Europeanisation and the Youth Guarantee: The case of France

In 2013, the European Council approved the Youth Guarantee (YG) to counteract youth unemployment. Because of its specific features, the YG is useful for understanding whether the EU has triggered policy change in national youth unemployment policies. Contrary to most of the literature on similar topics, we focused in this study on the effect of this specific European measure rather than on broader EU strategies or policies. The study contributes to the literature by qualifying the degree of fit/misfit and suggesting a counterfactual analysis, using the case of France. We first situate the article within the broader Europeanisation debate and present our research design. The second section introduces the policy structure of the YG and investigates youth unemployment policy in France, prior to and after the European initiative. The third section discusses whether the French youth unemployment policy would have been developed in the same way without the YG. A final section concludes.     

文件治理中的政策采纳及其影响因素研究:基于国家和省级政府政策文本(2008—2018)数据

“文件治国”是中国国家治理的基本表现形态，不同中央政策在各地被采纳与实施的情况也是国家治理问题的核心研究议题。本文尝试突破以往政策扩散研究多只关注特定单项中央政策在各地扩散过程的局限，结合长时段大样本农村政策文本数据，对中央政府2008—2018年发布的多项农村政策在各地的扩散过程进行实证分析，相对系统地考察了中央层面的行政压力和经济激励，以及地方层面的执行能力和内在动力等因素及其交互作用对政策采纳的影响，进而对中国正式政策文件运作的基本过程和内在机制进行探讨。研究显示，自上而下的行政压力越大，经济激励越大，地方层面的执行能力越强，地方政府采纳中央农村政策的概率就越容易显著增加。从交互关系来看，中央政府对农村议题重视程度的提高会减小不同执行能力省份的政策采纳差异，也会减小不同经济激励政策的采纳差异。     

Regional coordination of European environmental policies

Over the last years the European Union (EU) has implemented ambitious climate and energy targets for 2020, i.e. the 2020 Climate and Energy Package (Package), to become a highly efficient, low carbon economy. The Package assigns binding renewable energy sources (RES) target for each EU member countries. Indeed costs to reach Package's targets vary among EU countries, given heterogeneity among regions and different instruments implemented to spur RES deployment. The aim of our paper is to provide a policy tool for EU policy makers in the negotiation process that assigns achievable quantitative targets according to which countries are not inclined to deviate from the agreement.We compute potential extra costs that may arise when some EU countries fail to reach the assigned objective within the Package with reference to RES target. More generally, our simulation model is an instrument that allows EU policy makers to assess incentives that countries might have to participate or not to the environmental agreements. Our analysis shows that partial participation to the Package produces inefficiencies by rising costs for other participating countries to the environmental agreement. Finally, we propose a new policy mechanism based on progressive sanctions for countries that do not meet their national targets, which are proportional to the monetary value of the penalty they impose to the rest of the EU countries with their opportunistic behavior.     

Sickness and disability policies: Reform paths in OECD countries between 1990 and 2014

We analysed sickness and disability policies for the working‐age population in a number of OECD countries, between the years 1990 and 2014. Existing evidence suggests that there has been a broad shift in focus from passive income maintenance to employment incentives and reintegration policies. We have updated detailed policy scores provided by the OECD to estimate model‐based country clusters. Our results indicate that countries have pursued different types of reforms consisting of a combination of integration and compensation measures. The reforms of recent decades have led to the emergence of a distinct cluster of Northern and Continental European countries characterised by a combination of strong employment‐oriented policies and comparatively high social protection levels. An analysis of recent reforms shows a continued expansion of measures that foster employment as well as instances of retrenchment in the compensation dimension. Diversity of policy settings across country groups, however, remains substantial.     

In support of mothers’ employment: limits to policy convergence in the EU?

This article compares 11 Western European countries with respect to public policies that promote the employment of mothers: maternity and parental leave, childcare provisions and family-related tax credits and allowances. The goal of this analysis is to characterise trends in the development of these policies from the mid-1980s to the present and identify the degree of policy convergence in this area of social policy. The process of convergence is analysed along two sets of criteria: the amount and forms of provisions, and the coherence of policies (eligibility, funding mechanisms, locus of regulation and quality control). The analysis is informed by theories of welfare regimes that identify distinctive patterns in which national policies shape the employment of women: general family support, dual-earner families and market-oriented families. Findings of the study reveal limited development towards harmonisation of national social policies. Such resilience of national welfare regimes can be attributed to institutional path dependence, on the one hand, and to minimal EU efforts to harmonise social policies, on the other. The article suggests that integrating markets have so far had a limited effect on social policy development, but that there are positive signs that convergence is possible in the future.     

The Uncertain Convergence of Disability Policies in Western Europe

In the last decades disability has emerged as a key area for European social policy. So far there have been few indications of a general trend towards greater similarity in the disability policies of member states. This paper argues that attempts to promote common approaches and patterns of effort between member states are more likely to succeed in “vacant” sub‐areas of disability policy than in more “crowded” ones. Existing redistributive provisions within income maintenance, employment and independent living are examples of crowded sub‐areas. By contrast, the emerging anti‐discrimination legislation and other forms of market regulation recently introduced by the EU may point towards more vacant policy areas within member states.     

Racial Disparities in Welfare Dependence and Financial Independence: Links to Human Capital,Local Economy,and State Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Policies

This secondary data analysis examined racial disparities in associations betwen welfare dependence/financial independence and human capital, local economy, and state TANF policies. A sample of 6,737 parents was extracted from the public-use data set titled “National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.” Results showed that restrictive TANF policies reduced African Americans’ likelihood of welfare use and increased likelihood of their financial independence. Multinomial logistic results also showed that, among Hispanics, employment growth in neighboring counties promoted welfare use; whereas among Caucasians such growth promoted financial independence. County poverty increased (a) Caucasians’ likelihood of welfare use and (b) Hispanics’ likelihood of being working poor; it decreased Caucasians’ and African Americans’ likelihood of financial independence. Across ethnic groups, education reduced likelihood of welfare use and working poor status; across minority groups, education increased likelihood of financial independence, but among Caucasians it decreased such likelihood. Across ethnic groups, occupational skills hindered dependence and improved odds of employment (regardless of welfare or poverty status). This study concluded the studied TANF policies and job markets were not color-blind. Interventions this study implies include less-restrictive TANF policies, generous support services, TANF staff cultural-competence training, and antidiscrimination rules. Research investigating particular TANF policies’ and services’ effects by ethnicity might prove useful.     

A New Kid in Town? Active Inclusion Elements in European Minimum Income Schemes

This article assesses the current variation in activation strategies directed towards able‐bodied persons of working age relying on a minimum income guarantee in 19 EU member states. First, we argue that the active inclusion notion developed by the European Commission in its Recommendation on the active inclusion of persons excluded from the labour market provides a useful tool to categorize current activation strategies towards minimum income protection (MIP) recipients. Consequently, we assess the empirical viability of active inclusion strategies in a fuzzy set ideal type analysis of purpose‐collected institutional data. We find that there are only few countries where the activation discourse has remained a dead letter. Most countries implement policy measures that aim to discourage benefit dependency among MIP recipients. Nevertheless, behind the realities of activation strategies towards MIP recipients seldom lies the notion of active inclusion as defined by the European Commission. Particularly, many countries focus predominantly on incentives to increase labour market participation rates of MIP recipients, rather than enabling measures.     

Swimming against the tide: why Sweden supports increased labour mobility within and from outside the EU

While the free movement of labour in the EU is generally depicted as a positive feature of the single market, it was also controversial in the debate on EU enlargement. Actors opposing enlargement argued that large waves of migrants from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) would ‘swamp’ Western labour markets, leading to so-called social tourism and increasing xenophobia. Contrary to the developments in other countries, Sweden was one of the only three Member States to immediately open its doors to citizens from the EU accession countries of 2004 and 2007. Sweden has also been one of the few EU countries to actively promote greater liberalisation of labour migration policy for third-country nationals (TCNs) within the EU, and the new Swedish Immigration Law of 2008 dramatically liberalised the TCN labour migration policy and made it more employer-driven. We argue that in order to understand why Sweden has supported increased labour mobility within and from outside of the EU, we need to complement existing explanations by analysing the preferences of the political parties. A two-dimensional analysis focusing on economy and culture provides an understanding of why so-called unholy coalitions of parties in support of liberal labour policies have emerged in Sweden during the 2000s. The article ends with a discussion of lessons learned from the Swedish case and wider implications for rights-based mobility in the EU.     

我国商品住宅价格调控政策效果研究

1998年以来,我国房地产行业发展迅速,并逐步成为国民经济的支柱产业,极大地推动了我国的经济增长。但房价的过快增长也增加了人们的生活压力,并对经济运行造成不利影响。为了抑制房价的过快增长,国家推出了一系列的调控政策,包括金融政策、土地政策和税收政策。2010年政府推出了限购政策,通过抑制需求来控制房价。研究表明:1998至2002年的调控政策取得了较好的效果;2003至2008年调控效果不佳;2008年底至2009年政府并没有对房价进行有力调控;2009年末至2012年初,限购令的效果非常明显。     

振兴东北老工业基地的财税金融支持政策研究

振兴东北老工业基地,在财政政策上,应进一步完善转移支付制度,采取财政参股、财政补贴和财政担保等形式,支持老工业基地的发展。在税收政策上,应加强税收法律法规、管理制度的建设力度,分步实施税收制度改革,实行适当的税收优惠政策。在金融政策上,要用改革和发展的办法化解银行的历史包袱,尽快完善商业银行的经营机制,加快金融创新步伐,推进资本市场的发展,建立和完善振兴东北老工业基地的信用制度与体系以及合理的金融机构组织体系。     

Varieties of liberalism: A comparative analysis of family policy and poverty outcomes across the 50 United States

The United States is generally recognised as an exemplar of liberal policy regime types. However, given evidence of state-level divergence in social policy, this article investigates to what extent such variation is present and relevant in state-level family policy. To this end, we pose a primary and secondary research question. Our primary question is whether varieties of liberalism exist across the 50 states in the United States. Our secondary question is whether these varieties of liberalism correspond to variety in social indicators of families' economic well-being. To answer our primary question, we first construct a family policy index that scores the relative generosity and coverage of state-administered social programmes that contribute to the (de)commodification and (de)familialisation of households with children. We then perform a cluster analysis to group states by shared decommodifying and defamilialising features. To answer our secondary question, we investigate how our family-policy clusters are associated with social indicators of families' financial security. Our findings suggest that varieties of liberalism do, indeed, exist within the United States. With the exception of Vermont, which stands out with respect to its comparatively generous family policies, we classify states into two groups: those with ‘soft’ liberal family policy in states featuring relatively generous and accessible policies and ‘hard’ liberal family policy in states achieving little of either. We find that these differences help explain state-level heterogeneity in levels of economic security among households with children, particularly single-mother households.     

Differences and similarities in monetary benefits for informal care in old and new EU member states

This article presents an overview of the monetary benefits available in the context of long‐term care provided by family or other informal carers in 11 old and 10 new EU member states. All but one country in our sample offer at least some monetary benefits that can be used to help finance informal care. Old EU member states tend to direct benefits to individuals in need of care, whereas new EU member states place more emphasis on benefits for carers. Among new EU member states, monetary benefits are less often means‐tested and tend to be lower compared with benefits in old EU member states. Because social policies in many countries increasingly rely on monetary benefits rather than on benefits in kind and because the share of informal care in the overall provision of elderly care will scarcely decline, monetary benefit incentives for labour market participation need to be carefully monitored.     

Federalism and the politics of fiscal responsibility laws: Argentina and Brazil in comparative perspective

This article advances an institutionalist perspective to address a subset of issues that led to the relative success of Brazil and the absolute failure of Argentina in confronting the financial crisis of the late 1990s. It adds to the literature on the politics of fiscal federalism, documenting that fiscal crises prompt policy responses whose effects are mediated by institutional choice and the broader political dynamics and the incentives both generate. By analysing the adoption of fiscal responsibility laws in two federal polities that had been challenged by similar financial and territorially induced constraints, it tentatively shows that success in containing subnational fiscal profligacy, which has been causally related to the national overall financial weakness to confront the late 1990s crises, is contingent upon the internalisation of the value of fiscal responsibility by subnational administrations. These findings suggest that prevailing views on subnational actors as debt-ridden and passive spectators of fiscal policies for which national governments had taken full responsibility should be reconsidered. Given favourable institutional incentives, subnational interests are not necessarily incompatible with national programmes of fiscal adjustment and stability.     

Straddling Two Continents: Social Policy and Welfare Politics in Turkey

There has been an increasing academic interest in understanding the dynamics of social policy in the Middle East and developing a conceptual ‘model’ to account for the particular characteristics of welfare arrangements in the countries of the region. While part of this framework, Turkey represents an exceptional case due to the Europeanization processes the country is undergoing in various policy areas, including social policy. The influence of the European Union on the shape of Turkish social policy, as illustrated by the government's recent reforms in the labour market and social security domains, is hereby used to outline the position of Turkey vis‐à‐vis both the Southern European welfare regime and the Middle Eastern pattern. This article seeks to assess the dynamics of Turkish social policy in light of the country's political, and socio‐economic dynamics, as well as the external influence exerted by the EU and international financial institutions. The aim is to examine Turkish welfare arrangements in a comparative manner and consider its suitability with reference to either of the two models. Looking at major trends in social security and the labour market, the article argues for a Turkish ‘hybrid’ model embodying the characteristics of both. Subject to EU explicit pressures for reform absent elsewhere in the Middle East, the data nevertheless show that Turkey has yet to make the qualitative leap forward that could place it firmly within the Southern European welfare group.     

Europeanization of Social Inclusion Policy in Macedonia – Trends,Challenges and Potential Benefits

The article explores policies, trends and challenges related to social inclusion in Macedonia, and assesses the contribution of EU strategic frameworks and instruments towards the country's greater inclusive growth. In this respect, the article starts by exploring existing instruments for pre‐accession (IPAs) which are relevant for the achievement of the EU 2020 goals. Then the article offers a country analysis related to issues such as poverty, material deprivation, as well as exclusion from the labour market, accompanied by an overview of policies and measures undertaken by the current government in the respective domains. Unfavourable socio‐economic trends, such as undeclared work, jobless growth, high unemployment and poverty rates, present serious challenges to the creation of an effective social inclusion policy. On the other hand, the ‘delayed’ negotiation process with the EU, which in social policy results in a lack of Joint Inclusion Memorandum (JIM) and Joint Assessment Paper (JAP) processes even after seven years of candidate status, slows down the adoption of more strategic policy approach towards sensitive issues, such as social inclusion and anti‐discrimination. The main aim of the article is to assess whether there is a significant difference between current social inclusion policies, measures, indicators and trends with the similar EU standards and practices. In addition, the article explores the potential benefits of the process of Europeanization for Macedonian social inclusion policy.     

The policies of unemployment protection in Europe

The abundant literature on welfare state policies, regimes or ‘worlds’ has been only limitedly interested in unemployment protection, and even less in youth unemployment protection. What is clearly lacking in the literature is an updated analysis of the most recent policies developed in European countries targeting youth. This mini‐symposium aims to fill in this gap by presenting findings from an EU‐funded research project entitled ‘Youth, Unemployment and Exclusion in Europe: A Multidimensional Approach to Understanding the Conditions and Prospects for Social and Political Integration of Young Unemployed’ (YOUNEX). The main aim of the research endeavour was to develop theory and contribute to empirical knowledge concerning the social and political exclusion of unemployed youth in Europe.     

‘A Common Sense of the Times’? Neo‐liberalism and Changing Public Opinion in New Zealand and the UK

Neo‐liberalism represents a significant and enduring shift in the politics shaping social policy. Although frequently ascribed a hegemonic, all‐powerful status that focuses our attention on the coherence found in neo‐liberal policies, this article builds on scholarly work highlighting variegation in the neo‐liberal project across different policy areas, national settings and time periods. Specifically, it employs Peck's and Tickell's (2002) view that neo‐liberalism has gone through multiple phases in response to both external and internal crises as an entry point for studying neo‐liberalism's impact on public support for the welfare state. Drawing upon New Zealand and British attitudinal data, the article argues that public reactions to an early period of retrenchment (‘roll‐back’ neo‐liberalism) differ from those reported in the ‘roll‐out’ or embedding phase of neo‐liberalism implemented by Third Way Labour Governments in both countries. Indeed, continuing public support in many policy areas arguably contributed to the internal crisis that provoked an adaptation to the neo‐liberal project. The article further explores public support for the welfare state following the external crisis provoked by the financial meltdown of 2008–09 asking whether New Zealand and British attitudes showed signs of resisting austerity measures or whether they, instead, indicated a third, ‘roll‐over’ period of neo‐liberalism where the public accepted not only a neo‐liberal economic agenda but also the need for further retrenchment of the welfare state. Conclusions about the politics of social policy at the level of public opinion offer both good and bad news for welfare state advocates.     

An Evaluation of Progress Toward European Monetary Union Using Fuzzy Analysis

European Monetary Union (EMU) is scheduled to commence by the end of the century. Currently, Europeans are engaged in a grand debate over EMU. The controversy is not only over the timetable and stringency of criteria for macroeconomic convergence between member countries, but also over the desirability of the whole EMU enterprise. The European Union (EU) has three choices, to abandon the idea of EMU and opt for independent national monetary policy for each member, to venture the unknown by adopting the EMU regardless of the conditions of its members, or to measure and monitor the fulfillment of EMU preconditions carefully and take the final step when there is a consensus that convergence is reasonably attained. Our paper is a contribution to a systematic quantification and measurement of the fulfillment of the EMU preconditions. We provide a general framework for policy evaluation based on fuzzy logic. We use fuzzy analysis to assess the degree to which each goal is attained, to evaluate the performance of different countries, and to determine the overall progress of the EU in meeting the Maastricht criteria.