scholarly journals UNRAVELING THE (INTRINSIC) LINKAGE BETWEEN SOCIAL SPENDING AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS FOR EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kostas RONTOS ◽  
Maria-Eleni SYRMALI ◽  
Luca SALVATI

Theoretical approaches and place-specific solutions are required to face with the intrinsic linkage between social welfare and macroeconomic stability in advanced economies, especially in Europe. In this regard, the 2007 recession has influenced extensively the wide spectrum of social policies applicable in the European Community. New socioeconomic divides emerged and fiscal austerity urged Member States to resettle policy discourses, advancing social needs in a more effective way. In line with this evidence, our commentary discusses recent literature and it outlines policy implications of different political, institutional and socioeconomic settings. By analyzing cross-country variations in the shape and extent of welfare policies at the European level, our study evaluates apparent (and latent) performances of welfare systems in a comparative perspective, with a specific focus on Southern European countries. The existence of a latent relationship between social policy expenditures (SPE) and per-capita GDP was demonstrated. However, social expenditures may differ for a given level of income: for instance, Latvia had a lower level of social expenditures given its income level. Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal were clustered together displaying a lower share of social spending in the total GDP in respect with the remaining European countries. This comparison suggests how Mediterranean countries are institutionally fragile and with a moderately higher level of corruption in respect with North-western countries. The results of this work contribute to bridge the semantic dichotomy between theoretical approaches and empirical findings in socioeconomic policy impact analysis.

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 7-21
Author(s):  
Tuncer Govdeli ◽  
Esra Karakuş Umar

The role of the state within the neoliberal system is discussed in the approaches developed for social expenditures. Accordingly, the question of whether the state should stand back or provide the support needed by individuals has shaped the literaturę on social expenditures. It is thought that the increase in social expenditures affects public expenditures, and public expenditures may indirectly cause budget deficits. In addition, it is said that there is a decrease in social spending during periods of economic growth. All these dilemmas show that the idea that the country needs both producers and consumers while realizing economic growth has been pushed into the background. Here, the analyses of the relationship between social spending and economic growth are the arguments for the accuracy of this assumption. The aim of this study is to empirically analyze the long-term relationship between the economic growth and social expenditures of eight Central European countries and the causality relationship for 1999 and 2019. In the empirical findings, the cointegration relationship was determined between economic growth and social spending. Based on the findings of the causality analysis, it has been concluded that there is a bidirectional causality relationship between economic growth and social expenditures. Policy proposals are given in the conclusion section of the article.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1146-1170 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC BONSANG ◽  
ARTHUR VAN SOEST

ABSTRACTThis paper analyses the determinants of satisfaction with daily activities among retirees aged 65 years or older in 11 European countries. We use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe on self-assessed satisfaction with daily activities and anchoring vignettes to correct for potential differences in response scales across countries and socio-demographic groups. On average, retired Europeans appear to be satisfied with their daily activities, but there are large differences across countries: respondents from Northern countries tend to be more satisfied than individuals from Central European or Mediterranean countries. Our analysis shows that correcting for response scale differentials alters the country ranking for satisfaction with daily activities but hardly affects the conclusions on the factors driving within-country differences between socio-demographic groups.


2021 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 284-287
Author(s):  
O.O. Kukshynova ◽  
A. O. Samoilenko

This article highlights the impact of international law on the global process of illegal migration, reveals a number of international problems related to international migration, in particular by sea, identifies the main factors influencing illegal migration in general, indicates the state of illegal migration in various European Union countries. attention is paid to such important international legal instruments as the Schengen Agreement of 1985 and 1990, the Dublin Convention of 1990, the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 and the Treaty of Amsterdam of 1997. The article also focuses on the European Union agency, which deals with the protection of external borders and their protection from illegal migrants, in particular, by sea.The analysis of theoretical and practical aspects of combating illegal migration by sea at the international level, as well as in the development of scientific and theoretical approaches to solving migration problems, characterizes the legal regulation of combating illegal migration by maritime transport and maritime participation established intergovernmental bodies. The main tools of the European Union to combat illegal migration by sea, which can be used to improve the legal regulation of migration authorities of other countries, as well as substantiate the organizational and legal framework of European countries in the field of legal support to combat illegal migration by sea.The actions of European states represented by the relevant state bodies in solving the problems of illegal migration with the help of merchant fleets of European countries are studied. The article pays attention to the influence of illegal migration on the formation and change of legal awareness of society, as the beginning of the formation of criminogenic factors among illegal migrants in the host country.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris V. Makogon ◽  
Mihail I. Nikulin ◽  
Valerij N. Samsonov ◽  
Marina A. Sorokoletova ◽  
Olesya O. Tovstukha

This article examines the theoretical approaches and legislative decisions of the Eastern European states’ cocerning the purposes and principles of administrative proceedings. Based on the analysis of relevant scientific works and legislation, it has been concluded that both the objectives of administrative proceedings and its principles relate to the human rights and freedoms. At the same time, the doctrinally articulated objectives do not find their systematic reflection in the legislation, and the principles are a universal legal element that determines the relationships between the executive authorities and citizens.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 1409-1435
Author(s):  
BEN SPIES-BUTCHER ◽  
ADAM STEBBING

ABSTRACTEconomists typically argue population ageing generates fiscal pressures by restricting the tax base while increasing demands for social spending. Alongside other economic pressures associated with neoliberalism, this dynamic contributes to a politics of ‘enduring austerity’ that limits governments’ fiscal discretion. The politics of population ageing reflects modelling techniques, such as generational accounting (GA), which, anticipating future deficits, create demands for policy action today to address projected intergenerational inequalities. Taking Australia as a case study, this paper explores the politics of GA in public budgetary processes. While existing critiques reject GA by arguing it relies on ‘apocalyptic’ or unreliable demography, we focus on a different kind of contestation, which applies the techniques and even the categories of GA to frame different problems and promote different solutions. We identify three sites of partisan contest that refocus fiscal modelling: including the tax side of the budget equation; comparing the cost of public provision to public subsidies for private programmes; and including the costs of environmental damage. At each site, the future-orientated logic of GA is mobilised to contest the policy implications of austerity. This complicates analysis that financialisation and neoliberalism necessarily ‘de-politicise’ policy by removing state discretion. Instead, we identify an increasingly important, if technocratic, form of political contestation that offers the possibility to promote more egalitarian responses to population ageing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 56-62
Author(s):  
Elvira Gromilina ◽  

The problem of urban planning in the context of globalization and the intensification of urban growth is considered in the context of sustainable development. Under UN-Habitat regulations, urban development must be in line with five principles: compactness, high density, mixed use, variety, limited land-use specialization. Compact urban development is a model for sustainable urban development, based on the synergy of three main dimensions: social, economic and environmental. In contrast to the approach to territorial zoning, the compact city model pays attention not only to the development of mixed land use, but also to social needs in places of employment, leisure, recreation, as well as the need for economic resources. In order to identify strategies for designing a sustainable architectural and planning structure, theoretical approaches to the practice of urban planning are investigated. Implementation of the provisions of UN-Habitat is aimed at reducing energy consumption and harmful emissions, preserving biodiversity, reducing the cost of infrastructure and increasing labor productivity, which helps to achieve a balance of social, economic and environmental goals of sustainable development.


2020 ◽  
pp. 52-89
Author(s):  
Ferdinand Eibl

This chapter provides an analytical overview of welfare provision in labour· abundant MENA regimes. Organized in sections by country and covering the period from regime formation until the late 2000s, the chapter pays particular attention to spending levels and the accessibility of social policies, and maps the eigbt regimes onto the three different pathways of welfare provision outlined in Chapter I. It draws on a combination of historical reports and statistics, available secondary accounts, and a novel dataset on social expenditures developed from archival material of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It also diversifies the picture by examining policies of education, health, and social protection separately. The chapter lays important groundwork for further analyses and gives a more complete sense of social policy regimes beyond the social spending figures presented in Chapter I.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Marcellusi ◽  
Chiara Bini ◽  
Massimo Andreoni ◽  
Loredana Sarmati ◽  
Jaime Espin ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 6722
Author(s):  
Shenghua Zhou ◽  
S. Thomas Ng ◽  
Dezhi Li ◽  
Jiankun Zhang ◽  
Jie Fan ◽  
...  

China currently has an elderly population of 249 million with over 97% of them ending up aging in place. Although various regional pilot programs have been conducted, a sustainable aging-in-place system has not been established to effectively and efficiently provide aging services in many cities of China. The characteristics of stakeholder networks in the aging-in-place systems have not attracted great attention from researchers. This research applies social network analysis to characterize the interactions of stakeholders in aging-in-place systems to facilitate cooperation and coordination amongst them. Using Nanjing as a case study, 23 stakeholders in Nanjing’s aging-in-place system are identified, such as the Aging Affairs Committee, Aging-in-Place Service Association, and aging-in-place service centers; and then the relationship networks of these stakeholders in terms of communication, supervision, and trust are developed and analyzed. The results show that the aging-in-place system suffers from certain defects, including the loose connection of government departments, redundant information channels, low trustworthiness of certain aging-in-place service centers, poor credibility of third-party training and assessment institutions, and excess power of the industry association. To tackle these issues, a wide spectrum of actionable measures applicable to Nanjing’s conditions, as well as high-level policy implications for other cities of China, are proposed for augmenting the communication, supervision, and trust among stakeholder groups.


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