economic policy for the implementation of business models of social welfare in times of socio-economic crises

State economic policy for the implementation of business models of social welfare in times of socio-economic crises

Data-Driven Consumption Load Monitoring and Adjustment Strategy in Smart Grid

The enhancement of the intelligent construction of the power grid and widespread popularity of smart meters enable large amounts of electrical energy consumption data to be collected and analyzed. Based on the data, the energy provider gives a guiding price in the future periods to users. It encourages users to be more economical and smarter in the process of using electricity. By applying the social welfare model to equate demand and supply in every time interval, we gain the optimal prices and generation capacity. Nevertheless, the truth is that there is a great gap between the consumers’ booked electrical energy consumption and the optimal generation capacity, causing the power system overload and even outage. This article puts forward a novel automatic process control strategy in order to monitor the gap between the consumers’ booked electrical energy consumption and optimal generation capacity by using statistical method to predict the future one. When the predicted value exceeds the boundary, the energy provider adopts the changeable electricity price to stimulate consumers to adjust their electrical energy demands so that it can have smoothly actual electrical energy consumption. Our adjustment method is data-driven exponential function-based adjustment. Case study results show that the strategy can obtain small adjustment times, stable actual consumption load, and controllable prediction errors. Different from the linear monitoring and adjustment strategy, our approach obtains almost the same adjustment frequency, less standard deviation of residuals, and higher total social welfare and energy provider profit.

A model of social welfare improving transfers

This paper provides a generalization of the Hardy-Littlewood-Polya (HLP) Theorem in the following discrete framework: a distribution counts the number of persons having each possible individual outcome – assumed to be finitely divisible – and social welfare improving transfers have the structure of a discrete cone. The generalization is abstract in the sense that individual outcomes can be unidimensional or multidimensional, each dimension can be cardinal or ordinal and no further specification is required for the transfers. It follows that most of the results in the literature, applied to discrete distributions and comparable to the HLP Theorem, are corollaries of our theorem. In addition, our model sheds new light on some surprising results in the literature on social deprivation and, in decision-making under risk, provides new arguments on the key role of the expected utility model.

Recession and risk of suicide in Denmark during the 2009 global financial crisis: an ecological register-based study.

The aim of this study is to analyse the potential impact from the financial crisis (onset in 2009) on suicide rates in Denmark. The hypothesis is that the global financial crisis raised unemployment which leads to raising the suicide rate in Denmark and that the impact is most prominent in men. This study used an ecological study design, including register data from 2001 until 2016 on unemployment, suicide, gender and calendar time which was analysed using Poisson regression models and interrupted time series analysis. The correlation between unemployment and suicide rates was positive in the period and statistically significant for all, but at a moderate level. A dichotomised version of time (calendar year) showed a significant reduction in the suicide rate for women (incidence rate ratio 0.87, P=0.002). Interrupted time series analysis showed a significant decreasing trend for the overall suicide rate and for men in the pre-recession period, which in both cases stagnated after the onset of recession in 2009. The difference between the genders' suicide rate changed significantly at the onset of recession, as the rate for men increased and the rate for women decreased. The Danish social welfare model might have prevented social disintegration and suicide among unemployed, and suicide prevention programmes might have prevented deaths among unemployed and mentally ill individuals. We found some indications for gender-specific differences from the impact of the financial crises on the suicide rate. We recommend that men should be specifically targeted for appropriate prevention programmes during periods of economic downturn.

Public expenditure on disability (PED) in Europe: An efficiency analysis

AbstractDisability concerns all citizens and its public policies are essential for social improvement. Moreover, the increase in life expectancy will lead to most of the population being part of this group. In Europe, public policies have evolved towards the development of the welfare state, although there are significant differences between countries. Thus, this paper analyses the efficiency of public expenditure on disability among EU countries through a DEA analysis and the relation with social welfare models, as well as target values and improvement proposals, by studying the resulting differences as a consequence of their different social policies. The results confirm a limited relation between social welfare models and public administration styles with the efficiency on public expenditure on disability and that the countries should work in two directions: increasing public expenditure on disability (which would reduce the gap between target and actual disability prevalence values), and efficiently managing public expenditure.

Sustainable management of different systems for recycling end-of-life tyres in China.

Based on a literature review and interviews with experts, the purpose of this article is to investigate the sustainable management of different systems for recycling end-of-life tyres (ELTs) in China. Systems for bicycles (including electric bicycles), electric motorbikes and cars are considered. The article finds there are differences in the price, handling costs, process costs and transport costs. Consequently, most of the recycled ELTs are from cars. Accordingly, an economic model is built to show the difference between the different systems. The results show that the recycling system for ELTs from cars works effectively, whereas that for bicycles and electric motorbikes does not work in China. In addition, a social welfare model is built to discuss the sustainable management of the different systems for recycling ELTs. Based on the results of the model, it is suggested that subsidies could be provided according to the weight of ELTs, and that if subsidies were to be granted specifically for recycling ELTs from bicycles and electric motorbikes this would promote the efficiency and the sustainable management of these recycling systems in China.

Principales problemáticas e inquietudes de las personas mayores en las sociedades posindustriales. Análisis cualitativo en los contextos español y alemán

El progresivo envejecimiento poblacional supone además de un hito, un reto y una responsabilidad pública. Se observa una escasez de estudios sociales cualitativos centrados en analizar los problemas que enfrentan los/as adultos/as mayores, según su propia perspectiva. Por ello, el presente estudio, partiendo del paradigma del envejecimiento activo, pretende analizar las principales inquietudes y problemas autopercibidos por los propios adultos mayores, así como la valoración subjetiva y atribuciones que hacen de los mismos. Se estudian, por tanto, no solo las problemáticas en cuestión, sino también las implicaciones que estas conllevan en las distintas esferas vitales: personal, emocional, familiar y social, abordándose este reto investigador desde una perspectiva comparada entre el contexto alemán y el español, con modelos de bienestar social dispares. Para ello, se diseña una investigación cualitativa de estudio de casos, a través de la técnica de la entrevista semiestructurada y el grupo focal, seleccionándose un doble perfil de participantes: experto y adulto mayor. La muestra final, de 56 participantes, está determinada por la saturación de discursos. Entre los principales problemas reseñados destacan los económicos, la soledad y la ruptura con los estilos de vida y redes sociales, que se retroalimentan entre sí e interfieren en distintas esferas vitales.

Descobrindo a legalidade neoliberal: a reconfiguração do Estado de Direito segundo Hayek

Esta pesquisa pretende analisar e compreender a relação entre Direito e neoliberalismo demonstrada na reconfiguração do Estado de Direito pela racionalidade neoliberal. O estudo tem como hipótese principal que a emergência do neoliberalismo ensejou grandes transformações na compreensão do que é o Estado de Direito. O Direito assume um papel importante no projeto neoliberal como um todo, na medida em que a lei concebe, constrói e dá coerência à ordem neoliberal através de instituições e normas. Sem isto, o neoliberalismo não poderia ser um projeto jurídico além de econômico, político e ideológico. A pesquisa consiste em responder às seguintes indagações: o que é a racionalidade neoliberal e qual o seu ideal de Estado de Direito? E, como o neoliberalismo transforma o Estado de Direito atual? A partir da obra de Friedrich A. von Hayek, analisa-se como este ideal jurídico-político reconfigura o Estado de Direito. Em conclusão, verifica-se que ideais jurídico-políticos da liberdade e do “nomos” neoliberal dão forma a uma concepção específica de Estado de Direito, se opondo tanto à modelos de bem-estar social quanto liberais clássicos.