scholarly journals The Trade-Offs of Welfare Policies in Labor Markets with Informal Jobs: The Case of the “Seguro Popular” Program in Mexico

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 71-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariano Bosch ◽  
Raymundo M. Campos-Vazquez
Keyword(s):  
Health Coverage ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Seguro Popular ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Mexican Government ◽  
Medium Firms

In 2002, the Mexican government began an effort to improve health access to the 50 million uninsured in Mexico, a program known as Seguro Popular (SP). The SP offered virtually free health insurance to informal workers, altering the incentives to operate in the formal economy. We find that the SP program had a negative effect on the number of employers and employees formally registered in small and medium firms (up to 50 employees). Our results suggest that the positive gains of expanding health coverage should be weighed against the implications of the reallocation of labor away from the formal sector. (JEL E26, I13, I18, I38, J46, O15, O17)

scholarly journals Immigration, Wages and Employment under Informal Labor Markets

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Delgado-Prieto
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Informal Labor ◽  
Wage Effect ◽  
Wage Effects ◽  
Market Impacts ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Informal Labor Markets ◽  
High Degree

This paper studies the labor market impacts of a massive inflow of Venezuelans in Colombia. By comparing areas that received different shares of migrants, I find a negative effect on wages and on local employment for natives. The negative wage effect is driven by a large drop of wages in the informal sector, where migrants are mostly employed, while the negative employment effect is driven by a reduction of employment in the formal sector, where the minimum wage is binding. To explain these results, I develop a model in which firms hire formal and informal workers with different costs. If these workers have a high degree of substitutability, and wages for formal workers are rigid, firms reallocate formal to informal employment as a response to lower informal wages. In settings with informal labor markets migration can therefore lead to asymmetric employment and wage effects across the informal and formal sectors.

scholarly journals Cakupan Kesehatan Universal (UHC) Pekerja Sektor Informal di Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 556-572
Author(s):  
Dodi Satriawan ◽  
Agus Joko Pitoyo ◽  
Sri Rum Giyarsih
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Single Frequency ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive

Health insurance receives a great deal of attention in the SDG’s, where one of its main targets is to guarantee a healthy life and to encourage welfare for all people of all ages or later to be called Universal Health Coverage (UHC). In Indonesia there are more informal workers than formal sector workers, but almost half of informal sector workers work without health insurance protection. This study aims to determine the achievement of UHC in terms of ownership of health insurance for informal sector workers. The database used in this study was sourced from SUSENAS 2018. Data processing and analysis techniques were carried out in a quantitative descriptive form of a single frequency table and a cross table. The results showed that based on socio-economic and demographic characteristics, Indonesian informal sector workers were dominated by men, living in rural areas, being married, being heads of households (KRT) and their partners, aged 18-44 years, having a population registration number (NIK) ), only completed the highest level of basic education, worked in industrial businesses, had no health complaints, was in households with the lowest 40 percent economic status, and did not self-medicate when ill. The study also found that there was still considerable variation in the achievement of UHC between provinces in Indonesia. When viewed by province, Aceh is the province with the highest percentage of health insurance ownership or UHC reaching 94.77 percent. Meanwhile West Kalimantan is the province with the lowest percentage of health insurance ownership, which is only 40.73 percent.

scholarly journals Social Security Enrollment as an Indicator of State Fragility and Legitimacy: A Field Experiment in Maghreb Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 266
Author(s):  
Walid Merouani ◽  
Claire El Moudden ◽  
Nacer Eddine Hammouda
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Discrete Choice Models ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Social Security Systems ◽  
State Fragility ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Informal Labor ◽  
State Legitimacy

State legitimacy and effectiveness can be observed in the state’s approach to delivering welfare to citizens, thus mitigating social grievances and avoiding conflicts. Social security systems in the Maghreb countries are relatively similar in their architecture and aim to provide social insurance to all the workers in the labor market. However, they suffer from the same main problem: a low rate of enrollment of workers. Many workers (employees and self-employed) work informally without any social security coverage. The issue of whether informal jobs are chosen voluntarily by workers or as a strategy of last resort is controversial. Many authors recognize that the informal sector is heterogeneous and assume that it is made up of (1) workers who voluntarily choose it, and (2) others who are pushed into it because of entry barriers to the formal sector. The former assumption tells us much about state legitimacy/attractiveness, and the latter is used to inform state effectiveness in delivering welfare. Using the Sahwa survey and discrete choice models, this article confirms the heterogeneity of the informal labor market in three Maghreb countries: Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Furthermore, this article highlights the profiles of workers who voluntarily choose informality, an aspect that is missing from previous studies. Finally, this article proposes policy recommendations in order to extend social security to informal workers and to include them in the formal labor market.

The Informal Economy and Social Programs in Mexico: A Critique

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-145
Author(s):  
Tamar Diana Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Informal Economy ◽  
Social Protest ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Social Programs ◽  
Transfer Program ◽  
Seguro Popular ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Capital Humano

In the wake of neoliberal reforms that devastated the country, Mexico and the World Bank converged on providing at least two social programs in the guise of “humanitarian” capitalism. Progresa, also known as Oportunidades and more recently Prospera, involves a workfare-based cash transfer program aimed at enhancing the human capital of future generations. The program has been criticized for its exploitation of the work of mothers. Seguro Popular involves extending basic health care to those employed in the informal economy. Both, with all their weaknesses and exploitative aspects, serve the function of providing skills and enhanced health status to the subproletariat in the hope that a competitive formal economy will expand and employ them; they are also intended to mute social protest. A raíz de las reformas neoliberales que devastaron el país, México y el Banco Mundial acordaron la creación de por lo menos dos programas sociales disfrazados como capitalismo “humanitario.” Progresa, también conocido como Oportunidades y más recientemente Prospera, es un programa de asistencia de transferencia de efectivo dirigido a mejorar el capital humano de futuras generaciones, y ha sido criticado por explotar el trabajo materno. El Seguro Popular extiende servicios de atención de salud básica a los empleados en la economía informal. Ambos, con todas sus debilidades y características explotadoras, tienen por objeto mejorar las habilidades y estado de salud del sub-proletariado, con la esperanza de que se amplíe una economía competitiva formal que los emplee. También buscan silenciar las protestas sociales.

Generating Competitive Advantages for the Polytechnic Universities in Mexico

2019 ◽  
pp. 477-507
Author(s):  
Lizbeth Vargas-Cabrera ◽  
Jesus Manuel Muñoz-Pacheco
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Educational Services ◽  
Opportunity Costs ◽  
Competitive Advantages ◽  
Sustainable Competitive Advantage ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Mexican Government

This chapter proposes an analytical framework to understand the trade-offs of a firm dedicated to educational services for creating and sustaining a superior performance respect to its competitors. The proposed approach focuses on polytechnic universities as the firm understudy. Based on a statistical data from Mexican government, the five forces of Porter methodology is applied to found the clients, suppliers, new entrants, substitutes, and rivalry of the Polytechnic University of Puebla (PUP). In this scenario, the existing strengths are detected and the target of the firm to get a sustainable competitive advantage is defined. Finally, the strategies to break the barriers are proposed. The authors argue that by using those strategies the wedge between willing to pay of the clients and the opportunity costs of the suppliers can be improved. Additionally, they argue that the positioning (consolidation and reputation) of the PUP is achieved by applying the proposed strategies.

Politics, Social Welfare Policy, and the Population Problem in Latin America

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Malloy ◽  
Silvia Borzutzky
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Population Problem ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Social Security Programs ◽  
Negative Effect

This paper examines the interaction between social welfare policies and the “population problem” in Latin America. It demonstrates that social security programs, by reinforcing highly unequal patterns of stratification, have had a largely negative effect on population issues in the region. Social security policy in turn is analyzed as a particular political adaptation to the realities of dependent capitalist development. As a result, the population problem in Latin America is viewed less as a product of mindless demographic forces than as a politically induced reality stemming from the accumulated impact and negative consequences of a variety of consciously formulated public policies.

scholarly journals The effect of a community-based health insurance on the out-of-pocket payments for utilizing medically trained providers in Bangladesh

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 287-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jahangir A M Khan ◽  
Sayem Ahmed ◽  
Marufa Sultana ◽  
Abdur Razzaque Sarker ◽  
Sanchita Chakrovorty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Quality Healthcare ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Community Based Health Insurance ◽  
Out Of Pocket Payments ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Case Comparison ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Abstract Background We aimed to estimate the effect of the community-based health insurance (CBHI) scheme on the magnitude of out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for the healthcare of the informal workers and their dependents. The CBHI scheme was piloted through a cooperative of informal workers, which covered seven unions in Chandpur Sadar Upazila, Bangladesh. Methods A quasi-experimental study was conducted using a case-comparison design. In total 1292 (646 insured and 646 uninsured) households were surveyed. Propensity score matching was done to minimize the observed baseline differences in the characteristics between the insured and uninsured groups. A two-part regression model was applied using both the probability of OOP spending and magnitude of such spending for healthcare in assessing the association with enrolment status in the CBHI scheme while controlling for other covariates. Results The OOP payment was 6.4% (p < 0.001) lower for medically trained provider (MTP) utilization among the insured compared with the uninsured. However, no significant difference was found in the OOP payments for healthcare utilization from all kind of providers, including the non-trained ones. Conclusions The CBHI scheme could reduce OOP payments while providing better quality healthcare through the increased use of MTPs, which consequently could push the country towards universal health coverage.

scholarly journals Immigration and Support for Social Policy: An Experimental Comparison of Universal and Means-Tested Programs

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (04) ◽  
pp. 717-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordi Muñoz ◽  
Sergi Pardos-Prado
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Experimental Comparison ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Welfare State

A growing body of research suggests that immigration undermines native support for the welfare state. However, the mechanisms behind this relationship and the possible moderating effects of institutions remain inconclusive. In this study, we identify via survey experiments how means-tested programs and targeted spending exacerbate the negative effect of immigration on public support for redistribution. Our findings suggest that different institutional settings can attach different weights to identity considerations across the whole socio-economic spectrum. We conclude by discussing the implications of our results for previous contradictory findings in the literature, and for the effectiveness of welfare policies in times of increasing ethnic diversity.

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