A comparative study of social assistance systems in Macao and Hong Kong

This article compares social assistance systems in Macao and Hong Kong. It finds that Macao delivers a higher level of social assistance benefits, whereas Hong Kong has a larger group of social assistance beneficiaries. The Hong Kong Government spends a larger amount on social assistance provision and imposes tougher controls on the recipients, compared to Macao. The results of the comparison indicate that Macao and Hong Kong differ markedly in the type of productivist welfare regime they belong and challenge the assertion that the two welfare systems form a distinct welfare model.     

Money demand stability: A case study of Nigeria

Monetary policy in Nigeria aims is to achieve price and monetary stability. During the 1980s and 1990s, monetary targeting was the dominant monetary policy framework in Nigeria. However, in 2006 the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adopted the new monetary policy framework through which short-term interest rates are adjusted to achieve stability in the value of the domestic currency. This paper has presented an empirical investigation into the demand for Nigerian real narrow money (M1) over the period 1960–2008 in an attempt to identify whether the CBN were right to adopt the new monetary policy framework. In doing so, we estimate alternative (canonical and extended) specifications of M1 demand using structural change methods. Our results suggest that the canonical specification is well-determined. Although the money demand relationship went through a regime shift in 1986, it is largely stable. These findings favour the use of supply of money as an instrument of monetary policy, thus lending limited support for the new monetary policy framework.     

Readiness for independent living of youth in residential childcare: A comparative study

Transition to adulthood is an accelerated and early process for care leavers that requires intensive preparation, training and support from child welfare services. This study aimed to explore the perceived readiness for independent living of a group of care-experienced young people preparing for leaving care in Spain and to compare it with the perceptions of their peers from the general population. A sample of 508 youth (50% women) aged 14–21 (M = 16.67; SD = 1.72) took part, of whom 279 were care experienced and 229 belonged to the general population in Spain. Participants' independent living skills, personal autonomy, self-efficacy and sociodemographic characteristics were assessed through an online survey using standardized instruments. Care-experienced young people displayed higher levels of life skills and autonomy in self-care, daily living at home and employment domains, but not related to making daily arrangements in their community. However, their educational level and self-efficacy levels were lower than in the comparison group. Work experience stood out as a significant predictor of care-experienced young people's life skills level. These findings support the importance of assessing life skills as an outcome of leaving care preparation services and providing care-experienced young people with real-life experiences to develop their life skills.     

Welfare residualism: a comparative study of the Basic Livelihood Security systems in China and South Korea

Gao Q, Yoo J, Yang S‐M, Zhai F. Welfare residualism: a comparative study of the Basic Livelihood Security systems in China and South Korea Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 113–124 © 2010 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. In this article, the Basic Livelihood Security (BLS) systems of China and South Korea are compared. The purpose of BLS is to provide a safety net for poor families, particularly the unemployed and the retired who were hard‐hit by recent economic reforms and crises. A common characteristic of the two systems is residual welfare marked by strict eligibility rules and limited coverage. Both systems are subordinate to the primary goal of economic growth and therefore only compensate for the very disadvantaged left behind by market competition. Neither system is particularly effective in achieving its original antipoverty goals. However, South Korea's provision of self‐support programs to supplement cash transfers has helped individuals to move from welfare to work, and thus has implications for China's BLS system. Both countries need to put more emphasis on equity and social justice in their ongoing reforms and expansions of BLS.     

Collective empowerment: A comparative study of community work in Mumbai and Stockholm

Mumbai and Stockholm are worlds apart in terms of public services, infrastructures and standard of living. However, both cities have known common problems of social exclusion and marginalisation related to neo‐liberal globalisation. Social workers are facing similar challenges regarding collective empowerment as a strategy for community work. This comparative study explored how collective empowerment is undertaken by community workers. The research participants were 13 informants from community‐work organisations in the two settings. Semi‐structured interviews were used and were analysed with the help of Atlas‐ti 6.2 (ATLAS.ti Scientific Software Development GmbH D‐10623 Berlin Germany). Social work in Mumbai is in a context of extreme poverty and mainly within the informal sector, whereas in Stockholm most social work is done in relation to a public welfare model. In Stockholm, interventions are aimed towards strengthening social networks, without direct aim at social change. In Mumbai, community workers organise people for collective empowerment to strengthen marginalised groups and achieve social change.     

Pension scheme fees and charge ratios in 44 countries: A comparative study

Based on data received from pension supervisory authorities, the article reviews 85 different pension schemes in 44 jurisdictions by looking at fees and charges as well as their legal ceilings and their development since 2014. A key finding is the observed decrease in fees and caps. The article presents jurisdictions according to clusters, i.e. by groups of countries with identical or very similar items already covered by pension fees, and analyses the extent to which various cost and fee elements are covered by fees charged to members. Finally, we calculate charge ratios for each cluster to quantify the impact of fees and charges on pension savings. Occupational defined contribution pension schemes and personal plans linked to employment tend to be much more cost effective than personal schemes that have no direct employment link.     

A comparative study of legitimation strategies in hybrid regimes

Despite the growing body of research on ‘hybrid regimes’, few studies address the issue of their domestic legitimacy. Targeting this gap in the literature, this article explores the legitimation strategies of three hybrid regimes around the globe: Russia, Venezuela, and Seychelles. Although these countries differ markedly in almost every aspect that can be thought of, the political systems of all three cases combine formally democratic institutions with authoritarian political dynamics. The qualitative, comparative analysis presented in this article uncovers a number of remarkable similarities between the regimes’ respective legitimization strategies. However, while the strategies for engendering legitimacy are similar across the cases, the content of these strategies is different: the Russian leadership mainly relies on preserving order and nationalism, the Venezuelan regime employs a more populist strategy, and the Seychellois regime uses a more personal and particularistic approach. Our findings not only provide insights into the mechanisms hybrid regimes use to consolidate their authority, but also highlight important differences and similarities between hybrid regimes around the world.     

Benefits and incentives for lone parents: A comparative analysis

One of the most striking trends over the past 20 years is the growth in the number of lone parent families in developed countries. This article provides an analysis of the structure of incentives in benefit systems for lone parents in a cross-national perspective, using data from a recent comparative study of the systems of support for families with children in 17 countries (the members of the European Union, Australia, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United States). The article compares the level of benefits for lone parents and takes into account the impact of housing costs, health costs, and education and preschool provision. It assesses the possible incentive effects of different systems through a comparison of the financial positions of lone parents not in paid employment, lone parents in the labour market and other family types.     

A comparative study of multiattribute decision making methodologies

Three real life cases are considered in this paper to apply and compare the rankings obtained by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and other Multicriteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques such as Simple Additive Weighting (SAW), ELECTRE and Weighted Linear Assignment Method (WLAM). The results indicated that the AHP, SAW, and ELECTRE rankings do not differ significantly, however, the WLAM tends to exhibit more disagreement. However, because of the limited nature of this study, we do not suggest this as a general conclusion.     

香港与大陆当代小说创作比较

香港文学和大陆文学 ,历史上本就关系密切 ,大陆改革开放后则交流愈加。其间 ,两地小说创作的交流 ,小说读者的接受情形和审美反响 ,尤其引人注目。大陆的当代小说创作和研究 ,对香港文学界和大众读者一直颇有影响 ;反之 ,当代香港的武侠小说和言情小说等 ,在大陆亦有很大读者市场 ,并为评论界高度重视。由于同一母体文化 ,加上两地各种联系密切 ,因此两地小说创作在题材选择、严肃小说领域、通俗小说领域、作家心态等方面 ,便有不少共同点。但因为社会制度毕竟不同 ,文化消费毕竟有异 ,两地小说的作家创作与读者接受便又存在不少差异。这些异同处 ,都有不少耐人寻味的地方。对它们进行比较研究 ,可以更清楚地发现当代大陆小说和香港小说各自的创作特点和审美短长。但长期以来这种富有意义的比较性研究却又很缺乏 ,确实需要加强     

A study of inadequate consumer demand among Chinese residents --based on data for urban and rural areas in different provinces

本文运用1995—2005年中国除西藏和台湾外30个省、自治区和直辖市城乡面板数据建立随机效应模型对中国城乡居民消费需求的影响因素分别进行计量分析,结果发现：中国居民人均可支配收入与居民人均消费支出高度相关,且在这11年里中国城乡居民消费函数相对稳定。在这个发现的基础上,本文又进一步运用1992—2004年中国的资金流量表（实物交易）数据,解释了1997—1998年以来中国居民消费需求持续低迷的原因之一是在国民收入分配和再分配过程中,政府在总收入和可支配收入中占有的份额越来越大,而居民占有的份额不断下降。     

A Diamond-Stiglitz approach to the demand for self-protection

The existing research concerning the relationship between risk aversion and prudence and the demand for self-protection assumes that the loss variable follows a Bernoulli distribution, and that changes in the level of self-protection are mean preserving. The analysis here replaces these two very strong conditions with ones which are more general. When doing this, the method of analysis is also significantly modified. This modification includes representing a change in the level of self-protection using the procedure developed by Diamond and Stiglitz (Journal of Economic Theory 8:337-360, 1974) for representing a change in risk. This alternate representation allows the existing findings to be generalized considerably, and also simplifies the analysis.     

Design limitations of long-term care insurance schemes: A comparative study of the situation in Spain

Social and demographic changes are gradually transforming the way Western societies cope with old‐age dependency, in particular the provision of long‐term care (LTC). In response to the need for formal care services and financing instruments, this study examines a range of both private and public insurance tools. As a general rule, LTC insurance is markedly underdeveloped. Furthermore, in southern European countries, the role of the public sector in LTC is unclear compared with its role in other, related welfare areas such as healthcare. The study examines the financing alternatives for LTC insurance, taking as its benchmark the Spanish LTC financing reform. It briefly examines some existing, publicly funded LTC financing tools and explores the potential role of private LTC insurance, arguing that it has an active part to play alongside compulsory mainstream insurance schemes and self‐insurance alternatives. As in other European countries, Spanish social attitudes show a preference for some kind of general entitlement to publicly funded schemes, although this preference is subject to significant regional heterogeneity.     

Radio and Advertising in Colombia

Over the last few decades radio has becomeone of the primary means of mass communication in Latin America, able to reach euen the remotest rural populations because of the transistor. Colombia, where ninety-one percent of the homes in the seven largest cities have at least one radio, has also been heavily impacted by this modern technological phenomenon, Elssy Bonilla de Ramos focuses on radio advertising as a means of characterizing the relationship between radio and the Colombian economic sector. She argues that private companies who own most of the country's stations and networks influence programming and advertising in order to widely promote products which they produce. She believes that in many cases these products are not necessary to the consumers'well-being but are advertised in a way to make them more desirable. The authorgives a brief history of commercial radio in Colombia during the last fifty years, stating that early in its development programming underwent significant changes in order to capture an expanded audience. Comedy, sports, news, soap operas, classical and popular music, and quiz shows soon dominated the airways to the exclusion of programming that could play a role in the political, social and economic development of the country. She contends that industries that owned radio were intent on training for consumption and she uses a week's sample of programming and advertising to illustrate her point.     

《四世同堂》、《白鹿原》之比较研究——老舍、陈忠实小说对读之一

钱默吟和朱先生都是作家精心创造的传统文化孕育的文人形象.钱默吟深明大义,洁身自好,在民族义战中炼狱,由书生而战士,讴歌民族精神于圣战中高扬与更生.朱先生出入乱世,矢志于道,心怀仁义,为人师表,洞察秋毫,呼唤吏廉而民安的和谐社会.