scholarly journals Beware of the Crocodile: Quantitative Evidence on How Universal Old Age Grants Distort the Social Assistance Systems of Low‐Income Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-205
Author(s):  
Bernd Schubert

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 403-422
Author(s):  
Mamo G. Tefera ◽  
Nicholas M. Odhiambo

Abstract Research background: Foreign aid flows to Africa mostly the Low-Income Countries (LICs) have increased drastically since 2000. Increasing aid flows are expected to stimulate economic growth that can release resources towards enabling LICs to reduce aid dependency. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to discuss the dynamics of bilateral aid trends and patterns among 27 LICs in Africa during 2000–2017. The main question this study tries to answer is: how have aid sources, compositions and dependency changed in LICs? Research methodology: The study employs a descriptive analysis technique to analyses bilateral aid flows to LICs in Africa from 50 donors during 2000–2017. Results: Total net aid flows to LICs increased by 1.5 times during 2000–2017 and were predominantly in the form of grants (92.7%). The study found a shift of sectoral aid allocations from the economic and productive sectors towards the social sector. Net aid as a share of GDP increased almost two-fold; implying an increasing trend of aid dependency in several LICs. Novelty: This study tries to present a full account of bilateral aid flows both from Traditional Donors (TDs) and Non-Traditional Donors (NTDs), unlike many earlier studies that have focused on TDs.



2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-59
Author(s):  
Venelin Terziev ◽  
Simeon Simeonov

Social policy as a set of principles, legal norms, activities and institutions, aimed at creating conditions that ensure the quality of life of the citizens of a country, is an expression of the social relations between the state and its citizens. Social policy determines safety (social, health, economic) and security of the individuals in society.Social policy should be seen as an activity that guarantees the security of those affected by the risks of labour, family and life. In a broader sense, social policy regulates a very broad range of social relationships that relate to employment, income, education, and others. Social security can therefore be seen as the main objective of social policy. In modern concepts, social security is perceived as a system of public rules, institutions and social payments that enable the dignified exitense of every person, who in an unusual state of vitality. Social security can therefore be seen as a set of measures to protect people in an unusual situation. Forms of social security: social security coverage; social assistance; social provision.Apart from thier nature, purpose and funding, social security and social assistance differ according to the principles of organization and management. Social assistance is a decentralized system, and social security can be centralized or decentralized depending on the principles adopted. Through these forms of social security, people receive material security for their existence on the basis of common and unified rules. In any case, however, not always will the indigent be covered by these forms of social security, regardless of their social protection needs. It is possible that even socially protected persons may be in need because of the low income recevied by this system. In such cases the intervention of social assistance is needed as a means of “plugging the holes”. For the sake of clarity, social security can be defined as the first defense net, and social assistance as the second defense net, i.e. social assistance must take on the part of the population which, for one or other reason, does not fall from or land either from the upper levels of the social protection system or when the level of this protection has been insufficient or it provides social protection from the last instance.



2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 705-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
KEETIE ROELEN

AbstractDespite the centrality of shame and stigma within research on welfare in high-income countries, these issues only exist within the periphery of rapidly expanding practice in and research on social assistance in low- and middle-income countries. This oversight undermines social assistance’s potential in breaking the poverty-shame cycle and ignores its role in the (re)production of shame and stigma. This article offers a critical exploration of the role of social assistance in alleviating or reinforcing shame and stigma in low- and middle-income countries. Findings indicate that positive and negative effects co-exist but that far too little evidence is available to judge whether social assistance receipt overwhelmingly negates or plays into shame and stigma, particularly in low-income countries. Greater awareness of the interface between social assistance, shame and stigma, explorations of policy options that minimise or counter stigmatisation, and critical engagement with ideological and political discourse underpinning design and delivery of interventions represent crucial steps to move towards ‘shame proofing’ social assistance in low- and middle-income countries.





2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (10) ◽  
pp. 791-817
Author(s):  
Ralph Henger ◽  
Judith Niehues

Zusammenfassung Für Haushalte mit niedrigen Einkommen können Veränderungen der Haushaltsstruktur oder eine Einkommenserhöhung durch Arbeitsaufnahme oder -ausweitung einzelner Haushaltsmitglieder einen Systemwechsel von der Grundsicherung zum Wohngeld oder umgekehrt nach sich ziehen. Hinzu kommt das Problem, dass das Wohngeldsystem nicht wie die Regelsätze der Grundsicherung jedes Jahr angepasst wird. Durch die Nichtanpassung wechseln Haushalte aus dem Wohngeld in die Grundsicherung hinein oder in den Nicht-Transferbezug. Werden die Wohngeldleistungen im Rahmen einer Reform erhöht, dann werden viele dieser Haushalte wieder ins Wohngeldsystem zurückgeholt. Dieser Wechsel kann als Drehtüreffekt bezeichnet werden. Mit Hilfe von Mikrosimulationsrechnungen wird gezeigt, wie groß der Drehtüreffekt ist. Zudem werden Wirkungen verschiedener Varianten einer möglichen Dynamisierung des Wohngeldsystems abgeschätzt. Abstract: The Swing-Door Effect between Housing Allowances and the Social Assistance System in Germany For low-income households, changes in the household structure or an increase in their income through taking up or expanding work for individual household members may result in a change from the social assistance system (Grundsicherung) to the housing allowances system (Wohngeld) or vice versa. In addition, there is the problem that the housing benefit system is not adjusted every year like the payments in the subsistence welfare system. The non-adjustment cause households to grow out of housing subsidies and into subsistence welfare system. When housing benefits are increased in a reform, many households come back into the housing benefit system. This change can be called the swing door effect. We show with a microsimulation model the size and relevance of this effect. In addition, the decline in the number of recipients and in expenditure is broken down into various components. Also effects of different variants of a dynamization of the housing benefit system are estimated.



2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
SJAAK VAN DER GEEST ◽  
ANKE MUL ◽  
HANS VERMEULEN

There are at least four ways in which old age and migration cross each other's paths. First of all, there are people who migrated for economic reasons, usually at a relatively young age, and who have grown old in a foreign country. Secondly, there are older people who migrate when (or because) they are old: in Europe, they are mostly from the affluent northern countries and travel southward. Thirdly, there is increasing employment of, and demand for, immigrant workers in old-age institutions in the northern countries. Finally, there is the out-migration of young people, mainly from rural areas, that results in older people being left behind without children to look after them. In all these cases, migration has a profound effect on the wellbeing and care of older people. The authors of this article explore a fifth linkage between migration and old age, by focusing on the (mainly illegal) immigrants who take on roles as private carers and, in effect, replace the children who have emigrated. Two cases, from Greece and Ghana, are presented and viewed in the two countries' political, cultural and economic contexts, and are then compared to conditions in The Netherlands. In both cases, involving a ‘stranger’ in the care of an older parent is regarded as a good and respectable solution to the problem of absent children and grandchildren: it follows rules of reciprocity and normally provides a good quality of care. Ironically, hiring full-time private care for older people is feasible in low-income countries but a rare luxury in high-income societies.



2014 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 61-79
Author(s):  
I. I. Korchagina ◽  
L. A. Migranova


Econometrica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 1351-1358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elias Papaioannou

In this note, I discuss avenues for future research stemming from Besley's [this issue] theoretical approach on the interconnections between civicness, institutions, and state‐fiscal capacity. First, I lay down some ideas on how one could extend the framework to model fragility traps that characterize many low‐income countries and study issues related to nation‐building, conflict, and heterogeneity across space and ethnic lines in the provision of public goods. Second, I discuss the relevance of the approach for the analysis of authoritarian populism that is spreading in developed countries and emerging markets.



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