Synthesizing disparate ideas: How a Chinese model of social assistance was forged

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lutz Leisering ◽  
Tao Liu ◽  
Tobias ten Brink
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Policy Model ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Policy Experimentation ◽  
Chinese Model

In 1993, the Shanghai government introduced a minimum income security program, causing contagious imitative behaviors in scores of local pilot projects in China. Invigorated by such local policy experiments, the central government in 1999 set up a Minimum Living Standard Scheme covering all urban regions and, from 2007, rural areas. In the process of designing this scheme, the Chinese epistemic social policy community translated foreign ideas into the national context to facilitate the social assistance reform through policy experimentation and reinterpretation of external ideas. This article argues that Chinese actors in the field of social assistance have synthesized disparate ideas from two world regions – the United States and Western Europe – and from Chinese traditions to forge a Chinese model of social assistance. It thus complements the existing literature on diffusion, which tends to assume that countries import or adapt a ready-made policy model from another country or from an international organization.

scholarly journals Elderly Poverty in Vietnam: Trends and Determinants

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 526-543
Author(s):  
Linh Hoang Vu ◽  
◽  
Thuy-Anh Nguyen ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Ethnic Disparities ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
Elderly Poverty ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

Adopting data from the 2010 and 2016 Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys, this paper identifies factors of elderly poverty incidences and depth in Vietnam. Our analysis shows that overall, elderly poverty is lower than the overall poverty headcount in Vietnam. Yet, some elderly groups are more vulnerable to poverty than others. In particular, the elderly living in rural areas are more susceptible to poverty than those living in urban areas. The ethnic minority elderly are likewise more vulnerable to poverty than those who belong to the Kinh-Hoa ethnic majority. We found several determining factors for elderly poverty in urban and rural areas, including region, ethnicity, education, and household age composition. Remittances and social assistance are also crucial in reducing elderly poverty in rural areas. With these findings, this study proposes several policy implications, including improving the social assistance support for the elderly, reducing regional and ethnic disparities, and supporting the employment of older people.

scholarly journals The Brink of Poverty: Implementation of a Social Assistance Programme in Rural China

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Kuhn ◽  
Stephan Brosig ◽  
Linxiu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Distribution Method ◽  
Implementation Gap ◽  
Assistance Programme ◽  
Monetary Transfers ◽  
Additional Monitoring

The Rural Minimum Living Standard is an important component of social security in rural areas of China, as it provides social assistance to poor rural households. The country's size and large development heterogeneities, however, make the policy's implementation a challenging task. Using quantitative and qualitative data from rural households and administrators in five provinces, we identify the pitfalls of multi-level implementation along with the difficulty of measuring income in rural, underdeveloped areas as key sources of an implementation gap that has led to a considerable degree of misallocation of monetary transfers. Changes in the budgeting process and the distribution method might improve the anti-poverty effect of social assistance without having to carry out additional monitoring.

The Metropolis in “Old World” Constitutional Law

City, State ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 51-102
Author(s):  
Ran Hirschl
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Central Government ◽  
The United States ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Government Planning ◽  
Global North

This chapter examines the constitutional subjugation of the metropolis throughout much of the Global North in constitutional orders adopted over a two-century span between the late eighteenth century and the 1970s, from the United States and Canada to the United Kingdom, Western Europe, and Australia. It illustrates how constitutional stalemate has emerged in these countries as a result of hardwired city-subverting constitutional frameworks, rigid amendment rules, a lack of political incentives to empower cities, and oftentimes proactive resistance to city power. At least two lessons may be drawn from this chapter. First, in contrast to North America, where litigation is the main channel for debating the constitutional status of urban centers, the megacity discussion in Europe is largely taking place in central government planning and policy-making circles. Second, when it comes to urban agglomeration, the Global North has witnessed a great constitutional silence.

Central Government Policies towards Declining Urban Economies in Western Europe and the United States of America

1983 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Wolman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Central City ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Entire Area ◽  
Urban Economies

Most large urban areas in the advanced market-economy nations of the West are experiencing a decentralization trend, with population and industrial employment moving from central city to suburb. In some large metropolitan areas the entire area is losing population, and employment is either growing very slowly or declining. In the United States of America and the United Kingdom these trends have triggered a substantial amount of public concern and debate and a variety of policies designed to focus on the problems of large urban economies. In most European countries, however, metropolitan population and employment stabilization or decline are either not perceived as problems or are just beginning to be seen as such. Indeed, in many of these countries the decentralization of population and employment from large urban areas is seen as consistent with the long-term objectives of regional policy. This article first summarizes urban-area population and employment trends in the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the Federal Republic of Germany. It then examines the way in which these trends are perceived in each of these countries and, in particular, whether they are thought to represent a ‘problem’. Finally, it sets forth and analyzes the public policies adopted by the national governments to address these problems, to the extent they are perceived to exist.

International Telesupervision: The Clinical Fellowship Experience

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (11) ◽  
pp. 73-78
Author(s):  
David W. Rule ◽  
Lisa N. Kelchner
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Clinical Supervision ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
Access To Services ◽  
East African ◽  
The World ◽  
Language Pathology ◽  
National Certification

Telepractice technology allows greater access to speech-language pathology services around the world. These technologies extend beyond evaluation and treatment and are shown to be used effectively in clinical supervision including graduate students and clinical fellows. In fact, a clinical fellow from the United States completed the entire supervised clinical fellowship (CF) year internationally at a rural East African hospital, meeting all requirements for state and national certification by employing telesupervision technology. Thus, telesupervision has the potential to be successfully implemented to address a range of needs including supervisory shortages, health disparities worldwide, and access to services in rural areas where speech-language pathology services are not readily available. The telesupervision experience, potential advantages, implications, and possible limitations are discussed. A brief guide for clinical fellows pursuing telesupervision is also provided.

A Note On Consumption Patterns in the Rural Areas of East Pakistan

1963 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-413
Author(s):  
Mohammad Irshad Khan
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Consumption Patterns ◽  
Regional Patterns ◽  
Effective Utilization ◽  
Income Elasticities ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Limited Applicability ◽  
Made In

The main purpose of this paper is to present estimates of income elasticities for various commodity groups in East Pakistan. To date no such studies have been conducted in that province; and estimates made in other areas of the subcontinent have only limited applicability. Analysis of consumption patterns is essential for development planning because priorities and investment targets have to be based on demand forecasts for different commodities. Forecasting demand requires, among other variables, reliable estimates of income elasticities. In addition, knowledge about elasticities can be useful in deciding taxation policies and other controls over consumption. Further, in countries like Pakistan where large quantities of surplus foods are imported under the United States PL 480 programme, knowledge of income elasticities and regional patterns of consumption is important to permit effective utilization of these imports for economic development.

Anne O. Krueger, Constantine Michalopoulos and Vernon W. Ruttan. Aid and Development. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1989. xiv + 386 pp.Price: U.S. $ 52.00

1991 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-217
Author(s):  
Mir Annice Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
International Development ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Low Literacy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact

Foreign aid has been the subject of much examination and research ever since it entered the economic armamentarium approximately 45 years ago. This was the time when the Second World War had successfully ended for the Allies in the defeat of Germany and Japan. However, a new enemy, the Soviet Union, had materialized at the end of the conflict. To counter the threat from the East, the United States undertook the implementation of the Marshal Plan, which was extremely successful in rebuilding and revitalizing a shattered Western Europe. Aid had made its impact. The book under review is by three well-known economists and is the outcome of a study sponsored by the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development. The major objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of assistance, i.e., aid, on economic development. This evaluation however, was to be based on the existing literature on the subject. The book has five major parts: Part One deals with development thought and development assistance; Part Two looks at the relationship between donors and recipients; Part Three evaluates the use of aid by sector; Part Four presents country case-studies; and Part Five synthesizes the lessons from development assistance. Part One of the book is very informative in that it summarises very concisely the theoretical underpinnings of the aid process. In the beginning, aid was thought to be the answer to underdevelopment which could be achieved by a transfer of capital from the rich to the poor. This approach, however, did not succeed as it was simplistic. Capital transfers were not sufficient in themselves to bring about development, as research in this area came to reveal. The development process is a complicated one, with inputs from all sectors of the economy. Thus, it came to be recognized that factors such as low literacy rates, poor health facilities, and lack of social infrastructure are also responsible for economic backwardness. Part One of the book, therefore, sums up appropriately the various trends in development thought. This is important because the book deals primarily with the issue of the effectiveness of aid as a catalyst to further economic development.

Concept of Power Decentralization in Political Science and Approaches to its Methodological Study

2017 ◽  
pp. 229-235
Author(s):  
Halyna Kuzub
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Moral Education ◽  
Symbolic Interactionism ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Perfect State ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Structural Functionalism

The problem of power decentralization is up to date in a modern political science. We can trace its historical genesis first in European and further in the USA political ideas. Decentralization of power was considered along with the study of a perfect state system, civil society and local self-government. It is argued that the major part of successful process of power decentralization in the Western Europe was due to the idea nature for their political culture. The article attempts to retrace the history of the idea of power decentralization. As a background of the investigations of such thinkers as J. Bodin, J. Althusius, J. Locke, J.-J. Rousseau, C.-L. Montesquieu, R. Owen, C. Fourier, J. S.Mill, T. Jefferson, A. de Tocqueville and M. Dragomanov were thoroughly investigated. The paper also considers the modern definitions of power decentralization. Likewise the value of structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism and constructivism are argued in terms of further surveys of power decentralization. To conclude, the author opines that civil servants training, their theoretical teaching and moral education have to become the main objectives in perspective investigations. Furthermore, the success of power decentralization depends not only on devoting authority by central government, but also on capacity of its implementation by deputies on the local level. Keywords: Decentralization of power, deconcentration of power, administrative and political decentralization, classical and non-classical philosophy, structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, construc-tivism

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