Social Policy Design: Market-Oriented Solutions, Rationality, and Federalism

2015 ◽  
pp. 49-83
Author(s):  
Debra Hevenstone
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Policy Design

Has Social Policy Expansion in Latin America Reduced Welfare Decommodification and Defamilialisation? Evidence from an Overview of the Mexican Welfare Regime

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-659
Author(s):  
Ricardo Velázquez Leyer
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Family Support ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Welfare Regime ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Design And Implementation

Mexican social policy has been transformed in recent years with the introduction and expansion of social assistance programmes, causing a diversion from the trajectory based on social insurance since the first decades of the twentieth century. This article aims to understand the outcomes of that transformation, by applying welfare regime theory to establish how social policy reforms have affected the distribution of welfare responsibilities among the state, markets and families. The research identifies (de)commodification and (de)familialisation outcomes of policy changes in pensions, healthcare, unemployment and family support. Results suggest that the expansion has not produced significant reductions in decommodification or defamilialisation because of: a) the explicit or implicit role assigned to markets in policy design and implementation, and b) the reliance of the process of economic liberalisation on the welfare role performed by families. The case of Mexico may illustrate the current welfare challenges faced by societies across Latin America.

scholarly journals Unidentical twins: recent social policy developments in Canada and the United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Béland ◽  
Alex Waddan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Fiscal Federalism ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
The United States ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Family Benefits ◽  
International Social

AbstractThere is a vast social policy literature on how Canada and the United States share key characteristics associated with the liberal welfare regime such as significant reliance on both social assistance and tax-subsidized private benefits and services. Yet, a closer look at these two countries points to key differences in areas such as fiscal federalism, health care, old-age pensions, and family benefits. This special issue of the Journal of Comparative and International Social Policy looks at recent social policy developments in Canada and the United States in ways that further illustrate the broad similarities, but also the key cross-national differences in policy design and real-world consequences, between these two countries. This Introduction explains why Canada and the United States are “unidentical twins” in social policy before discussing the contributions comprising this special issue.

scholarly journals Austerity Beyond Crisis: Economists and the Institution of Austere Social Spending for At-Risk Children in Israel

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 168-187
Author(s):  
ASA MARON
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Popular Resistance ◽  
Child Welfare Policy ◽  
At Risk Children ◽  
Original Contribution ◽  
Spending Cuts

AbstractAusterity is frequently associated with crisis-enabled spending cuts. What happens when the crisis is over? This article’s original contribution lies in its in-depth exploration of one mechanism that help explain austerity’s endurance post-crisis, when state elites face increased popular resistance and pressure to reinstate social spending. This mechanism calls attention to the role of economists in Central Budgeting Offices as agents of technocratization and de-politicization within social policy domains. These economists may institute an austere spending mode by changing social spending’s norms and instruments. To demonstrate economists’ role in mediating macroeconomic fiscal goals and social policy design over time, the article examines the development of child welfare policy in Israel before, during and in the aftermath of economic crisis. In this case, austerity attained hegemony when economists were able to delegitimize and shelve an ‘irresponsible’ social spending proposal – and in response to post-crisis demands for compensation – introduce an austere policy instrument to cap social spending during a period of social policy expansion. This analysis suggests that scholars regard relations between austerity and social spending as dialectical.

Ask rather than assume: the capability approach in the practitioner setting1

2019 ◽  
pp. 107-124
Author(s):  
Jana Javornik ◽  
Mara A. Yerkes ◽  
Erik Jansen
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Features ◽  
The Capability Approach

This chapter investigates the relationships between science and society, in particular social policy 'practice', by consulting the social policy actors (i.e. researchers, professionals and practitioners who deal with or implement diverse policy decisions). The purpose of the chapter is to develop our innovative communication initiative, in which we engaged with social policy professionals and practitioners in a two-way, mutually enriching theory-practice dialogue. Using the capability approach as an analytical lens hereallows for a fresh look at social policy implementation and delivery and helps to better understand how social policies in their entirety play out in different contexts. The historical and political contexts of social policies and people's different needs and values, the cornerstone of the CA, are increasingly recognised by policy practitioners and professionals who have first-hand experience with policy delivery or application at the local level. This chapter demonstrates that their experience with multiple access and eligibility-related issues on the ground sheds new light on the applicability of the CA, and how this approach may help to identify key features grounded in local knowledge, be it around social policy design, delivery or implementation.

Key Parameters in Policy Design: The Case of Intrinsic Motivation

2003 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 527-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILIP JONES ◽  
JOHN CULLIS
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Intrinsic Motivation ◽  
Instrumental Response ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Institutional Reform ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Behavioural Experiments ◽  
The Impact

An important consideration when designing social policy is the expected response of individuals to new taxes and expenditures. Response is predictable when individuals are assumed to optimise instrumentally. However, the extent to which instrumental behaviour can be deemed ‘representative’ has been questioned. Behavioural experiments reveal that individuals rely more heavily on low-cost signals and heuristics than on an optimising calculus. When costs and benefits are not easy to discern the consequences of action are difficult to estimate and perceptions of the intrinsic value of action assume greater relevance. Such considerations are particularly apposite when social policy affects altruism. In this paper the proposition is that policy signals impact on motivation systematically. Policy can have a greater (or lesser) impact than anticipated by instrumental response to the sum of its parts. Two examples prove illustrative. The first considers institutional reform and the supply of ‘merit wants’. The second focuses on recent proposals to nurture the voluntary charitable sector. In both cases, policy expectations based only on instrumental response prove misleading; the impact of policy signals on perceptions of the intrinsic value of action cannot be ignored.

To what extent does China’s aid in Africa affect traditional donors?

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 395-411
Author(s):  
Kassaye Gudeta Deyassa
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
International Development ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Addis Ababa ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Development Institutions ◽  
Main Components

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the welfare and social policy ideas that characterize Chinese aid in Africa are influencing traditional donors and becoming global. Design/methodology/approach The paper utilised a qualitative study that has two main components: first, a comprehensive content analysis of over 50 key Sino–African, Chinese and Western policy documents from 2000 (since cooperation between Beijing and African countries first became institutionalised); and, second, there were semi-structured interviews with Chinese, African and Western stakeholders in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), who were directly involved in the relationship between China and Africa and related development issues. Findings The results of documentation and interview analyses show that there are currently significant differences between Chinese and Western approaches. China has developed much stronger and more explicit links between development aid and economic activity than most Western donors. The aid is usually implemented through specific projects rather than broader programmes or policies. Originality/value It is reasonable to assume that the new developments initiated by the Agency’s international pioneers are likely to be a new emerging trend. As the conditions and processes of social policy design in developing countries are so closely linked with the ideas of international development institutions (if not predetermined), a possible change in the direction of travel of the ideas and activities of this community requires close coordination analysis and evaluation.

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