Cohabitation and child Well-Being

In “Cohabitation and Child Well-Being,” Wendy D. Manning, an associate professor in Bowling Green State University's Department of Sociology, summarizes what is known about cohabitation and its effects on children. She describes how some people view “cohabiting-couple” households (that is, unmarried couples cohabiting with a biological child of at least one of the adults) as a two-parent family form and that one of the major goals of the 1996 welfare reform law was to encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families. The main sources of data she uses are the Current Population Survey (CPS), the Decennial Census, the Survey of Income and Program Participation, the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), and the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG).     

Welfare Indignities: Homeless Women,Domestic Violence,and Welfare Reform in San Francisco

Using data collected during a 4 year ethnography, this paper examines how the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) has impacted homeless women in San Francisco who are also victims of domestic violence. Specifically this paper looks at how the behavior of abusive men prevents homeless women from successfully navigating the new welfare-to-work requirements and maintaining stable employment. Findings indicate that despite the discourse touting the success of welfare reform, the 1996 PRWORA has further disenfranchised an already devastated population systematically forcing them further onto the margins of society.

授之以鱼不如授之以渔?——财富资本、社会资本、人力资本与中国代际收入流动

在子代福利方面所体现的利他主义是经济个体的一大特征,为提升后代福利所作的努力也是人类社会发展的重要动力之一。然而,父代既可以投资于子代的人力资本,以提高子代获取收入的自身能力("授之以渔");也可以通过权力寻租和积累财富,直接提高子代收入("授之以鱼")。这一选择主要取决于这两种途径在提升子代收入方面的效率比较,并将对经济社会发展产生完全不同的影响。本文的计量分析结果表明,虽然人力资本对中国的代际收入传递起到了重要作用,但是社会资本的影响也呈现出不容忽视的上升趋势,以房屋资产和金融资产为代表的家庭财富更是表现出远大于上述两种资产的解释力和回报率,而这可能带来对子代经济能力的投资扭曲。通过进一步深化体制改革,引导人们正确地对子代经济能力进行投资,对中国当前的经济转型和持续的健康发展具有重要的现实意义。     

Subjective Versus Objective Definitions of Homelessness: Are there Differences in Risk Factors among Heavy-Drinking Women?

Investigations with homeless populations have focused on those living on the streets or in shelters; few have examined phenomena based on respondents’ self-definitions as homeless or not. This investigation examined similarities and differences among risk factors (including mental health, substance abuse, religion/spirituality, social support, and risky sexual behaviors) using two definitions of homelessness: one where place of residence defined individuals as homeless (the ‘objective’ or traditional, definition) and another where respondents defined themselves as homeless (the ‘subjective’ definition). Data come from the baseline survey of the NIAAA-funded “Sister-to-Sister” study (n = 339) of heavy-drinking women. Subjectively defined homelessness was associated with higher rates of mental health and substance use disorders, lower rates of condom use, higher rates of trading sex for food, and less social support. Objectively defined homelessness was associated with higher rates of drinking in abandoned buildings, on the streets, and in public restrooms, more new sexual partners, and higher rates of trading sex for heroin and speedballs. Investigations failing to ask for subjective information may misattribute some factors to homelessness which may overestimate the effect of various factors on homelessness. Investigators should ask respondents to define their homelessness, or they lose an important dimension of the concept of homelessness.

挪威福利原则与改革趋势：社会权将更具条件性？

人们将“北欧福利模式”视为西方福利国家的一种独特模式。北欧模式的一个主要特征是社会保障、健康以及惠及全民的教育政策,换句话说,即基于普遍性原则的社会政策。近期的改革趋势不得不令人质疑：普遍性原则当前在挪威这个福利国家是否受到了威胁。大体上,福利国家都以不同的规范、价值观和原则为基础。从几种主要福利原则可以看出,在现代北欧与欧洲其他福利国家近期改革中,重心从普遍性原则转移到更强调互惠性与标的设定原则。后两者更侧重合同、义务和激励措施,以使人们为个人幸福承担更多责任。     

蔬菜价格波动对低、中、高收入城镇居民福利影响分析

运用1995-2010年不同收入等级城镇居民蔬菜支出与收入的相关数据,利用Minot福利效应模型,对蔬菜价格波动引起的不同收入等级城镇居民福利效应进行测算和分解。结果表明:不同收入等级城镇居民短期福利变化趋势一致,并与蔬菜的价格变化呈反向关系;不同收入等级城镇居民,随着其收入水平的提高,CR总体处于一个逐年递减的过程,但在下降的过程中,最低收入、低收入、中等偏下三个收入等级的下降波动趋势一致,而中等收入、中等偏上、高收入和最高收入四个收入等级的下降波动趋势趋于一致,CR降幅大小和城镇居民的收入等级成反比;同一收入等级内部,价格变动对低收入城镇居民的福利的影响要大于对高收入城镇居民的影响。     

美国福利制度改革中的权力下移问题——以《个人责任和工作机会和解法》为例

《个人责任和工作机会和解法》(PRWORA)也被称作一场"权力下移的革命",本文通过对权力下移的特点及其影响和存在问题的分析,对于从全面理解美国1996福利制度改革提供更多视角。权力下移中有待解决的问题也是进一步完善福利制度改革不可忽视的重点。     

试论撒切尔政府的公共住房私有化改革

英国公房政策最早起源于第一次世界大战后,并在第二次世界大战后快速发展并完善起来,是英国社会福利制度的重要组成部分。公共住房作为社会福利长期实行低租金,根本无法以租养房,导致英国政府的财政负担日益沉重。撒切尔政府上台后,对公房制度进行了私有化改革,在大规模出售公有住房的同时,还采取大量的辅助性措施,以促进住房领域的市场化,这正是撒切尔政府实行公房私有化的根本目标。撒切尔政府时期的住房私有化政策相当成功。一方面,住房的私有化降低了政府的财政支出,并使住房福利领域的市场因素大大增加。另一方面,住房私有化削弱了地方政府对福利住房的垄断权,促进了劳动力的流动。住房私有化的副作用主要表现在出现大量的无家可归者。     

高校住房制度改革十年探讨

住房制度不仅是经济制度的重要组成部分,也是社会制度的重要组成部分。通过住房 制度的改革,使其适应国民经济的发展和人民生活条件改善的需求,是实现国家长治久安, 学校全面健康发展的重要方面。住房实物福利分配的停止,住房补贴的逐步到位,使教职工 在住房的需求上已经由"要住房找校长",开始向"要住房找市场"的观念转移,这意味着 一种分配观念的结束,也集中反映了北航十年住房改革的重要成果。最终实现住房商品化、 购房社会化、管理物业化,是住房制度改革的根本目的。     

Global Female Homelessness: A Multi-Faceted Problem

International female homelessness is a difficult subject to address for a number of reasons. First, understanding what defines homelessness poses a problem because female homelessness often takes on a different form than that of male homelessness. Also, homelessness in industrialized countries looks different from that of developing nations where women are more likely to have inadequate housing in temporary shelters or live as squatters. Both of these factors affect the visibility of female homelessness as well as the ability to garner an accurate account of the number of homeless women around the world. Understanding the causes of female homelessness from a global perspective is no less difficult to comprehend because it encompasses so many other multifaceted issues. Women in developing nations face a different set of issues than their counterparts in the industrialized world because of differences in property rights, women’s rights generally, access to education, and access to social services. Finally, immigrant women face a unique set of circumstances of being a foreigner without an adequate social support network.

Teenage sex, pregnancy, and nonmarital births

In “Teenage Sex, Pregnancy, and Nonmarital Births,” Isabel V. Sawhill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, describes recent trends in teenage sex, pregnancy, and nonmarital births. Her main sources of data are the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program (VSCP). Sawhill begins by describing the high proportion of children living in single-parent families and showing how this arrangement contributes to child poverty. Between 1970 and 1996, for example, poverty rose from 15 to 20 percent of all children. Virtually all this increase stemmed from the growth of single-parent families. Moreover, a shift in the composition of single parents, so that a greater number are never-married mothers, exacerbated poverty and welfare dependency. In the 1960s and 1970s, the growth in single parenthood was largely attributable to increases in divorce; in the 1980s and 1990s, however, the growth was largely driven by nonmarital births.     

Invisible Mothers: Parenting by Homeless Women Separated from Their Children

Though surveys repeatedly demonstrate that most women who are homeless alone have minor children living apart from them, there is little information on the circumstances of their separations or whether and how they remain involved with their children. Analysis of data from in-depth interviews with mothers, relatives caring for their children, and shelter and child welfare staff highlights a tension between perspectives and aspirations of mothers and the agendas and social processes through which institutional systems manage the family life of women marginalized by homelessness and disability. Though women’s agency is evident in their efforts to maintain parenting roles, without facilitating resources and supportive structures, agency is often reduced to unpalatable choices among constraining alternatives. We consider how service systems might mitigate barriers to mothering as well as broader changes needed to genuinely support women’s aspirations for themselves and their families.

Child maltreatment and foster care

In “Child Maltreatment and Foster Care,” Richard J. Gelles, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, reports what is known about the incidence of child maltreatment and foster care placement rates since welfare reform. He relies on four major sources of data: Current Trends in Child Abuse Reporting and Fatalities: Results of the 1998 Annual Fifty State Survey, the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), the National Incidence Survey of Reported and Recognized Child Maltreatment (NIS), and the Voluntary Cooperative Information System (VCIS).     

从国家福利到多元福利——南京市和兰州市社会福利服务的案例研究

从“国家福利”向“多元福利”转变是国际社会政策变化的大势所趋。南京市和兰州市在社会福利服务方面发生了类似的变化。面对经费困难对福利服务的更大需求 ,民政部门试图利用与市场经济相关的资源发展福利服务。这一改革措施使国有福利院从完全依赖政府投入逐渐转变为依靠更多元化的资源。同时 ,社会上出现了崭新类型的依靠政府、企业、当地社区以及家庭或个人的混合资源为用户提供服务的“社会办”福利院。     

残疾人公民权利的保障性研究——关于中国社会福利企业税收优惠政策的思考

社会福利企业是中国的残疾人就业的主要平台,国家通过组织集中就业的福利企业模式来保障残疾人的就业。社会福利企业由于先天的不足,其发展壮大依赖于国家的支持和鼓励政策,尤其是税收优惠方面的政策。文章试图以中国建国以来的几次重大税制改革为主线,对社会福利企业所享受的税收优惠政策进行梳理,并对新的税收优惠政策下福利企业发展所存在的问题进行分析。      

监察体制改革下行政公益诉讼的再审视

监察体制改革将检察机关的职务犯罪侦查权转隶给监察机关，这使得改革前依靠职务犯罪侦查权来发现公益诉讼案件线索的检察机关行进困难。实质上，监检具有共同的价值取向，改革初衷与机制虽为异体，但均为实现国家治理体系和治理能力现代化而服务。理论上“协同治理”为监检衔接搭建了“桥梁”，实践中，监检衔接制度的优化为实现公益的“双赢”提供了有利途径。因此，亟需从理论逻辑和制度设计层面入手，以监察体制改革为契机，利用二元视角，推动行政公益诉讼纵深发展。     

论我国分配制度改革

根据党的"十六"大提出的"深化分配制度改革,健全社会保障体系"的任务,从现代生产力要素与马克思劳动价值论统一的视角,分析我国社会劳动的新变化,进而阐述我国分配制度改革的历程,着重从完善分配制度、坚持分配原则、规范分配秩序、健全保障体系几个方面探讨我国分配制度改革的原则、工作目标和重要意义。     

西方社会福利制度的改革及启示

近年来,西方主要资本主义国家普遍出现了“福利危机”。为此,西方各国都致力于社会福利制度改革。西方社会福利制度改革对我国的社会福利制度的建立和完善提供了以下几个方面的借鉴:完善国家社会福利体系;弱化政府在社会福利制度中的作用;增收节支;尝试推行“工作福利”制度;加强社会福利方面的法制建设等。     

农村信用社改革的得与失：基于实证和制度分析的视角

随着农村信用社新管理体制框架的全面建立和第一阶段改革试点的基本完成,农村信用社体制改革迎来新的起点。本文基于历年统计数据,运用新制度经济学等相关理论,对1996年尤其是2003年深化改革试点以来农村信用社的改革进程进行实证性反思。研究发现,农村信用社改革成效的形式大于实质,基本上没有取得重大的突破性进展;而农村信用社改革难的最根本原因,在于政府在改革思路上的严重路径依赖。鉴于此,本文提出了继续推进农村信用社改革的有关政策建议。     

美国法中的福利概念研究——从福利行政概念的误解说起

我国服务型政府建设与以改善民生为重点的社会建设,呼唤福利行政法理论与实践的变革。我国行政法学者普遍认为福利行政的表述源于英美法,但缺乏对美国法中福利概念与福利行政概念的深入分析,从而出现了一些对福利行政概念的误解。从《布莱克法律词典》、美国成文法、美国联邦最高法院的经典判例等资料来看,美国法中的福利概念有广义与狭义之分。狭义福利通常指公共救助,针对经济上的贫困者。广义福利除包括公共救助外,还包括社会保险与其他福利。不同类型的福利,有可能适用不同的法律制度,切不可忽视福利与福利行政的复杂性、丰富性与多样性。