Search

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]

Abstract: Spatially expanding economies threaten the status of basic natural resources. In particular, wildlife habitats rarely benefit. Apart from protected areas, political-economic decision-making is ill-prepared to accommodate wildlife habitats with standard valuation methods. In some cases habitat loss is an inadvertent outcome of resource conservation policies intended to lower resource consumption. We recognize the term resource conservation as multifaceted, with a range of meanings from protecting wildlife habitats to efficiently allocating and using materials and energy. Resource conservation policies that spur economic benefits may produce unwanted outcomes. This is partly because linkages between economic and conservation goals seem tangential. Moreover, relevant information is imperfect and predictive tools are limited. This is particularly true for land converting impacts, which are often addressed after the fact, not during policy formulation, and can lead to successive resource degradation. We argue for the need to calculate the positive and negative land converting impacts from resource conservation policies that may expand the economy. Using the Ecological Footprint (EF) approach, we tested for potentially perverse outcomes of an existing resource conservation policy. In doing so, we conceptually mapped linkages among economic sectors to their cumulative effects of converting land. We assume an inverse relationship between economic expansion and land conservation. A New York State energy efficiency incentive program was tested using recent data from all tracked economic sectors. The economic data were converted in a series of steps from dollar values to energy units, to carbon dioxide emissions, and ultimately expressed in hectares of net land conversion. A policy scenario was compared to a reference scenario (no resource conservation policy), and the results anticipate a net gain in conserving land (0.6% reduced conversion). We interpret this as a potentially proportional offset favoring wildlife habitat retention. Two sensitivity analyses demonstrated that the policy’s impact on conserving land depended on both the affected economy’s scale (tripling reduces the estimated benefit to 0.2%), and the level of economic expansion that followed (doubling leads to a net loss of wildlands). This novel use of the EF approach may serve as a model for a more general approach to assessing a broader class of policies. It may also hold promise toward developing tools that can better examine well-intentioned resource conservation policies with uncertain outcomes. Our hope is that work like this can lead to better sets of tools for examining critical ecological–economic linkages for improved policy design. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Street-connected youth are a neglected and vulnerable population, particularly in resource-constrained settings. The development of interventions and supports for this population requires insight into how they live. This study describes the social and economic characteristics of a convenience sample of street youth (SY) in Eldoret, Kenya. Methods: Participants were eligible if they were aged 12–21, living in Eldoret, spending days only (part-time), or nights and days on the street (full-time) and able and willing to consent or assent. Data were collected using a standardized interview conducted in English or Kiswahili. Binary dependent variables were having been arrested and/or jailed, and first priority for spending money (food vs. other). Nominal categorical dependent variables included major source of support, and major reason for being street-involved. Multivariable analysis used logistic regression models to examine the association of gender and level of street-involvement with social and economic factors of interest adjusting for age and length of time on the street. Data were analyzed using SAS 9.3. Results: Of the 200 SY enrolled, 41% were female, mean age of 16.3 years; 71% were on the street full-time, and 29% part-time. Compared with part-time SY, full-time SY were more likely to have been arrested (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR]: 2.33, 95% Confidence Interval [95%CI]:1.01–5.35), name food as their first spending priority (AOR: 2.57, 95%CI:1.03–6.45), have left home due to violence (AOR: 5.54, 95%CI: 1.67–18.34), and more likely to report friends on the street as a major source of support (AOR: 3.59, 95% CI: 1.01–12.82). Compared with females, males were more likely to have ever been arrested (AOR: 2.66, 95%CI:1.14–6.18), and to have ever been jailed (AOR: 3.22, 95%CI:1.47–7.02). Conclusions: These results suggest a high degree of heterogeneity and vulnerability among SY in this setting. There is an urgent need for interventions taking into consideration these characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The tremendous political, economic and social transition in China has brought about a prominent socio-spatial differentiation and segregation in cities between urban locals and migrants. Such segregation will act as a barrier, particularly for the group of physically and economically disadvantaged elderly. This paper aims to analyze the implications of residential segregation on the well-being distribution between the local and migrant elderly in Shanghai. The well-being of the elderly is assessed by the availability and accessibility of social and physical resources, which are employed as the proxies of well-being based on Lindenberg's theory of social production function. The results show that the degree of well-being differs between community types. Local elderly people dominate the traditional and work-unit communities in the city centre and have relatively good access to social and physical resources. By contrast, migrant elderly people are scattered and partly segregated in the peripheral communities, resulting in their relatively poor access to various well-being resources. This paper concludes that the residential segregation between local and migrant elderly people in Shanghai, largely caused by Hukou's institutional constraints, has produced evident inequality in well-being, making migrant elderly people more disadvantaged in their urban life. Several planning measures are proposed to mitigate these negative effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

En este estudio se presentan datos empíricos que permiten evaluar la repercusión de diversas variables socioeconómicas y políticas en distintas formas de medir la desigualdad de los ingresos en las 27 unidades de la República Federativa del Brasil entre 1999 y 2008. La experiencia brasileña resulta útil para entender las políticas relativas a la desigualdad de los ingresos en los países en desarrollo. Los resultados indican que el progreso observado durante el período analizado se debe a la combinación de una mayor apertura comercial, el desarrollo tecnológico y financiero, la reducción de la tasa de desempleo, la puesta en práctica de políticas sociales con efecto directo en las familias más pobres y la implementación de mecanismos contra la corrupción. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looking into the near future, China faces immense demographic challenges. Prolonged subreplacement fertility has created irreversible conditions for rapid aging of the population, and massive migration to cities has left many villages populated by elderly farmers with no adult children to support them. Soaring divorce rates and high levels of residential dislocation have eroded family stability. To a large extent, government policies created to accelerate economic growth inadvertently fostered these demographic challenges, and now the country is facing the negative consequences of interventions that previously spurred double-digit growth. Legacies of Confucian familism initially blunted pressures on families. Filial sons and daughters sent back remittances, parents cared for migrants' children and invested in their children's marriages, and families with four grandparents, two parents, and one child (4+2+1) pooled resources to continuously improve a family's material well-being. But now the demographic challenges have further intensified and the question arises: can the state adopt new policies that will allow the prototypical 4+2+1 families created by the one-child policy to thrive through 2030? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review describes from a historiographical perspective, some planning backgrounds. It makes an overview of the major moments of the topic occurred in the former Soviet Union, Europe and Latin America. It is shown how the development of planning has been determined by aspects of political nature associated with the type of State (universalist/minimalist), the model of development (socialist/capitalist in its various strands), the political regime (democratic/ authoritarian), and the relationships among social actors with different degrees of power. Finally, the article takes into consideration some epistemological elements of planning and the main currents that coexist nowadays, showing the predominance of retraction of the State in the autonomous and sovereign planning of social affairs, the continuity of developmental conceptions focused on economic growth that expresses a lack of understanding of the social problems, and evidence the change in the role of the State toward options that legitimize the governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study, assessment and design of social policies related to welfare have usually focused on material and economic indicators. However, some recent studies argue for the inclusion of subjective indicators to cater for aspects traditionally relegated to families private lives, such as care or the perception of happiness. According to this background, and from a perspective that seeks to integrate contributions of two social sciences such as sociology and geography, this paper aims a critical review of the scientific literature on subjective well-being, considering the sphere of care and taking welfare as a key element, and also a review of the available indicators. The final objective of this proposal would be to provide justifications and methodological keys, in order to integrate variables of care and territory in welfare analysis. To facilitate this review, we take the European geographical space as a field of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The expansion of urban slums is a key challenge for public and social policy in the 21st century. The heterogeneous and dynamic nature of slum communities limits the use of rigid slum definitions. A systematic and flexible approach to characterize, delineate and model urban slum structure at an operational resolution is essential to plan, deploy, and monitor interventions at the local and national level. Methods We modeled the multi-dimensional structure of urban slums in the city of Salvador, a city of 3 million inhabitants in Brazil, by integrating census-derived socioeconomic variables and remotely-sensed land cover variables. We assessed the correlation between the two sets of variables using canonical correlation analysis, identified land cover proxies for the socioeconomic variables, and produced an integrated map of deprivation in Salvador at 30 m × 30 m resolution. Results The canonical analysis identified three significant ordination axes that described the structure of Salvador census tracts according to land cover and socioeconomic features. The first canonical axis captured a gradient from crowded, low-income communities with corrugated roof housing to higher-income communities. The second canonical axis discriminated among socioeconomic variables characterizing the most marginalized census tracts, those without access to sanitation or piped water. The third canonical axis accounted for the least amount of variation, but discriminated between high-income areas with white-painted or tiled roofs from lower-income areas. Conclusions Our approach captures the socioeconomic and land cover heterogeneity within and between slum settlements and identifies the most marginalized communities in a large, complex urban setting. These findings indicate that changes in the canonical scores for slum areas can be used to track their evolution and to monitor the impact of development programs such as slum upgrading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People with intellectual disability have a higher prevalence of physical health problems but often experience disparities in accessing health care. In England, a number of legislative changes, policies and recommendations have been introduced to improve health care access for this population. The aim of this qualitative study was to examine the extent to which patients with intellectual disability and their carers experience discrimination or other barriers in accessing health services, and whether health care experiences have improved over the last decade years. Method and Main Findings: Twenty nine participants (14 patient and carer dyads, and one carer) took part in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were audio-taped and transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Eight themes were identified. Half the participants thought that the patient had been treated unfairly or had been discriminated against by health services. There were accounts of negative staff attitudes and behaviour, and failure of services to make reasonable adjustments. Other barriers included problems with communication, and accessing services because of lack of knowledge of local services and service eligibility issues; lack of support and involvement of carers; and language problems in participants from minority ethnic groups. Most participants were able to report at least one example of good practice in health care provision. Suggestions for improving services are presented. Conclusion: Despite some improvements to services as a result of health policies and recommendations, more progress is required to ensure that health services make reasonable adjustments to reduce both direct and indirect discrimination of people with intellectual disability. [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]

Recognizing the importance of social security in the arena of Brazilian social policies, especially for small municipalities, the main objective of this paper was to evaluate the impact of social security benefits on efficiency in promoting socioeconomic development among small municipalities in the state of Minas Gerais. Thus, the study uses the technique of data envelopment analysis in two stages. The survey results showed that the benefits paid by social security had a positive effect in the promotion the efficiency of municipal socioeconomic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given its current socioeconomic conditions and fiscal ability, Lesotho has achieved an impressive record in creating a basic social assistance and social protection system, informed by political commitment and through budget reprioritisation. It has set up and administered near universal schemes operating at scale with fairly low transaction costs, addressing core areas and serving vulnerable constituencies – including the aged, orphaned and vulnerable children and children of school-going age. A contribution-based comprehensive national social security scheme to provide coverage for Lesotho workers and their families is also planned. Nevertheless, the task of providing adequate social protection coverage faces systems and delivery challenges; several human development indicators have worsened, and most of the Millennium Development Goals are far from being achieved. There is scope for creating greater fiscal space by establishing a compulsory national contributory scheme, and donor support in the short to medium term is inevitable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Social protection has conventionally been associated with redistribution and equity. This paper examines the effects of different types of social protection on economic growth. It looks at the possible effects on human capital formation, on physical investment and innovation, on the local economy and on the macroeconomy, discusses these effects in theory and reviews empirical evidence of such effects. It considers the widely varying impacts that different types of social protection can have on the distribution of incomes and on economic growth. The paper concludes that, in analysing, assessing and planning social protection, it is crucially important to consider the potential drawbacks – and the benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Knowledge of the results of socio-economic policies may be gained from objective measurement of the standard of living. Despite numerous studies in this area, there is no consensus in the scientific community on the definition and methodology for measuring the standard of living. The aim of this paper is to propose a section of such a methodology concerning the selection of diagnostic indicators. This methodology was used in the study carried out under the authors' own research grant, started in 2011, titled "The living standard vs. the quality of life of Polish residents," ID no. 97678, Agreement no. 1708/B/H03/2011/40, with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Selected groups of indicators assessing the standard of living have been presented, along with the reasons for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]