Welfare Reform Research Articles

Влияние внешних и внутренних факторов на формирование самосохранительного поведения лиц старшего возраста (региональный аспект)

Health has been one of the components of vertical social mobility since ancient times; it also contributes to the preservation of human life in front of the "forces of nature". On the territory of the Russian Federation, annual monitoring is carried out to assess the standard of living in the regions of the country, which takes into account not only economic, political indicators, but also social, including the health of the population. It should be noted that in the process of life, the health of an individual is influenced not only by the socioeconomic, environmental situation in a particular region of the country, but also by the actions performed by the individual in relation to health, which may be aimed at its preservation or at its deterioration. Within the framework of sociological thought, "self-preservation behavior" refers to the actions of individuals or social groups aimed at prolonging and preserving longevity. Taking into account the socio-economic transformations (pension reform (2019), the epidemiological situation caused by COVID-19 (2020) that occurred in Russian society, the author of the article formulated the task of analyzing the influence of internal and external factors on the self-preservation behavior of older people. To solve this problem, the author conducted a sociological study using the methods of questionnaires and in-depth interviews, consisting of two stages (stage 1 (from 2016 to 2017), n = 500 people, of which 38.2% are men, 61.8% are women, stage 2 (from November 2020 to March 2021), n = 400 people, of which 33% are men, 67% are women. Both studies used a multi-stage sampling (the first stage included the method of quoting respondents by gender and age, the second stage of the survey used the method of the available case). As a result, it was revealed that older people in the process of preserving and maintaining longevity listen to family members and doctors' prescriptions. According to the results of the questionnaire survey, it was revealed that older people often spend their free time watching TV, but at the same time, the level of trust in the information provided in television broadcasts regarding health is low among older people.

Financial Performance Adequacy of Pension Fund Managers in Nigeria

Purpose: Traditionally, the Nigerian pension fund system was based on a defined benefit scheme for the public and private sectors and coincided with serious challenges in the payment of retirement benefits to retirees. These challenges led to the introduction of a defined contribution scheme in terms of the Pension Reforms Act. Since the management of pension fund assets is the sole responsibility of pension fund managers, there is a need to investigate the adequacy of pension fund managers’ financial performance since the change in pension fund regime. The pertinent research question in the study was: To what extent do pension cost incurred, revenue, the inflation rate and total contribution affect benefits paid and cash inflow? The extent to which federal government bonds, securities, total contribution and the inflation rate affect investment income were also examined. Methodology: Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) cointegration and multiple regression were used in the analysis of the data. Findings: The results of the study revealed that in both the short-term and long-term analysis, other costs incurred by pension fund management lead to lower benefits paid to retirees. Furthermore, higher administrative costs lead to higher benefits paid, given that increases in administrative costs promote higher inflow contributions, and investing in federal government bonds and, in particular, Treasury bills promotes higher investment income. Thus, securities increase investment income, and the higher the inflation rate, the higher the investment income. Originality/Value: The policy implication signifies a need to reduce pension costs incurred on pension fund management and to encourage more investment in real assets that can militate against inflation.

Retirement Intentions and Increase in Statutory Retirement Age: 2017 Pension Reform and Intended Retirement Age in Finland

ABSTRACT To extend working lives, the 2017 Finnish pension reform introduced a gradually rising statutory retirement age, from 63 to 65 years and over. We investigate how the intended retirement age has adjusted after the reform. Survey data from 2008 (N = 1,346) and 2018 (N = 1,386) include employees aged 50–62. The results indicate that, unlike in many countries, in Finland the intended retirement age has increased in tandem with the statutory retirement age. One explanation for this might be knowledge: due to the extensive information campaign, the Finns know about the reform and can make realistic retirement plans.

Conditions Driving Youth Employment in Key Sectors of the Nigerian Economy

The rising incidence of youth unemployment, especially in emerging economies, calls for prompt attention of development experts and policy makers given its effect on sustainable growth. This challenge has worsened in recent times in Nigeria, hence, making it crucial to understand the factors driving youth employment. We analyzed the differential impact of sectoral growth on youth employment across rural and urban areas through a gender lens and identified the specific conditions needed for investment in sectors with potentials for job creation in the Nigerian economy. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, revealed comparative advantage (RCA), employment elasticity, and Logit regression model. It was observed that Nigeria has demonstrated a comparative advantage in the export of 17 products. Our findings also revealed that all the economic sectors in Nigeria have potential for creating employment at different levels with financial services contributing the highest (0.734) and manufacturing the lowest (0.056). The increase in education influenced employment and a higher likelihood of male youths’ employment in the services, construction, and industry sectors as compared to more female youths in the trade sector. Some common conditions that could aid firms’ production scale-up and increase job creation across all sectors include: increased access to finance, improved infrastructure (road, water, air, power, and rail), and favorable interest rates and exchange rates. We recommend that concerted effort be targeted at mainstreaming gender in all sectoral policies and key sectors be strengthened through targeted welfare reforms aimed at enhancing the capacities of the youths for sectoral relevance.

Pension reform at the expense of the health of older people.

Pension reform at the expense of the health of older people.

The Fertility Response to Cutting Child-Related Welfare Benefits

Despite long-term interest in whether welfare benefits motivate fertility, evidence from research has not been consistent. This paper contributes new evidence to this debate by investigating the fertility effect of a German welfare reform. The reform decreased the household income of families on welfare by 18% in the first year after the birth of a baby. Using exclusive access to German social security data on over 460,000 affected women, our analysis finds that the reform leads to a fertility reduction of 6.8%. This result implies that for mothers on welfare, fertility has an income elasticity of 0.38, which is much smaller than that of general populations reported in the literature. Our findings suggest that welfare recipients’ fertility reacts less strongly to financial incentives than the fertility of overall populations.

Determinants of Preferred Retirement Age in an Aging Society

Theoretical background: The process of aging has profound economic consequences for many countries, as it increases the number of beneficiaries of the pension system and extends the period of receiving pension benefits. We claim that understanding individual preferences concerning the retirement age is one of the key factors of successful reforms of pension systems and a prerequisite to convince a greater number of individuals to retire later. Purpose of the article: The aim of the article is to determine factors influencing the decision on the moment of retirement. The analysis takes into account socio-economic characteristics of individuals (including gender, age, education, health and income), as well as individual expectations and relative deprivation. The second goal is to compare preferences of men and women concerning the retirement age. Research methods: The empirical part of the article exploits a dataset based on primary research conducted in Poland which is one of the fastest aging countries in Europe (data for N = 448 respondents were collected with the help of an online questionnaire from April to May 2021). Both purposes are achieved with the help of econometric methods (OLS, quantile, and logit regressions). Main findings: We show that individuals have heterogeneous preferences concerning the retirement age, but on average they are willing to retire later than others (and often later than the official retirement age). We argue that one of the driving forces behind this phenomenon is associated with aversion towards relative deprivation. We demonstrate that individual preferences concerning the retirement age are not directly dependent on the current situation of respondents (depicted, e.g. by their education, health, place of living or income), but are determined by their expectations concerning their material situation when retired and by preferences regarding others. We also discuss some differences between men and women with regard to the preferred retirement age (e.g. women are more frequently ready to retire later than the official retirement age compared to men, but in general propose lower retirement age than men for both genders).

Vulnerability to Poverty in Chinese Households with Elderly Members: 2013–2018

In Chinese households, there is a significant shift away from basing poverty alleviation on the relative poverty line as opposed to the absolute poverty line. Based on VER and the concept of poverty capacities, this study evaluated the impact of development capacities and indicators on the vulnerability to poverty of elderly households. The three most important findings are as follows: (1) This study employed the multidimensional vulnerability methodology to evaluate the effects of potential factors on the Chinese elderly household’s vulnerability. Rather than analysing current poverty, this study focused on the estimation of future poverty, which is prospective. (2) Contrary to the expectations of empirical studies, the application of difference-in-difference and propensity score matching in this study revealed that the government’s institutional pension reform decreases the vulnerability rate further. (3) Both development capacities and indicators are critical determinants of further poverty, and in order to effectively alleviate poverty, policymakers should strengthen capacities and grant rights to vulnerable households.

The effect of increasing retirement age on households’ savings and consumption expenditure

This paper examines how households adjust their savings and consumption expenditure in response to an anticipated increase in the early retirement age (ERA). We examine the 1999 pension reform in Germany, which increased the ERA for women born after 1951 by at least three years. First, we present suggestive evidence that women update their retirement planning in response to the reform. Using the German Income and Consumption Survey, we find a negative impact on private savings of 0.6 percentage points that is driven by households with married women. We show that households consisting of highly educated women and homeowners are more likely to reduce their savings rates. Furthermore, we find that the treated households increase their leisure spending while maintaining an unchanged level of disposable income. Our findings suggest that the households anticipate experiencing a lifetime income increase and reduce their savings rate to smooth consumption.

Comparison of the Pension Systems between Iceland, Netherland, and Thailand: Lessons for the Pension System Reform of Indonesian Civil Servants

The current implementation of the civil servant (PNS) pension program still has many problems that have a major impact on the adequacy and sustainability of Indonesia's pension system. This study aims to take lessons from a comparison of pension systems in Iceland, Netherland, Thailand, and Indonesia. The results of the discussion provide several recommendations or suggestions for civil servant pension programs which are currently in the process of being reformed. The Indonesian government needs to consider the high transition costs and the performance of pension funds, as happened in Netherland if it wants to change the pension scheme to a defined contribution. Based on this study, the fully funded method that is planned to be implemented does not always reduce the funding burden. Hence, learning from Thailand, civil servant pensioners should consider using a partially funded financing system as an initial step for civil servant pension reform. In addition, the government also needs to consider increasing the minimum retirement age which is determined based on the life expectancy of the Indonesian people. To support this proposal policy (increase the retirement age), so Indonesian government needs also plan programs related to the development of employee skills and competencies. This is very important to keep older employees productive in the workplace or organization.

Screening for eligibility: access and resistance in Istanbul’s food banks

ABSTRACT Introduced in the 2000s as a component of social welfare reforms, the means test determines the eligibility of aid applicants based on previously set income categories. Replacing local committees that decided eligibility, this centralized and digitalized screening process rests on information infrastructures that are mostly invisible. This paper argues that the ways in which applicants contest the outcome of the means test, subvert the eligibility requirements, and go around the screening processes, make visible these otherwise-mostly invisible information infrastructures. Through a discussion of the contestations, subversions, and go-arounds applicants use (not always successfully) to receive emergency food relief from municipal food banks in Istanbul, the paper shows that these information infrastructures not only appear as if they are value-neutral and apolitical, but in so doing, they also serve as useful tools for obscuring who the actual decision makers are.

Adverse selection, loan access and default behavior in the Chilean consumer debt market

Why do households use different types of loans? Which factors cause borrowers to default? Using a comprehensive survey dataset from Chile, I estimate a partial information model of consumer debt access, lender choice, loan amount and default. The model consists of a first-stage multinomial logit that explains the choice across the five loan types, plus the options of no access to debt due to credit constraints and a no wish for consumer debt. In the second and third stages, the model assumes a log-linear regression of the debt amount and a logit regression of the default behavior, accounting for the loan type selection probability. Identification is obtained using factors measured at different time periods for the default and the loan type choices. I find that households choose different lenders based on income, education and labor risks. Higher income and education decrease the probability of credit constraints, while increasing bank lending and debt amounts. Unemployment risk and household size increase the chances of all the loan types; however, unemployment decreases the debt amount. Age and wage volatility reduce the probability of all loans. Default decreases with income, education and age, whereas it increases with indebtedness, unemployment, household size, health shocks, and paying previous loans. Counterfactual exercises demonstrate that pension reform, higher requirements for borrowers’ capacities, and financial literacy programs could substantially reduce default risk. Financial literacy could greatly reduce arrears, households with credit constraints, the number of debtors and the aggregate debt amounts, especially for non-bank lending.

Evolution of the pension system of the Russian Federation: 1990-2022

The article analyzes the implementation of pension reforms, the main stages of the development of the domestic pension system of the Russian Federation in the period 1990-2022 with its achievements and shortcomings, assesses the possibilities of implementing the Strategy of long-term development of the pension system of the Russian Federation until 2030, including in terms of ensuring balance and long-term financial stability of the pension system, the balance of pension rights formed with sources their financial support, the achievement of the replacement rate with an old-age labor pension of up to 40 percent or more of lost earnings with a standard insurance record and average salary, etc.

From austerity‐conditionality towards a new investment‐led growth strategy: Social Europe after the Recovery and Resilience Facility

AbstractBy providing financial resources, conditional to the implementation of the (social) recommendations in the Semester and the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) has opened new political and institutional opportunity windows for the multi‐level co‐production of social policies. The article first dives into how the RRF has been translated into national social policies choices, by assessing the alignment of reforms and investments with the Semester social recommendations and their capacity to address the social vulnerabilities identified in the Pillar's Social Scoreboard. Second, it sheds light on the interaction between the European Commission, in charge of assessing and monitoring the RRF, and the national governments, the key actors in setting‐up and implementing the plans. Comparing six case studies (Italy, Germany, Spain, Croatia, Belgium and Austria), the article shows that the RRF has only partially contributed to reinforcing member states' compliance with social Country Specific Recommendations and the role of the Social Pillar in the drafting of National Recovery and Resilience Plans has been very limited. This notwithstanding, the RRF has contributed to fasten‐forward the implementation of welfare reforms and initiatives which would have been remained on the paper, especially for whose countries with limited fiscal capacity. Furthermore, it provides empirical evidence of the collaborative approach between the Commission and the national government, substantiating the claim of the emergence of a new mode of coordinative Europeanization.

A Structural Econometric Approach to Analyzing the Impact of Teacher Pension Reform

The growing fiscal cost of K–12 teacher pension plans and pension-induced labor market distortions have led to calls for teacher pension reforms. Dynamic structural econometric models are a useful way to analyze the fiscal and staffing consequences of current and alternative retirement plans. This article lays out the benefits of the structural econometric modeling approach for analyzing changes to teacher pension plans and estimates such a model for Missouri public school teachers. The results are then used to simulate effects of a pension reform on teacher retirement and employer pension costs.

Precarious welfare‐to‐work transitions in a segmented labour market: Evidence from the Netherlands

AbstractPromoting outflow from the welfare system has been one of the main objectives of activation‐focused welfare reforms implemented across Europe over the past decades, with the underlying assumption that labour market attachment is the route to self‐sufficiency. This article assesses this assumption by investigating the extent to which the propensities and determinants of welfare persistence and cycling are differential for native and second‐generation young adults located in the opposite ends of labour market structure. Using panel administrative data from the Statistics Netherlands (CBS), it follows the welfare‐to‐work transitions of Dutch native and second‐generation young adults in the Netherlands during a 6‐year observation period (2010–2015). Simultaneous effects of labour market segmentation and ethnic penalty are modelled using a first‐order Markov transition model that accounts for endogeneities from initial conditions and unobserved heterogeneity. The results suggest that welfare exit is not a good predictor of self‐sufficiency in the Dutch context, and there are differential prospects for achieving and sustaining self‐sufficiency among Dutch native and second‐generation young adults. A considerable degree of welfare persistence in the medium term and welfare cycling in the long term are found among individuals who had fallen out of self‐sufficiency. Such patterns of precarious welfare‐to‐work transitions are particularly common among non‐Dutch workers employed in the secondary labour market.

Networked social movements and radicalisation: yellow vests’ cross-ideological horizon for underrepresented groups

ABSTRACT This paper questions the opportunities that Yellow Vests as a Networked Social Movement (NETSM) created for politically underrepresented groups. Without a clear authority structure and a formal organisation, NETSMs challenge traditional leadership understandings. Nonetheless, their ability to determine precision in setting goals, demands, and strategies is disputed in the NETSM literature. Considering both aspects, the paper evaluates Yellow Vests’ success in bridging two underrepresented groups inclined to radicalisation. The study rests on 77 interviews with young-adult French citizens who support Radical Right movements (n=40) or self-identify as Muslim in the public sphere of Paris and Lyon (n=37). I argue that Yellow Vests’ baseline arguments (e.g., against the pension reform and tax hikes) were precise enough to be shared by our interlocutors. Meanwhile, our interlocutors left the group boundaries sufficiently imprecise so that the movement could reach beyond their parochial identities. Bringing the two features together, the movement opened up new (e.g., class-based) radicalisation possibilities other than those relying on the Islamist and nativist vocabularies. After analysing this combination of precision and imprecision in the context of several unresolved problems, I conclude that the movement’s vulnerability emanates from its failure to refine the combination that initially symbolised a shared future imagination.

Multidimensional poverty of persons with disabilities in China: An analysis of poverty reduction effect of employment services.

Disability is a global public health problem, and poverty due to illness and disability has always been a major problem and challenge for global poverty governance. In order to eradicate poverty, China has carried out a series of welfare reforms and employment interventions for people with disabilities. The purpose of this study is to examine the levels of multidimensional poverty of persons with disabilities aged 16-59 in China and the poverty reduction effect of employment services. The Alkire-Foster (AF) method is applied to measure and decompose the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) of people with disabilities in this study. In order to make the results more robust, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and the combination of propensity score matching and difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) are used to study the effect of employment services on multidimensional poverty of the disabled. The results show that among persons with disabilities aged 16-59, about 90% are deprived in at least one dimension, and about 30% are in a state of severe multidimensional poverty until 2019. The contributions of deprivation in the dimensions of education and social participation are remarkably higher than dimensions of economy, health and insurance. In addition, employment services have a significant improvement effect on multidimensional poverty, which is reflected not only in the economic dimension, but also in the dimensions of education, insurance and social participation. People with disabilities are generally in multidimensional poverty in China, and their abilities in learning and social integration are seriously inadequate. Employment services have played a great role in improving poverty, but the improvement has been different in different dimensions and different disability categories. These findings provide important evidence for recognizing multidimensional poverty of persons with disabilities and the poverty reduction effect of employment services, which will help to formulate more reasonable public policies to eradicate poverty.

Welfare Reforms in Post-Soviet States: Current Issues and Research Highlights

Welfare Reforms in Post-Soviet States: Current Issues and Research Highlights

Public pension reform with ill-informed individuals

Several studies find that most individuals do not understand how public pension systems function. The present paper explores how this pension illiteracy affects the outcomes of public pension reform in terms of income inequality and total labor supply. For this purpose, I introduce an overlapping generations model with endogenous savings, labor supply, and retirement. Calibrating the model to an average OECD economy, I find that a reform that increases the earnings-dependence of pension systems can reduce both lifetime inequality and labor market participation if individuals fail to account for the contribution–benefit formula in their economic decision-making. These results contrast with the conventional equity–efficiency trade-off predicted by a model populated only with rational individuals.