Welfare Reform Research Articles

‘The sanctions are good for some people but not for someone like me who actually genuinely does their job search.’ British Jobseeker’s Allowance claimant views on punitive welfare reform: Hegemony in action?

This article shows that the unemployed are broadly supportive of welfare reforms which have led to increased poverty; exacerbated ill health; led some to engage in ‘survival crime’ or to disengage from the social security system. This support is predicated on the perceived need to discipline ‘undeserving’ groups; principally the feckless, those gaming the system and migrants. The authors argue that this reflects the success of a ‘two-nations’ hegemonic project that has sought to legitimise an ongoing phase of capitalist development characterised by the removal of social protections, widening inter-class inequalities and the implementation of punitive welfare reforms to submit the unemployed to insecure poverty labour. This article makes a significant original contribution to the field by demonstrating that the resonance of the ‘two-nations’ hegemonic project resides in both its relatability to lived experiences of the unemployed and its tendency to cast a stigmatising threat over their out-of-work status.

Constructing Spaces of Discourse and ‘Regroupment’: The Case of Women’s Self-Reliant Groups in Scotland

AbstractIn liberal welfare systems, social security policy has been increasingly shifting towards conditionality and individualisation (Knotz, 2019). It is within this context that failure to meet the set conditions becomes personal rather than systemic. This has been enabled by policy discourses that construct poverty and unemployment as the result of personal failure and poor social behaviour. While this area of study over emphasises ‘the constraints imposed by discourse’ (Bacchi, 2000: 55), alternative discourses are often developed. This paper draws on ethnographic research investigating the development of self-reliant groups (SRGs) in Scotland. SRGs are small groups of women supporting each other in creating opportunities for personal development. We find that the process of involvement and sharing of experiences between women at the forefront of welfare reform led to the development of a counter public sphere. Yet, the experience doesn’t move fully towards actions for transformative social change.

Holistic or harmful? Examining socio-structural factors in the biopsychosocial model of chronic illness, ‘medically unexplained symptoms’ and disability

A particular application of the biopsychosocial model is associated in peer-reviewed literature and patient testimony with harms done to chronically ill and disabled people. These harms derive from an empirically unsubstantiated, neoliberal narrative emphasising the role of personal responsibility and effort in ‘recovery’ from ill-health, ignoring socio-structural contributors to chronic illness and disability. Notably, this biopsychosocial model ignores the health-related impact of welfare and disability insurance reforms which the model has been employed to justify. The model and associated interests can thus be recognised as socio-structural phenomena that should be acknowledged in any truly holistic biopsychosocial approach to chronic illness and disability. A critically informed and reflexive approach to biopsychosocial theorising would allow a more holistic and nuanced understanding of chronic illness and disability, with implications for health and social policy that underline and address what ails society as opposed to what is ‘wrong’ with the individual.

The myth of economic incentives around the debate on the design of optimal pension systems: A survival analysis for the Argentine case

AbstractFrom a panel of administrative data of contributors to the Argentine pension system, a survival analysis was carried out to compare the time in months until contributor status is lost for individuals who reach the minimum retirement age. The analysis involves two periods: one where the fully funded scheme was in force and the other with the pure pay‐as‐you‐go scheme in effect. It is observed that the survival curve of the contributor status during the second period is always above that in the first one, indicating that the probability of maintaining this status was always higher during the second period. Likewise, it was found that belonging to the cohort/group of the first period is significant in explaining the risk of losing contributor status, even controlling for other relevant variables. This result contrasts with the predictions of the World Bank about the best incentives that the fully funded scheme would generate for the supply of formal labor.Related ArticlesAngelaki, Marina, and Leandro N. Carrera. 2015. “Radical Pension Reforms after the Crisis: A Comparative Analysis of Argentina and Greece.” Politics & Policy 43(3): 378–400. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12117.Hazakis, Konstantinos J. 2015. “The Political Economy of Economic Adjustment Programs in the Eurozone: A Detailed Policy Analysis.” Politics & Policy 43(6): 822–54. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12141.Jakee, Keith, and Keith Stacy. 2021. “Revisiting Pension Reform in Sweden: The Role of Corporatism (and Why it Matters).” Politics & Policy 49(3): 651–81. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12405.

Welfare Reform and Housing Insecurity: The Impact of Universal Credit Rollout on Demand for Rent Arrears and Homelessness Advice from Citizens Advice in England

Universal Credit (UC) has been rolling out since 2013 to radically alter the UK welfare system. Several UC design features, and its changes to benefit generosity, can lead to claimants struggling to afford rent payments. This article uses fixed-effects panel modelling to investigate UC’s housing insecurity impacts within English local authorities (2014 Q1 - 2019 Q1) by bringing together official UC data and Citizens Advice ‘advice trends’ data on rent arrears/homelessness issues within the social/private rented sectors. The results suggest UC rollout is associated with increases in rent arrears advice issues (though not homelessness advice issues). This impact tended to be greater when UC had been rolled out for longer (and therefore reached more claimants), and was greatest in the social rented sector where people are more vulnerable to arrears. This highlights a need to increase the level of UC payments and address its long wait periods and harsh sanctions.

Pension reform and unemployment outcomes

ABSTRACT This article discusses the interactions among pension reform, labor market and inter-generational distribution issues through an overlapping general equilibrium approach with imperfect labor markets. Workers with different ages are imperfectly substitutable and wages do not clear labor markets. Increasing contribution rates has a strong negative effect on welfare and unemployment, particularly, for the youth. Contrary to the popular wisdom, postponing the retirement age does not entail an increase in youth unemployment. The change in incentives induces a substitution of old-age workers by young workers who constitute the cheapest labor category. However, this scenario substantially increases the implicit tax for older workers as well as for the youngest. Finally, the middle-aged are those that benefit the most from welfare increasing reforms.

The “New Welfarism,” Good Governance, and Electoral Success in Modi’s India

According to a number of recent reports, India has been successful in reducing multidimensional poverty levels over the past two decades. This trend is evident under the Modi Era due to successful introduction and implementation of various welfare reforms since 2014. Robust economic growth has been a necessary but insufficient condition to explain this observed phenomenon. Rather, over two decades of structural changes and the shifting calculus of electoral politics have transformed the nature of principal-agent relations in Indian democracy. Political elites are now proactively addressing the principals’ concerns on “good governance.” Access to information and greater public awareness of the availability of services seem to have contributed to holding the principal accountable and thereby rewarding the principal during election(s). The shifting of voters’ demand for good governance (a) underscores the erosion of electoral salience of traditional cleavages with voters’ concerns centering on economic issues—growth, delivery of services, and job creation; and (b) provides insights into the quotidian ways in which the state has responded to the demand of those governed—the principal.

Who Lacks Pension Knowledge, Why and Does it Matter? Evidence From Swedish Retirement Savers

Recent pension reforms have shifted a larger responsibility towards savers. Individuals therefore need better knowledge of the rules and incentives embedded in the pension system to adequately save and prepare for retirement. In this paper, we use a novel Swedish survey matched with high-quality administrative data to show that many lack, and feel that they lack, such pension-specific knowledge. We also show that the most economically vulnerable groups know the least. Linking pension knowledge to behavior, we find that knowing less is associated with lower preparedness for retirement, even after controlling for financial literacy and subjective knowledge. Moreover, a large majority state the complexity of the pension system, or that they have planned to learn more about pensions but that it just hasn’t happened, as reasons for why they do not have sufficient knowledge.

복지정책 NPF 분석

COVID-19 pandemic maximized chronic social risks such as high unemployment and income polarization. Accordingly, discussions on welfare reform related to the expansion of the universal welfare were increased. This study analyzed the debate between progressive party supporting basic income and conservative party claiming the expansion of existing policy using a Narrative Policy Framework. Especially, the plot and strategy are focused to explain the causal composition of narrative. Three TV debates, in which the basic income discussion was introduced, were analyzed. The result of analysis shows, first, the setting of both parties converges to ‘expansion of the universal welfare’. Second, ideological heterogeneity stands out, because both parties as heroes set the victims in solidarity with them based on untraditional political support. Finally, it suggests the possibility that ideological heterogeneity could be replaced by reorganized benefits by each party.

THE LATEST TRENDS IN PENSION REFORM IN UKRAINE

Abstract. In this article, the authors confi rm the need for further reform of pensions in Ukraine. The relevance of the chosen topic is that the pension system needs to be reformed, as it cannot create decent living conditions for pensioners. Despite some important changes in the further development of the pension system, its reform has not yet been completed, as the budget of the Pension Fund of Ukraine is still signifi cantly dependent on budget subsidies (35% in 2021), and most pension payments do not prevent poverty of recipients (in 2021 the average pension was 3991 UAH and the minimum wage - 6500 UAH), a signifi cant share of income is in the shadows (from 30% to 50%), which generally indicates the lack of social justice in the functioning of this system. The purpose of this article is to assess the system of compulsory state pension insurance in Ukraine and prove its inability to ensure adequate payments to pensioners, based on conclusions and recommendations to demonstrate ways to improve the national pension system, in particular through the introduction of a funded component. The authors use the following research methods: analysis (in the study of pension systems), synthesis (in generalizing research results on pension system reform), scientifi c abstraction, method of induction, deduction, generalization and comparison, systematization, methods of statistical analysis and graphical presentation of research results, methods of economic and mathematical modeling. The paper uses economic and institutional analysis, as the studied sources are primarily analytical documents, scientifi c publications and regulations. Key words: pension, pension reform, pension system, accumulative pension system.

Checking econometric models in times of market and consumer change

The aim of the article is to present the checking of econometric models in times of market and consumer changes. The development of the SFP balance, the budget deficit against real GDP in the years 2010-2019 and the debt forecast for the years 2021-2024 are presented here. It can be noted that different factors in different countries shape the budget balance. In 2009, the Baltic States were in the most difficult situation. The budget deficit and real GDP in Poland mean that a large part of the deficits in the economic situation is subordinated here. This shows that it is not cyclical factors that are behind it, but factors related to fiscal policy. The biggest problem was the problem in which the global financial crisis began and our deficits began to increase rapidly. The source of coverage had to be found. An additional problem was the pension reform related to OFE when we did not see it in the deficit, but we still had to incur a debt for funds transferred to OFE about PLN 20 billion per year. There was an idea to take some of these funds out of the sector. The pandemic has cast a shadow over our finances. The strategy prepared before the pandemic assumed that public debt would increase in nominal terms, but there would also be a significant decrease in relative terms to GDP. The flexibility that took place in 2015 caused that there was an expenditure expansion in Poland, and this consequently led to the appearance of the "gluttony effect". In Poland, there was a high increase in GDP, but Poles spent more, which made Poles "overeat" this increase. In addition, we are glad that we have a high GDP, and in fact it is falsified by inflation.

Justifying a financially and socially sustainable pension reform: a comparative study of Finland and France

PurposeIncreasing longevity and lower birth rates put pressure on the sustainability of pension systems. This compels countries to reform pension schemes. Different countries opt for different types of reforms. This article examines the scope of possibilities for a pension reform in two countries with distinct institutional and ideational setup: Finland and France.Design/methodology/approachThe authors utilise the framework of different modes of justification presented by Boltanski and Thévenot to reveal the reasoning used in pension reform discussions in both countries. The authors study expert reports to analyse how nationally constructed ideas and local institutions frame and shape the different logics and justifications.FindingsIn Finland, the approach to pensions is dominated by industrial and market justifications. The pension system is institutionally separated into two different blocks: one addressing poverty and the other income maintenance. The separation enables the prevalence of these logics and makes it easier to promote reforms that emphasize efficiency and individual responsibility instead of income distribution. The French report is concentrated around civic and domestic dominated justifications by stressing solidarity and the role of pension systems connecting individuals and generations together. Any reform needs to consider these issues.Originality/valueThe article uses a novel research design to study pension reform processes. The article distinguishes the roles that ideas and institutions have in shaping expert reasoning and reform options. The authors show how ideas and institutions form a mutually reinforcing loop which helps to explain path-dependency in pension systems.

Welfare state dissatisfaction and support for major welfare reform: Towards means‐tested welfare or a universal basic income?

AbstractThis research note investigates how people combine their views on two radically opposing welfare reforms: a universal basic income and a fully means‐tested welfare state. Using data from the 2016–2017 European Social Survey, we found that support for transformative welfare reform is rooted in perceptions of the performance of the current system. The preferred direction of reform, however, strongly depends on the specific aspects of the welfare state people are happy or unhappy with. At the country‐level, we show that underperforming welfare states—in terms of higher poverty rates and lower social spending—increase popular demand for transformative welfare reform, in either direction. These findings are of crucial importance for ongoing debates about the future of the welfare state.

ТЕОРЕТИКО-ПРАКТИЧНІ ЗАСАДИ ФОРМУВАННЯ ФІНАНСОВОЇ ГРАМОТНОСТІ НАСЕЛЕННЯ У СФЕРІ ПЕНСІЙНОГО СТРАХУВАННЯ

In modern conditions, there is an urgent need to form a high level of the population's financial literacy. The development of financial technologies, the digitalization of the modern world, and the widespread use of new financial services require an increase in the level of financial education among the population. The aim of our study is to highlight the importance of financial literacy for ensuring a successful pension insurance reform. The dialectical method of cognition, the method of analysis and synthesis as well as online questionnaires used for conducting research madr it possible to determine main problems in the knowledge system regarding the reform of pension insurance. Developed countries, especially those ones experiencing demographic problems, have started the massive development of the multilevel pension insurance system. Consequently, the issue of enhanced financial literacy has arisen not only in the area of personal finance management at the consumption level, but also in the area of pension savings and their investment. Ukraine has initiated a profound reform in the pension provisions field with the transition to insurance principles. Our citizens should form a clear position on the necessity to participate in the supplementary pension insurance system. According to the results of the survey, slightly more than half of the respondents show their interest in pension reform. But their level of knowledge is not sufficient to understand the basic principles of pension reform and take actions aimed at the accumulation of pension funds. This fact necessitates the formation of financial literacy at three levels. The first level is represented by secondary schools. The technical-vocational education institutions, colleges as well as universities of the second level are supposed to deepen the financial literacy which further should be continued as self-education at the third level of adulthood. Improving financial literacy in the field of pension insurance should result in a high level of cooperation with various financial institutions, including insurance companies, private pension funds, and banking institutions in the field of raising funds for future pension provisions through the skillful and systematic personal finance management.

Shadow care infrastructures: Sustaining life in post-welfare cities

Economic restructuring and welfare reform are driving new forms of urban poverty in the global north. Shadow care infrastructures is a new frame for conceptualising the complex and interconnected practices through which marginalised people seek survival in this context. It remaps welfare landscapes across a continuum that includes formal and informal, established and improvised practice, the not-for-profit sector, informal community networks and exchange and the black market. Conceptually, it centres the care practices that sustain life and the infrastructures that sustain them. Activating a ‘shadow geographies’ tradition it foregrounds care infrastructures that are necessary, but rarely visible within, welfare discourse.

The State of the UBI Debate: Mapping the Arguments for and against UBI

Abstract This article provides a map of the UBI debate, structured into the main themes that guide and group the arguments on both sides. It finds that UBI’s supporters and opponents both draw on core principles of justice and freedom, focusing on need and poverty, discrimination and inequality, growth, social opportunity, individuality, and self-development. From an economic perspective, they both appeal to business concerns about efficiency, risk, flexibility, and consumption, as well as labour interests on work fulfilment, working conditions, remuneration, and bargaining. Likewise, they focus on political questions around welfare state reforms, redistribution, taxation and funding sources, democratic citizenship, and the prospects for cross-party policy coalitions. By providing an overview of the thematic pillars of the UBI debate, this article helps researchers and activists locate and orient themselves within the wider spectrum of opinion on UBI.

Contested Social Impact Bonds: welfare conventions, conflicts and compromises in five European Active-Labor Market Programs

Over the past decade Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) have attracted much public policy and management research interest and debate. This article draws on the Welfare Conventions Approach to explore the diversity of five SIB-financed Active Labor Market Programs in four European countries using comparative case study methods. We identify a tension between the requirement to align civic and financial interests in SIB-financed programs alongside a drive to reform public sector procurement in a more entrepreneurial direction. We suggest that the diversity of SIBs emanates from the political struggles in implementation processes stemming from a plurality of welfare conventions that actors need to align and compromise. SIBs are built within historically grown “institutional contexts” that are themselves on the move over decades of welfare state reform, and processes of marketization – and thus far from homogenous.

Advancing Indigenous self-determination and health equity: Lessons from a failed Australian public policy

The 2007 Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) targeted Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory in Australia. The NTER imposed draconian measures unfavourable to health, contributing to health inequities. There is little research investigating why the NTER was framed so negatively, and how this framing passed into legislation so unassailably. We used institutional theory to understand what factors contributed to the NTER agenda framing, what institutional factors enabled its dominance over pro-equity frames, and what lessons can be learned for future efforts to improve public policies for health equity. We interviewed 21 key policy actors, including actors with a role in the NTER, government opposition, Aboriginal civil society, non-Indigenous stakeholders, and actors from the Little Children Are Sacred report and Northern Territory government, and the Coalition of Aboriginal Organisations that provided alternative pro-equity policy framings that were not taken up. We found Federal government framing was driven by a deficit discourse of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the media, and the Federal government's interest in winning the upcoming election, trialling welfare reform, and gaining more control over Northern Territory Indigenous Affairs. The framing passed almost unchanged into legislation because of the government's closed processes that excluded Aboriginal perspectives, the media's failure to report dissenting Aboriginal voices, and the power the Federal government was able to wield over the Northern Territory. The most critical action needed for more pro-equity Indigenous Affairs policy is resourced structures to provide more structural power for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to influence policy.

The Impact of Population Aging and Migration on the Labor Market in Belarus

The purpose of the study is to assess the demographic situation and migration processes that affect the functioning and transformation of the labor market in conditions of depopulation, which would allow to ensure demographic security and justify measures to improve the population employment policy. The object of the study is the patterns of transformation of the labor market in the Republic of Belarus. The subject of the study is the demographic aging of the population as the existing basis for the formation of the labor force. The hypothesis of the study is that the demographic aging of the population and the reproduction of labor resources constitute the main potential of the labor force, which forms the labor market. It is shown that the effective development of the economy in the context of digitalization should be accompanied by an increase in the quality of human potential, and the impossibility of completely replacing pensioners with persons of pre-working age can be compensated by the influx of migrants with a higher level of education and relevant qualifications. The study presents groupings of the population by age groups, reflects the dynamics of retirement, taking into account the pension reforms carried out in the country, and the possibility of actively using pensioners as a resource in the labor market. The positive net migration offsets the negative natural decline in the population of Belarus, but does not solve the problem of labor market efficiency. The article outlines the socio-economic and demographic aspects that provide justification for measures to ensure demographic security and improve state policy in the field of employment. The research is based upon economic-statistical, demographic and analytical research methods. The result and, accordingly, the scientific contribution of the study is the theoretical substantiation of the position that the situation in a country where there is no general population growth cannot be called demographically prosperous, since from an economic standpoint there will be a shortage of labor force to form effective employment in the labor market. The application of the research results would make it possible to conduct a competent policy in the labor market, taking into account the age composition of the population; carry out programs for the development of active and passive employment policies and forecasting the state of the labor market at the regional and national levels taking into account the age composition of the population; implement measures within the framework of the State Program “Labor Market and Employment Promotion” in the Republic of Belarus; to substantiate the mechanism for implementing a migration policy that ensures the quantitative and qualitative composition of the labor force in the labor market.

Getting Tough or Rolling Back the State? Why Neoliberals Disagreed on a Guaranteed Minimum Income

This article explores why neoliberals associated with the Mont Pelerin Society disagreed on the legitimacy of a guaranteed income in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States. Participants in this debate are categorized along a spectrum between “libertarians” like Milton Friedman and George Stigler, who favoured a minimum-income plan, and “paternalists” like Henry Hazlitt, who opposed one in any form. While these figures were united in their desire to roll back the welfare state, the two means they advocated to achieve this task were in stark contradiction in their assumptions. Divisions over a guaranteed income commonly reflected wider disagreements on economic methodology, consumer choice, citizenship, policing, and the moral implications of dependency. Previous analysts have tended to emphasize unity amongst neoliberals on the model of the “paternalist” paradigm. By recovering the origins of the libertarian paradigm, this article demonstrates instead that there was never an orthodox neoliberal approach to welfare reform. “What does neoliberal welfare reform do?” is shown to be a question requiring more complex answers than have been recognized in the literature.