Basic needs budgets in policy and practice

2020 ◽  
pp. 291-306
Author(s):  
Gordon M. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Reference Group ◽  
Basic Needs ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Us ◽  
Budget Standards

This chapter takes up the history and development of standard “basic needs” budgets in the US. It explains in detail why the focus remains only on basic survival needs in the US context. It also points out how basic needs budgets are largely left to state governments and their agencies in order to develop family budget standards for their state in the absence of national action by the federal government. The chapter illustrates the overwhelming lack of economic security and social protection in the US, which caused many households to struggle in coping with incomes below the most basic of living standards. It mentions a new poverty line that comprises of an allowance for food, clothing, and shelter, which would be updated annually based on changes in the consumption of necessities by a reference group of families in the general population.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Max M. Edling
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
State System ◽  
State Governments ◽  
American Founding ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Constitution ◽  
American State

In recent years a new Unionist interpretation of the American founding has presented the US Constitution as a compact of union between sovereign states, which allowed them to maintain interstate peace and to act in unison as a single nation vis-à-vis other nations in the international state-system. Such an understanding of the American founding argues that the Constitution created a bisected American state divided into a federal government in charge of international and intraunion affairs and state governments in charge of promoting socioeconomic development and maintaining civic rights. The introduction provides an overview of different interpretations of the founding and of the structure of the book.

scholarly journals Why Is Family-Oriented Organ Transplantation Policy and Practice Necessary for Bangladesh?

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Md. Sanwar Siraj
Keyword(s):  
Organ Transplantation ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The West ◽  
Secular Culture ◽  
The Us ◽  
Familial Bonds ◽  
The Government ◽  
Close Relatives

In the West, in countries such as the US and UK, people are equally encouraged to donate organs both to their relatives and nonrelatives. In practice, although family is the priority in the US and UK, anybody can donate organs to anyone else lawfully. Contrastingly, in Bangladesh, people are only legally allowed to donate organs for transplantation to close relatives. Bangladesh’s living organ transplantation policy and practice is in stark contrast with the Western secular biomedical perspective. In this artcile, I address that the notion of individual freedom and liberty in regard to the donation of organs for transplantation in the West is consistent with secular culture and biomedical perspectives, but such biomedical policy and practice is at odds with the Bangladeshi Muslim culture, socio-economic reality and biomedical perspective. As Bangladesh is a family-oriented collective society, the kinship relation and strong familial bonds may encourage relatives into donating organs to a patient. More than 20% of people still live below the poverty line, and the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed poor people into extreme poverty. The practice of allowing unrelated altruistic donors as is done in the West and Iran, or even in the special circumstance in Paksitan, the act of donating organs will comprehensievly increase organ trade in Bangladesh, which in turn will cause more harms than benefits. This study conludes that the government should uphold family-oriented biomedical policy and practice in Bangladesh until poverty is eliminated. It implies that patients who do not have close relatives, or whose poetntial relative donors are medically unsuitable for transplantations should wait for deceased organs for transplantation.    

An introduction to minimum income standards and reference budgets: international and comparative policy perspectives

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-24
Author(s):  
Christopher Deeming
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Accessible Information ◽  
Protection Systems ◽  
Social Protection Systems ◽  
Budget Standards ◽  
Reference Budgets

This chapter gives an overview of the research in developing “minimum income standards” and “family budget standards,” “indicative budgets” and “standard budgets.” It analyzes goods and services that are considered necessary to reach a minimum standard of living for an individual or household within a given country context, region, or city. It also brings together up-to-date and accessible information and analysis in an effort to raise the profile and understanding of reference budget research. The chapter places minimum income standards at the heart of global social policy debates that focus on strengthening social protection systems. It also discusses reference budgets and minimum income standards research, covering different methodologies and approaches in relation to the implementation of policy and practice.

scholarly journals Risk of Retrogression in Social Rights and Reduction of Brazilian Public Policies

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (s1) ◽  
pp. s94-s95
Author(s):  
Maria Isabel Barros Bellini ◽  
Rodollfo de Bellini e Soares
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Black Population ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
The Creation

Introduction:Brazil has 200 million descendants of African, Portuguese, Indigenous, German, Italian, and other peoples who have built their identities. The Federal Constitution was rewritten in 1988 to include a Social Protection System. Between 2000 and 2016, the federal government was governed by the Workers’ Party. This party invested in the creation of inclusive public policies and affirmative actions built through collective processes of citizenship that guaranteed better living conditions for the population. In one decade, it went from being underdeveloped to developing. In 2016, the elected president of the Workers’ Party was withdrawn from power through impeachment. In the next election, right-wing conservatives excluded speech, attacked minorities (e.g. LGBT population), and defended the traditional family.Aim:To understand the retreat of Brazilian public policies in a country that set public social policies, compensatory policies, and affirmative actions guaranteeing citizenship of men and women.Methods:Qualitative research with analysis and reflection on the regression of universalist public policies and affirmative policies with the creation of quotas.Results:The creation of affirmative actions was guaranteed. Vacancies in public tenders for the black population led to the establishment of 50% quotas for blacks in universities, and the creation of a universal health system, or universal expanded health indicators. The federal government created a group of SUS analysis by reducing actions.Discussion:Social inequality in Brazil is one of the worst in the world. 16 million people live below the poverty line (OXFAM, 2017). In recent decades, the population that was expanding and strengthening access to services, health, education, and social assistance network has seen a reduction of public policies. The importance of research that points to this reduction of rights is fundamental for documenting what has already been achieved.

scholarly journals Food Insecurity and COVID-19: Disparities in Early Effects for US Adults

Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia A. Wolfson ◽  
Cindy W. Leung
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Basic Needs ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
The United States ◽  
Household Food Security ◽  
The Us ◽  
Federal Poverty Line ◽  
Early Effects

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased food insecurity in the United States (US). The objective of this study was to understand the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic among low-income adults in the US as social distancing measures began to be implemented. On 19–24 March 2020 we fielded a national, web-based survey (53% response rate) among adults with <250% of the federal poverty line in the US (N = 1478). Measures included household food security status and COVID-19-related basic needs challenges. Overall, 36% of low-income adults in the US were food secure, 20% had marginal food security, and 44% were food insecure. Less than one in five (18.8%) of adults with very low food security reported being able to comply with public health recommendations to purchase two weeks of food at a time. For every basic needs challenge, food-insecure adults were significantly more likely to report facing that challenge, with a clear gradient effect based on severity of food security. The short-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are magnifying existing disparities and disproportionately affecting low-income, food-insecure households that already struggle to meet basic needs. A robust, comprehensive policy response is needed to mitigate food insecurity as the pandemic progresses.

Internal Police

2021 ◽  
pp. 75-104
Author(s):  
Max M. Edling
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
The State ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Police Powers ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Constitution ◽  
Domestic Affairs ◽  
American Union ◽  
Shed Light

The US Constitution reserved to the member-states of the American federal union the power to regulate their internal police. Now largely forgotten, but much in use in the decades surrounding the American founding, the term internal police described an extensive range of activities that eighteenth-century states did to regulate their societies and their economies. By recovering the illusive meaning of internal police and by studying how the Constitution distributed internal police powers between Congress and the state governments, it is possible to shed light on how the Constitution divided political authority between the states and the federal government in the American union. The analysis in this chapter shows that under the Constitution, domestic affairs in the early United States was overwhelmingly meant to be regulated by the state governments and not the federal government.

scholarly journals Industrial legislation in Australia, 2020

2021 ◽  
pp. 002218562110082
Author(s):  
Eugene Schofield-Georgeson
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
State Governments ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wage Theft ◽  
Economic Stimulus ◽  
Liberal Government

In 2020, the Federal Morrison Liberal Government scrambled to respond to the effects of the international coronavirus pandemic on the Australian labour market in two key ways. First, through largescale social welfare and economic stimulus (the ‘JobKeeper’ scheme) and second, through significant proposed reform to employment laws as part of a pandemic recovery package (the ‘Omnibus Bill’). Where the first measure was administered by employers, the second was largely designed to suspend and/or redefine labour protections in the interests of employers. In this respect, the message from the Federal Government was clear: that the costs of pandemic recovery should be borne by workers at the discretion of employers. State Labor Governments, by contrast, enacted a range of industrial protections. These included the first Australia ‘wage theft’ or underpayment frameworks on behalf of both employees and contractors in the construction industry. On-trend with state industrial legislation over the past 4 years, these state governments continued to introduce industrial manslaughter offences, increased access to workers’ compensation, labour hire licensing schemes and portable long service leave.

Does psychological empowerment condition the impact of public service motivation on perceived organizational performance? Evidence from the US federal government

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232110089
Author(s):  
Jae Young Lim ◽  
Kuk-Kyoung Moon ◽  
Robert K. Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Psychological Empowerment ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Work Related ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Federal Government ◽  
The Impact

Although the relationships between public service motivation and work-related outcomes are contingent on an employee’s psychological state, little empirical evidence exists on whether psychological empowerment conditions the relationship between public service motivation and perceived organizational performance in public organizations. This study addresses this gap by examining data from the 2010 US Merit Principles Survey on psychological empowerment’s moderating role between public service motivation and the perceived achievement of organizational goals, as well as the perceived quality of work-unit products and services in the US federal government. First, the findings indicate that public service motivation and psychological empowerment improve both of these perceived organizational performance measures. Second, the findings indicate that the link between public service motivation and perceived organizational performance is slightly enhanced when public employees feel more psychologically empowered. Points for practitioners This article offers practical lessons for practitioners who are concerned about improving organizational performance. Emphasizing the importance of psychological empowerment in strengthening the link between public service motivation and perceived organizational performance, the article suggests a critical need to cultivate psychological empowerment in the public sector, which has been under heavy pressure to do more with less in a rapidly changing environment.

scholarly journals Renewable Energy Federalism in Germany and the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Johannes Saurer ◽  
Jonas Monast
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
The Us ◽  
Legal Structures ◽  
Cooperative Federalism ◽  
Energy Expansion

Abstract The Federal Republic of Germany and the United States (US) have adopted different models for energy federalism. Germany allocates more authority to the federal government and the US relies on a decentralized cooperative federalism model that preserves key roles for state actors. This article explores and compares the relevance of federal legal structures for renewable energy expansion in both countries. It sets out the constitutional, statutory, and factual foundations in both Germany and the US, and explores the legal and empirical dimensions of renewable energy expansion at the federal and state levels. The article concludes by drawing several comparative lessons about the significance of federal structures for energy transition processes.

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