Statutory Social Security Research Articles

A Global Perspective on Social Security Programmes for Disabled People

By the mid-1990s, 163 countries had statutory general disability programmes. Most have adopted social insurance as their primary policy instrument, which restricts coverage to those in paid formal employment, makes benefit eligibility dependent upon the satisfying of specific minimum contribution period requirements and provides earnings-related pensions. Many countries also provide supplementary and special need benefits. Programme funding comes overwhelmingly from employer and employee contributions, with a majority of countries providing government subsidies. Using a methodology that assesses national statutory social security intentions, a ranking of these disability programmes reveals that Australia has the best designed one.

A Global Ranking of National Social Security Systems

There has been a very evident growth in descriptive and analytical comparative social security research over the past 40 years, but only Kaim‐Caudle has taken up the epistemological and methodological challenges of thecomparative evaluation of social security systems. The purpose of this paper is to rank social security systems in 172 countries using a comparative evaluation methodology that enables an assessment to be made of a country’s statutory social security intention. The conclusion drawn is that while seven of the ten best designed social security systems in the world can be found in western Europe, Australia has the best‐designed one.

African Social Security Systems: An Ordinal Evaluation

The purpose of this paper is to rank the social security systems in 45 African countries using a comparative evaluation methodology that enables an assess ment to be ma(le of a country's statutory social security intention. The conclusion drawn is that the spread of African social security system design standards are comparable to those of Latin American countries, although the poorest designed African systems are somewhat superior to their Latin American counterparts. The very best designed African social security systems are in North Africa: Tunisia (with its world-class family support program), Algeria and Libya, although Mauritius also stands out. Journal of Social Development in Africa Vol 15 No 1 2000, pp. 49-60

Issues in Complementary Health Insurance in Belgium

This article attempts to assess the increasing role of complementary social insurance in healthcare in Belgium. As different players attempt to fill in the lacunae of the statutory social security scheme, the demarcation of their sphere of action and of their mutual relationship is becoming problematic. It is therefore interesting to see the evolution of solidarity and selectivity. The analysis of both categories and products in complementary health insurance indicates the limitations and the bottlenecks in coming years for the social security scheme on the one hand and complementary social insurance on the other.

Social Security in South Korea and Singapore: Explaining the Differences

ABSTRACTThe paper sets out statutory social security arrangements in Korea and Singapore and then explains the differences between them. It finds that while Korea has a relatively advanced social security system based primarily on social insurance, Singapore has a patchwork of programmes based on forced saving, tax allowance, public assistance, and public insurance schemes run along commercial lines. Moreover, the increasing share of government expenditure devoted to social security in Korea stands in sharp contrast to the declining share in Singapore. The paper accounts for the variations in terms of the different economic objectives of the two states and the different international and societal constraints they face.In contrast to South Korea* which has rapidly established an elaborate set of income maintenance and health care programmes, Singapore continues to resist expansion of such programmes. The objective of this paper is to describe the social security programmes in the two countries and then explain why the supposedly similar political economies have pursued entirely different social security strategies. The paper will argue that to understand the variations, we need to examine the varying economic objectives of the two states and the different international and societal constraints they face.

An Overview of the Equality Directive On Social Security and Its Implementation in Four Social Security Systems

In December 1984 the Equality Directive 79/ 7/EEC on Statutory Social Security schemes came into force. Since then, this Directive has forced changes to the social security systems in the UK, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands. This article argues that, in the main, these changes have achieved the removal of bars on certain categories of women, married women and women cohabiting with male partners, from claiming benefits. Inequalities facing women in building up individual entitlements to social security benefits are of greater com plexity, however, than simply bringing about 'formal equality' between men and women. The article argues that these inequalities stem at least in part from the limited recognition in social security systems of unpaid caring work, such as bringing up children, and the care of elderly and sick persons, in establishing entitle ment to social security benefits. In the face of these problems the Directive has been con siderably less effective. The European Court of Justice has not prevented all four countries from cutting back on social security provision, even in ways which adversely affect women to a greater extent than men. Rules and con ditions such as earnings thresholds for con tributory benefits, or requirements of certain levels of previous income, both act to exclude part-time workers, most of whom are women, from social insurance systems. It is doubtful whether the Directive could be used to chal lenge these rules, partly because of the caution of the European Court of Justice in matters of equality in social security. The Directive, it is argued, is also unable to counter forms of dis crimination against women in social assistance benefits, despite the reality that greater num bers of people across the European Union are relying on these benefits. The article concludes on a note of measured enthusiasm for the ef fectiveness of this Directive in achieving sub stantial change for women.

Women and social security: The limits of EEC equality Law

Abstract Women's relationship to social security is in some respects very different from men's relationship to the benefit system. This is both in terms of outcomes (or who gets what benefits) and the assumptions which pervade the system about men and women's gender roles. Fifteen years or so ago the EEC passed Council Directive 79/7/EEC which required equality between men and women in statutory social security schemes. A number of articles have been written over the years about the Directive and the European Court of Justice's emerging case-law interpreting the Directive. In the last two or three years significant cases have been decided, particularly in relation to the material scope of the Directive. This article will analyse the main provisions of the Directive and give an up-to-date overview of the Court's case-law

Reorganisation of the health care systems of Eastern Europe

It is hard, if not impossible, to give an exact account of the present situation in the former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe regarding the provision of health care and the progress made in establishing a system of statutory health insurance and social security. There are at least two reasons for this difficulty. Firstly, although initial conditions were similar, today we witness a different situation in each country as a consequence of varying readiness to implement democracy and to introduce a market economy. Secondly, we do not observe steady progress. The nature of change in Eastern Europe is abrupt. It is characterized by contradictions and set-backs, to the extent that a detailed account may be outdated within a day. Yet one can try to illustrate a number of dominant trends and tendencies. For this purpose one can classify the countries concerned into three groups. The first group of countries is comprised of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria. From the present point of view these countries appear best equipped to keep pace with Western Europe. After their separation from Slowakia the Czechs will be able to hasten the development already instituted towards market

European community policies on sex equality: A bibliographic essay

This article outlines the literature on women's rights in the European Community. It begins with reports of research into Community law and compliance with it by governments of Member States. This covers legal provisions for equal pay, equal treatment at work, equality in statutory social security and private occupational schemes and, finally, the Social Charter. It then draws attention to the main works on the politics of policy-making, as it relates to women, in Community institutions. Since law and policy have been criticized for failing to address persistent inequality and segregation, the third section of the article refers to research into patterns of society and employment, with particular reference to adverse features that may be reinforced by the Single European Market. In conclusion, the article notes that many recent writers are pessimistic about the capacity of the Community to expand women's autonomy because its rights rest so much on the status of citizens as paid workers. This makes it all the more important that feminist perspectives are included in the politics of policy-making.