How partisan politics influence government policies in response to ageing populations

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yesola Kweon ◽  
Kohei Suzuki
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Public Expenditure ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Elderly Populations ◽  
Pension Coverage ◽  
Political Incentive ◽  
Ageing Populations

Since old-age programmes mitigate life-course risks that are relevant to individuals across socio-economic groups in ageing societies, all parties have a political incentive to support these initiatives. Nevertheless, pre-existing partisan commitments bind the policy instruments that parties use. Cabinet-level analyses of OECD economies demonstrate that left incumbency relies more on public expenditure than right-wing governments. What is more important is that, in the context of large elderly populations, pension coverage is greater under right-leaning governments, while pension replacement rates are higher in left-leaning governments. This shows that party behaviour related to life course-related policies cannot be explained by the conventional pro-expansion versus the pro-retrenchment partisan politics. Rather, a focus on partisan variation in the use of policy instruments is required.

Reviewing Policies after the English Riots

2012 ◽  
pp. 138-154
Author(s):  
Richard Ennals
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
European Perspective ◽  
Ageing Workforce ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Life Course

At a time of change and disorder, this article argues that the whole range of government policies need to be reviewed, and reconceptualised in terms of generations and relations between generations. This article concentrates on the UK, from a European perspective, and with particular reference to the Scandinavian Model. In the context of crisis, new initiatives are required, taking account of transitions during the life course, relations between generations, and sustainability. The perspective of the Ageing Workforce casts light across the spectrum of policy areas. It is a moving picture, not a snapshot.

Government Policy and Equality of Income Distribution in the Netherlands (1945-1986)

1992 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Van Wijngaarden
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Social Security System ◽  
Personal Income ◽  
Security System ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Income Differentials

Inequality of income distribution in the Netherlands has since 1945 strongly been influenced by government policies. Until the end of the 1970s, governments pursued policies designed to reduce income differentials. The most important results were the construction of a social security system and the attainment of greater equality in the sphere of personal income distribution. In the 1980s, these policies were reversed. The earning discrepancies between groups of gainfully employed and the gap between the employed and unemployed were growing. There were drastic cuts in social security. In this paper, the most important instruments, policy instruments, and objectives, and their results are analyzed.

scholarly journals Policy Change and Partisan Politics: Understanding Family Policy Differentiation in Two Similar Countries

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita León ◽  
Emmanuele Pavolini ◽  
Joan Miró ◽  
Antonino Sorrenti
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Traditional Norms ◽  
Case Design

Abstract This article looks at how different electoral competition dynamics can result in differentiated party positioning on childcare and family policy. Italy and Spain are compared using a most similar case design. The presence of women in politics, the socioeconomic profiles of the voters of the two main left-wing and right-wing Italian and Spanish parties, and opinions on traditional norms of motherhood explain different policy trajectories and higher incentives for the conservative party in Spain to converge toward the social democratic party in more progressive views of family policy.

Precarious life, human development and the life course: critical intersections

2020 ◽  
pp. 41-66
Author(s):  
Stephen Katz
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Older Adult ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Obese Child ◽  
Cognitively Impaired ◽  
Historical Texts ◽  
Popular Images ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Ageing Populations

This chapter explores the critical intersections between ageing, human development, and the life course as precarious forms of life. The first part reviews the literature on global precarity and the endangerment of liveability in relation to ageing populations, with a focus on neoliberal strategies that naturalise and individualise risky life-course trajectories and health crises. The second part examines selected figures of the obese child, unstable adolescent, despairing mid-lifer, and cognitively impaired older adult as examples of crisis-laden personifications of social problems. Data are drawn from historical texts, popular images and professional knowledges. Conclusions revisit the work of Butler and Foucault to raise questions about current models of resilience and the possibilities of resistance and living differently.

Rethinking the Governance of Technology in the Digital Age

2021 ◽  
pp. 686-701
Author(s):  
Joëlle Webb
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Security Risks ◽  
Law Enforcement Officials ◽  
Governance Institutions

The present chapter argues that, to harness the benefits of technology in the digital age, while mitigating the inherent security risks, it has become more pressing than ever to break down siloes between expert communities. Top-down governance alone cannot address all the security risks. Greater attention needs to be paid to horizontal governance mechanisms that bring together policymakers, the private sector, communities of users, law enforcement officials, and scientists. A holistic approach calls for an equal focus on anticipating the risks, seeking to prevent their occurrence, and building systemic capacities to recover from them. The chapter starts by discussing two illustrative security dilemmas—the first is about publishing scientific knowledge in the digital age and the second is the challenge posed by additive manufacturing. It then examines the limits of regulatory approaches to the proliferation of technologies of concern. Next, it presents an argument for an adaptation of norms, policy instruments, and governance institutions to enable societies to continue to enjoy the benefits of science and technology, while mitigating their risks. It concludes by giving examples of horizontal governance mechanisms that bring together policymakers, communities of users, law enforcement officials, and scientists, and by suggesting that such models should become more commonplace to inform government policies.

scholarly journals Combining economic policy instruments with desalinisation to reduce overdraft in the Spanish Alto Guadalentín aquifer

Water Policy ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Martínez-Granados ◽  
Javier Calatrava
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Public Expenditure ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Environmental Tax ◽  
Public Budget ◽  
The Public ◽  
Aquifer Depletion ◽  
Political Cost ◽  
The Cost

This paper analyses the cost-effectiveness of combining several economic policy instruments to address the problem of non-renewable pumping in the Alto Guadalentín aquifer in southeastern Spain, one of the most extreme cases of aquifer depletion in Europe. Our results show that all instruments have significant economic impacts. However, the future availability of desalinisation would notably mitigate these impacts, as farmers can substitute groundwater with desalinised water. Although a complete ban on non-renewable pumping and an environmental tax on withdrawals imply the lowest level of public expenditure, they are very unpopular and have a large political cost. The buyback of groundwater rights and the subsidisation of desalinisation in exchange for reducing withdrawals are likely to be much better received by farmers, as their cost would be charged to the public budget. A combination of instruments would split the cost of aquifer recovery between farmers and the administration and would therefore possibly not meet with as much opposition from stakeholders.

The Partisan Politics of Counterterrorism: Reputations, Policy Transparency, and Electoral Outcomes

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Livio Di Lonardo
Keyword(s):  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Theoretic Model ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Electoral Outcomes ◽  
Important Concern ◽  
Game Theoretic ◽  
Counterterrorism Policy

The prevention of terrorist attacks is an important concern for many governments. In democracies, officials also fear the electoral consequences of successful attacks. As a result, counterterrorism policy-making and electoral concerns are tightly intertwined. To understand the implications of this link, I develop a game-theoretic model and show that left-wing incumbents respond to terror threats more aggressively than their right-wing counterparts in order to convince voters that they can be trusted in fighting terrorism. Terrorist attacks improve right-wing incumbents’ reputation, while they worsen the reputation of left-wing incumbents. When the terrorist threat is high, voters ignore right-wing incumbents’ reputation, reelecting them independently of their performance. Finally, I consider the strategic consequences of maintaining counterterrorism policies hidden from the public eye.

The electoral advantage of the left in times of fiscal adjustment

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abel Bojar
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
National Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Fiscal Adjustment ◽  
Exit Options ◽  
Cross National

Despite widely held views on fiscal adjustment as a political minefield for government parties, the empirical literature on the issue has been surprisingly inconclusive. A crucial variable that has been often overlooked in the debate is partisan politics. Building on the micro-logic of Albert Hirschman’s ‘exit, voice, and loyalty’ framework, this article offers a novel theoretical perspective on the conditioning impact of partisan government in the electoral arena. Due to their more limited exit options at their disposal, left-wing voters are less likely to inflict electoral punishment on their parties, offering the latter an electoral advantage over their right-wing rivals. Relying on the largest cross-national data set to date on the evolution of close to 100 parties’ popularity ratings in 21 democracies, time-series–cross-section results confirm this electoral advantage. Somewhat paradoxically, while center-right government parties systematically lose popularity in years of fiscal adjustment, no such regularity is found for left-leaning incumbents.

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