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Addressing current socio-economic crises strains public budgets and may threaten fiscal sustainability. Particularly in the welfare sector, where high expenditures meet poor controllability, efficient resource usage is essential to ensure future governments' capability to act while alleviating current problems. Consequently, this paper asks: why are some countries more efficient in translating social expenditure into welfare outcomes? To answer this question, it is argued that efficiency is a matter of institutional structures and their vertical policy-process integration (VPI): efficiency depends on institutional structures' capability to (1) ensure policymakers' responsibility and to (2) provide coordinated feedback, thus pushing for considerate and informed resource use. Analysing the effect of VPI on the relationship between welfare efforts and social outcomes in 21 OECD countries over three decades, the results show that VPI can not only turn 'less' into 'more', but it also compensates for performance losses in the face of spending cuts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This themed issue, guest‐edited by Jurgen De Wispelaere and Troy Henderson, is devoted to examining, first, whether the widespread use of immediate and unconditional cash transfers as a policy response to the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID‐19 crisis has provided a boost to cash transfer programmes generally and to emergency basic income (EBI) policies more specifically. The set of articles then charts the reception of EBI‐type policies as a pandemic response in specific country or regional contexts, and reflects on their relevance for the future development of universal social protection and, especially, universal basic income (UBI). While the contribution to be made by basic income to realizing resilient and agile social protection policy responses merits serious consideration, in particular in a context where existing social protection systems are patchy and fragmented, important questions remain as to how to evaluate the time‐limited EBI crisis response in light of the more durable needs which a permanent UBI purports to address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on existing European research findings, we assess factors driving Brazilian social security street‐level officials' deservingness perceptions through survey and administrative data. Ordered regression analyses gauge the effects of socioeconomic status, social work academic background and face‐to‐face contact with the public on these officials' perceptions towards social assistance beneficiaries under seven deservingness criteria. A middle‐class socioeconomic status increased the odds that beneficiaries are seen as undeserving under the criteria of social investment, control and reciprocity, while a high socioeconomic status is linked to benevolent perceptions of their need. A social work academic background is strongly linked to higher overall deservingness perceptions, whereas frequent face‐to‐face contact with the public can reduce them under the control deservingness criterion. The research takes a new step in the direction of deservingness survey studies, suggesting the formulation of new analytical frameworks and increasing policymakers' awareness of the importance of variables driving bureaucracy decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes weekly visita de cárcel records from the Audiencia of Quito covering the years 1732–91. The first section considers the jail census as a manuscript form and performative practice. The second section identifies patterns in the visitas that document shifting carceral priorities during periods of political crisis and reform, increased detention of women, and the function of racial categories. These patterns suggest that Bourbon reformers used policing power as a form of social control while the visitas continued to operate as a performance of royal authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars agree that the early childhood years are highly consequential for later educational outcomes, but we know little about the impact of early childhood socioeconomic conditions at the societal level. This study contributes to the literature by bringing to comparative sociology the proposition that variations in the social structures into which children are born have lasting impacts on their educational outcomes as they progress through secondary education. Drawing on theories of welfare regimes and social stratification, we analyze nation-level data on socioeconomic conditions from the early 2000s via the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and educational performance data from the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (N = 35). In line with our hypotheses, societal inequalities and disadvantages present when children are young are associated with negative achievement outcomes 15 years later and policies that guarantee people basic securities are more consistently associated with positive achievement outcomes than are broad measures of social spending. We conclude by highlighting the value of our approach and suggesting directions for future research on cross-national variations in achievement as a product of socioeconomic conditions during early childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Globally, the prevalence of chronic disease continues to rise and is likely to grow further over the coming decades due to population ageing. Since older age is associated closely with development of chronic disease, it stands to reason that demographic changes will increase the proportion of older workers with chronic disease. The aim of the present study was to determine how chronic diseases affect employment status in Korea and the USA.Methods: The study was based on National Health and Nutrition Survey data (2007-2014) obtained by the Korean and American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A total of 44,693 subjects were categorized into two geographical groups: Korea (29,260 subjects) and the USA (15,433 subjects). A chi-square test was used to compare the groups in terms of socio-demographic factors, health-related factors, and chronic disease. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the effect of five chronic diseases (hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, and cancer) on employment status.Results: There were 29,260 Korean and 15,433 American respondents. Chronic disease increased the risk of unemployment in Korea markedly (Odds ratio [OR] range, 1.17-2.47). Cardiovascular disease and cancer had the most profound negative effect on Korean unemployment (OR = 2.47 and 2.03, respectively). The risk of unemployment was generally 2-3-fold lower in the USA (OR range, 0.5-1.04).Conclusions: Chronic disease had a significant impact on economic activity in Korea, but a smaller impact in the USA. This difference may be related to different health insurance schemes and cultural approaches to people with diseases in the two countries. It is important to explore factors that limit economic participation by people with chronic diseases, and to identify social policies that will overcome these factors. Further between-country studies are needed to identify social solutions to the socio-economic burden of chronic illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The informal sector challenges economic growth and hinders the abatement of income disparities in developing countries. This study argues that a weak and poorly governed welfare state can cause the informal sector to increase when individuals use it as an exit option from an unsatisfying welfare system. The article explores how the welfare state's benefit structure and citizens' trust in institutions to deliver public goods affect the likelihood of informality. A logistic hierarchical model, based on cross-sectional survey data from Latin America and the Caribbean and descriptive panel data from Brazil, is used to test the hypothesis. Findings reveal that social policy discontent, low trust, an elitist distribution of welfare benefits, and dysfunctional institutions increase the likelihood of being informally employed. However, workers with greater agency—the better-educated—seem notably less likely to informalize when social policy benefits are targeted toward their own socioeconomic group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life expectancy has long been seen as an indicator of the quality of life as well as the health of a population. Recent trends in US life expectancy show growing inequality in life expectancy for some socioeconomic and geographic groupings but diminishing inequality by race and gender. For example, while African Americans had gains in life expectancy, non-Hispanic white women with low levels of education experienced drops. Overall, the United States continues to fall behind other countries in terms of life expectancy. One reason is our growing mortality in midlife from so-called deaths of despair. Public health programs cannot eliminate these adverse trends if they are not also accompanied by social policies supporting economic opportunity for US families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa has a politically and emotionally charged debate on unresolved race-based imbalances in patterns of land ownership and access to socio-economic opportunities. The main pillars of South Africa's post-apartheid efforts to address these inherent inequalities have come to be underpinned by invocation of a predominantly neoliberal yet narrow and inward-looking approach that overlooks the discourse of previously marginalised black people. This reified and reductionist view on social transformation is evident in the framing of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), land reform programme and associated elements of the transformation agenda. This article seeks to uncover those neoliberal imperatives of South Africa's social transformation agenda and how they do not sit well within the aspirations and desires of the wider South African population. The specific focus is on what the linguistic and discursive elements of land reform and B-BBEE policies hide and reveal about social transformation. I conclude by suggesting that the discourse and praxis of social transformation in South Africa needs to be conducted in a language that takes into account marginalised voices that speak from non-institutional spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the first International Social Survey Program's Role of Government module, many scholars assumed the "ideal government responsibility role" battery measured effects of a single unobserved attitude across individuals and societies. Attempts to substantiate this assumption offer sparse confirmatory evidence. Therefore, this research brings the most data and comprehensive measurement models thus far to investigate a single underlying attitude. Data from 1986 to 2017 in 43 countries suggest a latent ideal role attitude; however, measurement varies somewhat by historical institutions and levels of development across societies. At first the data seem to fail metric invariance tests as a first step in establishing the latent attitude. When applying corrections for a potential second attitude toward social insurance, and allowing for diverse effects of GDP, socialism, or Communist authoritarian institutional legacies, metric invariance comes into focus to a degree that most critics find acceptable. These results setup further scalar testing and descriptively demonstrate the neoliberalizaiton of preferences over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the convergence hypothesis and the impact of social policy on the economic growth of the six largest countries in Latin America between 1980 and 2010. Results suggest that social public policies have positively influenced growth in these economies. Particularly, there are non-observed variables (fixed effects) that positively affect the economic growth in Venezuela and Chile; however, there are other non-observed variables that may be negatively affecting growth in Brazil and Mexico. Regarding the convergence hypothesis, results reveal that the speed of convergence diminishes as real income rises, implying that these countries might be converging to their stable states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of tourism definition, there are many controversies, approaches and interpretations that give rise to confusions derived from the different processes, actors and elements involved. Among them, for example, it has been considered an industry, an economic activity, a fact, a phenomenon, or a science. In addition, its study has been carried out independently from the perspective of various social disciplines such as economics, history, geography and sociology, making it difficult to state its definition. The above conditions would lead to the need to carry out a comprehensive analysis of tourism and thus recognize it as a dynamic element of society. This study see ked to interpret tourism holistically, considering how its historical epistemological memory has been, emphasizing, basically, on the relationship of tourism with planning, social policies and the actors involved. The design used for the research was documentary, based on the hermeneutic technique that allows the interpretation and the understanding of the diverse authors that treat on the subject from different approaches, to obtain a vision that allows to conceive tourism like a complex element that affects social transformations. This study high lights the importance of a holistic interpretation of tourism to better understand its role as a dynamic element of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work focuses on the analysis of the constitutional and normative development of the social model of State contained in our Constitution. It aims to reflect on the true axiological value of the guiding principles of social and economic policy and its necessary legal revision. Social justice is a requirement of democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Québec has been structuring and promoting a social economy sector since the mid-1990s. What explains this specificity of the Québec social model? Careful process tracing analysis reveals that the mobilization of Québec's left in the mid- 1990s, followed by coalition engineering during the 1996 economy and employment summit, account for Québec's distinct trajectory. Consistent with power resource theory (PRT), at the agenda-setting stage, protagonists of Québec's social economy policies were associated with the left. Contrary to what is assumed by PRT, however, at the decision stage, the right's consent to social economy policies was not conditioned by a weak bargaining position or by a fear of antagonizing voters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the provision of education opportunities to a disadvantaged group in Nigeria known as Almajiris. The word Almajiri derives from the Arabic word Almuhajirun, meaning emigrant. The nomadic pastoralists of northern Nigeria constitute a major socio-economic group. According to a recent report released by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Almajiris own more than 90 per cent of Nigeria’s estimated 15.3 million heads of cattle. Beef from their herds constitutes over 45 per cent of the animal protein consumed by Nigerians. However, despite the Almajiris’ immense contributions to the economy of Nigeria, these nomads are highly disadvantaged in terms of access to education. To respond to the educational needs of this group, the Nigerian government established the National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE) in 1989 to coordinate programmes aimed at improving the lives and livelihood of the Almajiris. This article examines the strategies employed by the NCNE towards making education accessible to nomads. It also highlights some of the challenges facing the Almajiris, and suggests remedies to prioritise education for this and other disadvantaged groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finland was a pioneer in the democratization of Europe, granting women the right to vote on equal terms with men as early as 1906. In principle, men and women from all social classes were permitted to vote and stand for election. However, a proportion of the adult population - those who regularly received poor relief - was excluded from suffrage. Using internationally unique microdata on over 19,000 poor-relief recipients and the corresponding population registers of two provinces in Finland, we estimated the extent to which gender and age determined disenfranchisement due to poor relief during the 1911 parliamentary elections. Our results indicate that a disproportionate share of women, and especially of older people, were disenfranchised due to poor relief. The analysis provides novel evidence of the hidden discriminatory effects of an early welfare scheme. The system of poor relief not only provided support for older people in need but also disqualified many of them from political citizenship and introduced gender inequality in basic rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa and Brazil are burdened with persistent inequality and poverty two decades after democratisation. Both countries have developed ambitious social policies aimed at addressing these challenges. In this article, I seek to answer the following question: to what extent are the social policies pursued in South Africa and Brazil leading to the realisation of a new social contract? The article will compare the two countries' social policy architectures in their evolution under the governance of the African National Congress and the Partido dos Trabalhadores. This analysis should be read in a dynamic global context where cash transfers have shaped their social policies, the Social Grant in South Africa and the Bolsa Família in Brazil, culminating in a re-invigorated discussion and debate within the global social policy architecture. The article departs from the mainstream approach of social protection as an instrumental tool for reducing poverty and inequality, which, I argue, is a narrow vision of social policy. I advocate an institutional analysis to social policy, where mechanisms of production, protection and redistribution are pivotal in addressing the socio-economic challenges that face both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper pleads for revisiting the ECJ's 1995 Bosman ruling by jointly using a sports law as well as a social welfare approach, which will yield partly dissimilar yet potentially converging results regarding the precariousness of sports employment and the socio-economic as well as psycho-social vulnerability of players and athletes. The paper further advocates for using the 2012 EU Guidelines on Dual Careers as a benchmark for soft-law based initiatives aimed at better protecting players and athletes against the social risks associated with sporting careers. Finally, the paper will demonstrate the need for an interdisciplinary discourse on the challenges identified, involving legal, social science, social policy, social work as well as genuine sport policy perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2003, the federal housing policy was launched in Argentina, marking a new era in housing policy in Latin America's fourth most populous country. The Federal Housing Plan (FHP) sought to improve upon the complex scenario left by the deep socio-economic crisis of 2001--2002 with the most ambitious and progressive housing plan in Argentine history. This paper reviews the design and implementation of the FHP in the city of Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires between 2003 and 2014. It focuses on the main characteristics of the Plan, as well as each of its subprogrammes and the paper reflects upon the main challenges encountered during implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines the reduction of income poverty through federal monetary transfers in Mexico. To do so, we compare the net market income poverty rate with the disposable income poverty rate of several social groups. The main purpose is to establish, on the one hand, the poorest social groups in terms of market income, and on the other, how much poverty is reduced after the distribution of federal monetary transfers. We present a comparison between the reduction of income poverty by social security transfers and by means tested cash transfer programs, in order to provide an evaluation of the effectiveness of the social policy in the reduction of income poverty. Likewise, we provide some public policy implications from the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the growth of the socio-economic strength of the nonprofit sector in Poland over the past 25 years of post-communist transition and this sector's increasingly strong relations with government in the fields of human service delivery and social policy formulation. Among the factors contributing to the expanding role of the country's nonprofit sector examined in the article are the early post-communist welfare gap, the impact of Poland's accession to the EU, the new legal framework for nonprofits established during this period, the significant decentralization of governmental authority, and the resulting expansion of governmental support now reaching a level close to that in many Western European countries. At the same time, the article identifies the remaining vulnerabilities that continue to plague Polish nonprofit organizations as a consequence of its reliance on short-term contracts, limited access to public procurement procedures, and a general pull-back of the state from the provision of human services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing effective health interventions and achieving equity in health need to apply the community-based approaches such as social determinants of health. In the military organizations, these determinants have received less attention from the military health researchers and policymakers. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and explain the social determinants affecting the health of military forces in Iran. This was a qualitative study which was conducted in 2014. The required data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed through Conventional Content Analysis. The studied sample consisted of 22 military health experts, policymakers, and senior managers selected using purposeful sampling method with maximum variation sampling. MAXQDA.2007 was used to analyze the collected data. After analyzing the collected data, two main contents, that is, "general social determinants of health" and "military social determinants of health," with 22 themes and 90 subthemes were identified as the social determinants of military forces' health. Main themes were religious rule, spirituality promotion policies, international military factors, military command, and so forth. Given the role and importance of social factors determining the military forces' health, it can be recommended that the military organizations should pay more attention to these determinants in making policies and creating social, economic, and cultural structures for their forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stories that explain the origins of places and political systems of the past have undergone constant change and been created in order to address current sociopolitical concerns. The Digo people who reside along the south coast and the adjacent hinterland of Kenya have been marginalized in terms of national politics and economy. Because ethnic exclusion has persisted in the coastal society, a movement for coastal secession has attracted popular support. The story ofMwambasho, widely known in the Digo society, tells of the origins of Mombasa, a single major urban centre of the coastal area, and of the existence of the Digo dynasty that ruled the city. The objective of this study is to demonstrate how this historical narrative is shaped by the present political situation in Kenya's coast. The focus of the discussion lies in examining how this story legitimates the Digo's autochthony and their aspirations for higher political and economic status in post-independence Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, the socio-economic conditions in Ukraine have an impact on the perception of personal targets for the development of individual selfish principles (survival, stabilization, approval). The author in the article emphasizes the need for these goals to meet their priorities of the state, economic security and national development. Conducted analysis of the social organizations of Ukraine and other countries. Substantiates the reorientation of such activities from the scope of social protection in the field of providing quality social services population and community organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With data from the 2006 Japanese General Social Survey, this study examines factors associated with citizen participation in international development aid (IDA). In line with the literature on correlates of charitable giving of time and money, it finds that structural positions of individuals, measured by their demographic, socioeconomic and social network characteristics, are associated with the probability of citizen participation in IDA. Moreover, the study shows that variables such as English skills, measured by the ability and opportunity to use English, and the level of endorsement of Official Development Assistance projects significantly and positively predict IDA participation status. Implications of these findings are discussed for future research on charitable giving for international development in Japan and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question of how service delivery (SD) affects state legitimacy (SL) and conflict (C) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, drawing particularly on frameworks that move beyond a state-centric approach. Focusing on the majority-Arab countries of MENA, the paper aims to: (1) offer a preliminary explanation of the distinctiveness of this region in light of some of the main findings of the introductory paper by the lead guest editor Timo Kivimäki and (2) explore the potential of a social policy perspective in explaining the relationship between SD, SL and C. This is achieved by combining research insights acquired through extensive qualitative social policy research in the MENA region with a re-reading of the existing literature on SD, SL and C. To support a comprehensive re-examination of the issues at hand, the paper also draws on the 5th Wave of the Arab Barometer micro-level survey (ABS) on Arab citizen perceptions of socio-economic conditions in their countries and macro-level social welfare expenditure data from the World Bank World Development Indicators (WDI). By bringing insights from the social policy literature on the MENA region into conversation with broader research on the relationship between SD, SL and C, we identify several distinctive features of service delivery in the MENA context and examine their implications for state legitimacy and conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Korean War GI Bill provided socioeconomic benefits to veterans; however, its association with health is unclear; we hypothesize GI Bill eligibility is associated with fewer depressive symptoms and smaller disparities.Methods: Data from 246 Korean War GI Bill eligible veterans and 240 nonveterans from the Health and Retirement Study were matched on birth year, southern birth, race, height, and childhood health using coarsened exact matching. Number of depressive symptoms in 2010 (average age = 78 years) was assessed using a modified, validated Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, dichotomized to reflect elevated depressive symptoms. Regression analyses were stratified into low (at least one parent < 8 years schooling/missing data, n = 167) or high (both parents ≥ 8 years schooling, n = 319) childhood socioeconomic status (cSES) groups.Results: Korean War GI Bill eligibility predicted fewer depressive symptoms among individuals from low cSES backgrounds [β = -0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) = (-1.18, -0.09), P = .022]. Socioeconomic disparities were smaller among veterans than nonveterans for number of depressive symptoms [β = -0.76, 95% CI = (-1.33, -0.18), P = .010] and elevated depressive symptoms [β = -11.7, 95% CI = (-8.2, -22.6), P = .035].Conclusions: Korean War GI Bill eligibility predicted smaller socioeconomic disparities in depression markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]