Welfare Reform Research Articles

Pension reform act 2014 and the future of public service prospective seniors: a prognostic analysis


 The study examined the Pension Reform Act of 2014 in relation to the future of public service prospective seniors in Nigeria. The study analysed the contents of the Act to point out its effects on the life-after retirement of prospective seniors presently in public service. The study utilized the qualitative desk research method and secondary method was utilized to source for data. The study found that timely remittance of pension deduction; investment of pension fund etc, have been put in place by government to achieve the Act’s objectives. The study concluded that the proper implementation of the Act will positively affect the future of public service prospective seniors. The study thus recommended that all stakeholders should be sincere, cooperative and dedicated in their dealings towards the successful achievement of the Act’s objectives

Welfare reform and childhood health status and utilization

I examine the impact of the implementation of the 1990s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, commonly referred to as welfare reform, on objective and subjective measures of child health, healthcare utilization, and insurance coverage. I find that exposure to welfare reform in childhood is associated with an increased likelihood of chronic physical health conditions, lower healthcare utilization, and a higher rate of private insurance coverage. Given the evidence in the literature of the importance of childhood health, these findings potentially have significant ramifications for future adult health.

Sovereign Wealth Funds' (SWFs') social media strategies

It is estimated that there are currently 100 major Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) in operation worldwide, which command an asset total of some US$10.31tr (SWFI, 2023). SWFs are thus the largest class of nontraditional (alternative) pooled investment vehicles by assets under management (outstripping by far more conspicuous hedge-, private equity- or exchange traded funds (TheCityUK, 2021). Although SWFs tend to pursue a variety of objectives or their combinations: efficient management of foreign exchange (f/x) reserves, socioeconomic development, pension reform, macroeconomic stabilization and direct investments, their overriding goal is an intergenerational transfer of wealth – in conformity with the tenets of sustainable development (Brundtland, 1987). Despite fiduciary mandates to manage the savings of entire countries, states or provinces, SWFs tend to be highly opaque - their information disclosures performed via traditional media are scrimpy, infrequent and irregular. Most SWFs, although theoretically accountable to their societies, including the future generations of their beneficiaries, tend to shy away from social media engagement, i.e. the very media that such beneficiaries will increasingly use. The primary hypothesis set and examined in this research is thus a pervading and chronic lack of proactive social media policies by most SWFs. Although 78 SWFs maintain proprietary websites and some even use selected social media platforms to promulgate user-oriented content, they fail to engage societies (their primary stakeholders) in any form of interactive dialogue or accountability. SWFs’ use of social media is thus primarily geared to disseminating self-selected scraps of information without any pretense to comprehensiveness, regularity and interactivity. The paper empirically examines the social media strategies of most active SWFs and their role in enhancing the social accountability of their operations. The research also raises the need for more public awareness of SWFs’ objectives and activity.

Repackaging in South–North Policy Learning: The Chilean Model of Pension Reform as a Lopsided Exportschlager

South–North policy learning faces many obstacles and often leads to missed opportunities or distorted translations. Given the pariah nature of the Chilean dictatorship, international learning happened against all odds. Drawing on several sources – media content, parliamentary debates, and some background interviews – the article illustrates how the Chilean pension reform became “repackaged” in two ways. First, it was concealed, meaning proponents avoided referencing Chile. Second, it was imperfectly translated, which led to several distortions, such as avoiding a reflection on the political prerequisites for stable pension reforms. Some general lessons are derived for South–North policy learning.

The impact of universal credit rollout on homelessness assistance need in Scottish local authorities

AbstractSince 2013, the Universal Credit (UC) welfare reform has been rolling out gradually to overhaul the means‐tested social security system for working‐age people in low‐income households in the United Kingdom. Existing research suggests that UC has had a detrimental impact on the housing security of claimants, with evidence of increases in rent arrears and landlord repossession actions as the reform has been rolled out. However, there is currently a lack of evidence on the impact of UC rollout on the most extreme form of housing insecurity—homelessness. This article addresses this gap in knowledge, using Scottish local authority level data obtained from the Scottish Government on monthly rates of Housing Options approaches and statutory homelessness claims, which is linked to data on the timing of UC rollout within local authorities. The staggered nature of UC rollout (i.e., the fact that it rolled out in different local authorities at different times) is exploited in order to measure its impact within 29 Scottish local authorities using fixed effects regression modelling. The results suggest that UC ‘Full Service’ rollout, up to March 2019, was associated with increases in Housing Options approach rates, but there was not clear evidence of an increase in rates of working‐age statutory homelessness claims. Redesigning UC to increase its standard allowance and address its long wait periods and harsh sanctions would likely help to protect the housing security of claimants.

Remembering Herbert Gutman's Work, Culture, and Society Fifty Years On

Remembering Herbert Gutman's <i>Work, Culture, and Society</i> Fifty Years On

Review: Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement, by Jennifer L. Holland

Book Review| May 01 2023 Review: Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement, by Jennifer L. Holland Jennifer L. Holland. Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement. Oakland: University of California Press, 2020. 324 pp. Illustrations. Paperback $29.95. Felicia Kornbluh Felicia Kornbluh FELICIA KORNBLUH is professor of history and of gender, sexuality, and women’s studies at the University of Vermont. She is the author of A Woman’s Life Is a Human Life: My Mother, Our Neighbor, and the Journey from Reproductive Rights to Reproductive Justice (2023); and The Battle for Welfare Rights: Poverty and Policy in Modern America (2007); and coauthor, with Gwendolyn Mink, of Ensuring Poverty: Welfare Reform in Feminist Perspective (2018). Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar California History (2023) 100 (2): 112–115. https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2023.100.2.112 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Felicia Kornbluh; Review: Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement, by Jennifer L. Holland. California History 1 May 2023; 100 (2): 112–115. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2023.100.2.112 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentCalifornia History Search In Tiny You, an account of the internal logic and symbolic politics of what she terms alternately the “anti-abortion” or “pro-life” movement, historian Jennifer Holland has produced one of the most important studies of that movement ever to appear in print. Holland’s work takes as its foci the “quad states” of the Mountain West, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, and the impact of pro-life activists on diverse institutions and publics. While the work does not address itself to grassroots, legislative, or court-based legal action in California, it should be of interest to anyone who cares about U.S. politics over the past half-century. This book should also be read by everyone who is interested in the ways in which militant minorities can transform people’s daily lives, even their personal identities, and how this can, in turn, change statutory and judge-made law. It should also be read by people who... You do not currently have access to this content.

Pensions and Fertility: Microeconomic Evidence

This study identifies the causal effect of pension generosity on women’s fertility behavior. It capitalizes on Brazil’s expansion of the pension system to rural workers, whose pension wealth subsequently more than tripled. Difference-in-difference, instrumental variable, and event study methods show that the pension reform reduces the propensity of childbearing of women of fertile age by 8 percent in the short run. Completed fertility declines by 1.3 children within 20 years after the reform, reducing the contribution base of the pay-as-you-go long run. The fertility response is strongest at higher birth parities, among older women, and among mothers with sons. (JEL H55, I38, J13, J16, O15)

Social pension reform and poverty among older people in Hong Kong: Triple difference estimations

Research calls for evidence from a strict experiment-based design to illustrate the effect of a social pension expansion on mitigating poverty among older adults in non-welfare regimes. This study utilized the introduction of a new higher tier of the Old Age Living Allowance (OALA) in Hong Kong in June 2018 as its experimental condition. It examined the impact of the higher OALA on economic activity, financial transfers from non-co-resident adult children, household income, household expenditure, income-based poverty, and expenditure-based poverty among Hong Kong's older adults. Supported by three waves of data collected in 2015, 2017, and 2019 from a sample, we designed a quasi-experiment and estimated the triple differences in the six outcome variables. The findings show that the higher OALA impacted the institutionalized life course by reducing financial transfers from non-co-resident adult children and significantly increased income-based and expenditure-based poverty. Findings reveal the crowding-out effect of the higher OALA and motivate a discussion of the nature of reduced financial transfers from non-co-resident adult children among older adults in Hong Kong.

Left partisan politics and pension privatisation at the crossroads of political legacy and contemporary politics (1980–2017)

AbstractPension reforms undertaken by affluent OECD countries in recent decades have resulted in substantial changes in the balance of public and private pension provision, characterised as a growing privatisation of old‐age incomes. However, research on the political determinants of this trend remains limited. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the political determinants of pension privatisation, and to bring partisan politics back into the theoretical framework of pension reforms. The focus is on left government strength, and a distinction is made between left government historical legacy and contemporary left government strength. Time‐series cross‐sectional regressions of pension privatisation on left government strength are performed, analysing 17 OECD countries during the period 1980–2017. The results show that partisan politics matter for pension privatisation, despite structural constraints imposed by demographic and economic factors. Left government historical legacy is associated with less privatisation compared to right and/or centre government historical legacy. Left government legacy also shapes the role of contemporary politics, as contemporary left parties in government tend to privatise less in the context of historically strong left parties in government.

We Had a Good Thing Going: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Vocational ESL in the United States

Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL) is a form of adult language education that teaches communicative skills in the context of preparing learners for a particular vocation. Despite their pedagogical and logistical benefits for adult language learners, such programs are uncommon today. This literature review traces the emergence and disappearance of VESL in the United States through a corpus study. It then explains these trends by analyzing second language acquisition research and policies related to adult education. It finds that VESL remains a promising approach that fell out of favor due to welfare and workforce policy reforms in the 1990s. It concludes by arguing for the continued relevance of VESL today and the need for adult educators to be vigilant of unintended policy impacts on their programs.

Problems and ways of development of the sports and recreation industry in the context of international sanctions

The article actualizes the problems of development of the commercial and public sector of the sports and recreation industry in the context of international sanctions. In a situation of budgetary funding cuts, it is proposed to solve the problems of sports and recreational work with young people, in which local authorities play an important role. In particular, in the direction of the work of regional authorities for physical culture and sports on social advertising of a healthy lifestyle, as well as on explaining the methodological foundations regarding self–study in innovative non– traditional types of health–improving physical culture for online training. The article also discusses the problems of developing commercial fitness/wellness clubs, outlines aspects of a marketing strategy aimed at customers in the economy class segment and expanding the network of small format fitness studios. The positive and negative aspects of the pension reform of the Russian Federation, the health care reform of the Russian Federation are analyzed, the consequences are identified, and some conceptual proposals are formed. From the author’s point of view, in order to increase the working capacity and productivity of workers of pre–retirement age, it is necessary to focus on free services of restorative rehabilitation medicine by resuming the work of physiotherapy departments in city clinics and on providing pre–pensioners with free sanatorium– and spa–treatment.

Justice Matters. News Framing Effects on Opinions about Pension Reform

Abstract As aging populations put pressure on pension systems worldwide, pension reforms have dominated the (political) agenda in many countries for years. The media are essential information providers on such hotly debated issues. By selecting and highlighting certain aspects of an issue and glossing over others, also known as framing, news media can propagate a particular interpretation of the issue to the public. This study therefore approaches pension reform from the perspective of the media by examining how news frames of pension reform (i.e., responsibility frame and justice frame) influence how citizens perceive and respond to pension reform. Findings of an online survey-embedded experiment (N = 762) show that citizens who encountered a news frame that emphasized individual or collective responsibility for pensions showed a stronger preference for this type of responsibility; however, this effect was only positive if news media also framed individual or collective responsibility for pensions as just. In fact, exposure to an unjust frame leads to more negative attitudes toward the specific form of responsibility. Regarding individual differences, lower-educated people are more strongly impacted by the responsibility frame than higher-educated people. The strength of framing effects did not differ among citizens of different ages or levels of solidarity, nor between citizens who received the frames via their primary mode of news use and the ones exposed to a less preferred mode of news use. This study shows the importance of news framing in shaping citizens’ attitudes toward pension reforms, suggesting that media coverage matters in the public debate on pensions.

Pooling my personal account: Income responses to the payroll tax in China

Developing countries collect not only a far lower share of GDP in taxes, but also less payroll taxes than rich countries. This paper explores income responses to the payroll tax by evaluating the 2006 pension reform that subtracted 3 percentage points of employees' Defined Contribution account in China. First, our estimate of total income elasticity with respect to the pension rate is larger than 2, implying a lower optimal payroll tax rate than in rich countries. Second, we separate total income into labor and non-labor income, and show significant income shifting from labor to non-labor income. Third, we provide suggestive evidence that income responses to the pension reform are from evasion rather than real responses. We emphasize the necessity of administrative capacity for developing countries to extend the pension system. Remarkably, sharing the employer payroll tax with employees may be a self-enforcement mechanism, similar to the value-added tax, of the payroll tax.

Analyzing the Impact of Welfare Measures on Job Performance and Job Satisfaction of the Teachers

The research discussed factors including working conditions and fringe benefits that are part of welfare management methods that have an impact on teachers' job performance. Research hypotheses were used to direct the investigation. Employees are greatly inspired by welfare reforms, which contributes to the expansion of businesses. There is a close link between employee morale and job satisfaction, making welfare measurements an important component in both. The purpose of this research is to examine and assess existing worker protections and benefits. The survey, which gauges the effect on morale, draws the conclusion that most employees were happy with the welfare measures offered by the government, non-governmental institutions, and labor unions. A statistically significant and beneficial influence of working conditions on teachers' job performance was found, among other things, in the analysis of the replies. It has been suggested that the Calicut Education Service (CES) and individual schools implement rules that are supportive of teachers' families, improve working conditions, and guarantee timely payment of benefits.

The value of pension reforms for late working life: evidence from Sweden

PurposeDriven by the aim to increase the participation of older people in the labour force and to extend people's working lives, the Swedish Parliament passed a bill in 1998 to increase the pension eligibility age from 60 to 61 years and establish a notional defined-contribution (NDC) plan. In this article, the authors investigate the impacts towards the prolongation of working lives expected from such an intervention.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply a multinomial probabilistic model based on Swedish registry data on the birth cohorts 1937–1938 (n = 102,826) and observe differences in exit behaviour between eligible and non-eligible individuals.FindingsThe authors find that the cohorts eligible to the pension reform exit the labour market at a later age compared to non-eligible cohorts at the 61-years cut-off. The authors also find that the effect persists in the long term. Furthermore, the authors find that both men and women are equally struck by the reform.Originality/valueWhile there exist many descriptive reports and theoretical analyses on the costs and benefits of pension reforms, this study is the first one to empirically analyse the effect of the first European NDC pay-as-you go pension plan on the potential exclusion of old-aged workers.

THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR MIGRATION AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF EXTERNAL SHOCKS

The article examines the theoretical problems of reforming pension systems, taking into account the experience of developed countries. Attention is focused on the problems of population aging and increasing demographic burden on the working population. The variety of approaches to the formation of the pension insurance system is analyzed. The relevance of the inclusion of indicators of the theoretical percentage of replacement of labor income by pension and the aggregate percentage of replacement for the modeling of the three-level pension system is emphasized. The problem of pension provision for citizens is particularly relevant for Ukraine, which has been experiencing a steady depopulation of the population for the past 30 years. Under such circumstances, it is very relevant to study theoretical justifications and statistical measurements, generalize the experience of developed countries, take into account the variety of approaches and develop national priorities and directions for reforming the pension system of Ukraine. Demographic changes present pension systems with complex issues of ensuring the fairness and adequacy of pension payments, the sustainability of the systems themselves, and achieving intergenerational equality. The degree of implementation of the function of smoothing citizens' incomes after the termination of employment by various pension systems is partially characterized by the indicator of the theoretical percentage of replacement of labor income by pension (TRR). The replacement rate shows the estimated amount of the hypothetical pension of an employee with an average salary during the first year after the appointment of a pension compared to the earnings before retirement in the base case (with a 40-year career and retirement at the official retirement age). Another possible indicator of the level of pension provision — the aggregated replacement rate (ARR) — shows the ratio of the median income of persons of the retirement age group to the median income from work of the population of the pre-retirement decade. The trends of increasing the retirement age and the introduction of various savings programs to increase personal interest in pension insurance are characteristic not only of countries with a high, but also with an average and below-average level of economic development. Keywords: population aging, demographic burden, pension systems, theoretical percentage of labor income by pension replacement, aggregated percentage of replacement.

Confronting increases to labour and capital taxes to finance the pension deficit in the Dominican Republic: a real business cycle approach

Ageing demographics have prompted widespread pension reforms across Latin America. This has left several countries with a significant financial burden related to the transition from one system to another. In this article, we evaluate two alternative methods of financing the recent pension reform in the Dominican Republic. We build on a simple real business cycle model with perfect competition and add a fiscal block that allows us to simulate shocks to the tax rates on capital and labour, based on the present value of the pension reform cost. We find that increasing the tax rate on returns to capital would not only fill the pension deficit, but also have a significantly smaller adverse effect on the macroeconomy, when compared with an increase to the tax on labour.

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.