Chinese Workfarism: Logics and Realities of the Work–Welfare Governance Model

Given the fundamental disparities between China and the west in political structures, social values, policy regimes, and problem loads, it is meaningful to use “workfare” as a challenging analytical standpoint and detect that China had created unique workfare regimes to build up the past state‐socialism and the present market‐socialism. In the era of state‐socialism, the dual‐track welfare system, apparently adopting an institutional approach to the city and a residual approach to the countryside, was purposely integrated with the segregated urban‐rural work system, constituting a China‐specific workfare regime in which the whole workforce was included and effectively organized into the socio‐economic order. Under market‐socialism that appears as an awkward hybrid, the work‐welfare governance model is being gradually transformed into a pragmatic, much marketized one, though without idealogical legitimacy as well as a clear‐cut vision. On the one hand, employment differentiation and income disparity resulted from a strategic shift from the “reform‐without‐losers” stage to the “reform‐with‐losers” stage in the labor market, together with a large scale rural‐to‐urban labor migration, are structuring a market‐oriented, stratified employment system. On the other hand, while being a welfare laggard, China's productivist, status‐segregated welfare system is taking shape owing to a set of welfare reforms along the line of marketization and societalization. All these changes would imply that China is converging towards a neo‐liberal regime in which the role of the state is residual to the market.     

Increasing Poverty in Japan: Social Policy and Public Assistance Program

Until quite recently, the problem of poverty was largely “invisible” in Japan, since the poverty rate was relatively low and issues surrounding poverty received little attention. However, the recent financial and economic crisis caused such an increase in the poverty rate that it could no longer be ignored. When the government announced a poverty rate for the first time in 2009 (15.7% for the year 2007), the nation was shocked. Poverty is now widely discussed and “visible” in Japan, and Japanese policy makers have been forced to formulate and implement strategies to help the poor. The contribution of changing international and national economic and social conditions to increased poverty, including population changes in Japan, is also noted. This paper aims to provide an overview of the poverty situation and the nature of social policy that addresses poverty. It describes in particular the national public assistance program, which is a major public income‐support program and is considered as the ‘last safety net’ available for the poor in Japan. In conclusion, the paper explores the key problems faced by the program and discusses the challenges associated with tackling a dramatic increase in poverty.     

Older peoples' experiences of Community Care

This exploration of the position of “poor older people”within the context of Community Care, analyses the evidence and identifies discriminatory features that affect their lives. There follows an examination of poverty and the Government's management of the changes in Social Security legislation around pensions and benefits, with special reference to the position of women and carers. Are “economically fragile”older people members of the newly emerging underclass? The consequent inequalities are further explored via the position of carers and retired women in relation to the Benefits System; both groups seem to miss the much heralded effects of the trickle-down economic ideology. In the era of Citizen's Charters, so called choices for economically fragile service users appear to be little more than Hobson's Choice.     

Aiming to keep poor Mexican families at the breadline (but no higher): The effects of minimum wage,tax, and social policy changes between 1994 and 2012

Welfare policy in Mexico has been transformed in recent decades. During the years of the import‐substitution industrialization economic strategy and the hegemonic party political regime, social policy was based on social insurance programs of limited coverage to urban formal sector workers and their families. In the mid‐1990s, an unprecedented expansion of social protection through social assistance programs was triggered, along with social insurance reform. This article assesses the effects at the household level of social policy changes, in combination with changes in taxes and the minimum wage, which also impact the welfare of the population. The research applies “model families” to establish effects of social, tax, and minimum wage policy changes across population groups, and their combined potential to combat poverty. Findings show that although taxation and social policy changes increased redistribution towards poor families, their capacity to lift and keep them above poverty thresholds was limited by the drop in the real value of the minimum wage and by strict targeting mechanisms, which exclude families that do not meet eligibility criteria but still fall below poverty lines. Social policy expansion merely subsidized the drop in real minimum wage, and poor families at best remained at similar income levels. Hence, the logic of the design of welfare policy changes can be characterized as aiming to keep poor families on the breadline, but no higher.     

Social security for China's rural aged: a proposal based on a universal non‐contributory pension

Yang Y, Williamson JB, Shen C. Social security for China's rural aged: a proposal based on a universal non‐contributory pension Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 236–245 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. China's relative lack of social security coverage for rural elders exacerbates the already severe rural–urban economic disparity, slows the rate of rural poverty reduction, and raises social justice concerns. Our analysis draws on evidence from a number of sources including interviews with experts on China, Chinese government documents, Chinese newspaper accounts, and other sources from other countries. Based on our analysis of what has been tried in other countries and the current situation in rural China, we offer some suggestions for Chinese policy makers. We suggest that, for rural China, a universal non‐contributory old‐age pension deserves serious consideration, and refer to our proposed model as a Rural Old‐Age Social Pension. It will reduce the level of poverty in rural areas and the degree of income inequality between rural and urban areas while simultaneously promoting social and political stability.     

Zakat as a Poverty Reduction Mechanism Among the Muslim Community: Case Study of Bangladesh,Malaysia, and Indonesia

Poverty reduction remains the most important challenge for policy makers in Islamic communities. The World Bank (2010: Poverty profile in Muslim world, from http://www.worldbank.org ) estimates that approximately 3 billion people are living in poverty and 46 million more people will come under the income level of US$1.25 a day due to the recent global economic meltdown and slow economic growth rates. Thirty‐five percent of these people are Muslims from Islamic countries. The global Muslim community has an essential role to play in addressing the injustice of global poverty through zakat. Zakat is an Islamic faith‐based institution and is being underutilized for poverty reduction in many of these poor Muslim countries. Since zakat constitutes one of the pillars of Islam, it is logical to assume that policy makers among Muslims should pay serious attention to it. However, that is not the case for many Muslim countries and this paper will show that not all Muslim countries are seriously applying zakat in its strategy of combating poverty. This paper will specifically examine the role and effect of zakat in three Muslim countries (Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia) providing the facts of countries that practise zakat in comparison with those that do not.     

Subjective Well‐being Poverty of the Elderly Population in China

Poverty is represented not only by objective well‐being indicators which include income and consumption levels, but also by subjective indicators which reflect what a person feels. It is estimated in this article that the incidence of subjective well‐being poverty (SWP) among the Chinese rural elderly population in 2006 was 9.7 per cent, about 4.2 times as much as that of the country's total rural population in the same year, which was 2.3 per cent. Over 16 per cent of the rural elderly population and 11.5 per cent of the urban elderly population rated their life satisfaction as poor or very poor. In terms of SWP, senior citizens, especially those who live in rural areas or who are women or very aged, have become a special group among the poor in China. This article suggests that China's social policies for the new stage take into account the issue of absolute poverty and also that of SWP. A multi‐dimensional strategy system targeting the issue of poverty needs to be established, and a policy system to address poverty reduction as well as old age security and care should be implemented.     

Beyond Piketty: A new perspective on poverty and inequality in India

The socio-economic literature has focused much on how overall inequality in income distribution (frequently measured by the Gini coefficient) undermines the “trickle down” effect. In other words, the higher the inequality in the income distribution, the lower is the growth elasticity of poverty. However, with the publication of Piketty’s magnum opus (2014), and a subsequent study by Chancel and Piketty (2017) of evolution of income inequality in India since 1922, the focus has shifted to the income disparity between the richest 1% (or 0.01%) and the bottom 50%. Their central argument is that the rapid growth of income at the top end of millionaires and billionaires is a by-product of growth. The present study extends this argument by linking it to poverty indices in India. Based on the India Human Development Survey 2005–12 – a nationwide panel survey-we examine the links between poverty and income inequality, especially in the upper tail relative to the bottom 50%, state affluence (measured in per capita income) and their interaction or their joint effect. Another feature of our research is that we analyse their effects on the FGT class of poverty indices. The results are similar in as much as direction of association is concerned but the elasticities vary with the poverty index. The growth elasticities are negative and significant for all poverty indices. In all three cases, the disparity between the income share of the top 1% and share of the bottom 50% is associated with greater poverty. These elasticities are much higher than the (absolute) income elasticities except in the case of the poverty gap. The largest increase occurs in the poverty gap squared – a 1% greater income disparity is associated with a 1.24% higher value of this index. Thus the consequences of even a small increase in the income disparity are alarming for the poorest.     

The Key to Precise Poverty Alleviation Rests in the Precise Indentification of Impoverished Populations—An Analysis of the Targeting Effectiveness of China’s Rural Dibao Program

The success of the poverty elimination program, as an important element in the strategy of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, depends on the accurate identification of the population living in poverty. An analysis of 2013 data from the China Household Income Project (CHIP 2013) shows that in terms of the income-based poverty line, the targeting of the current rural minimum living standard guarantee or subsistence allowance program (dibao) program is very imprecise; it improves with the use of multidimensional poverty criteria, but coverage remains poor. In order to unify the criteria for the rural poverty alleviation (fupin) criteria and the dibao criteria, a uniform set of national criteria should be established. This should shift from income as the sole criterion to multidimensional criteria, so that a uniform scheme can be developed to identify those in need. At the same time, the coverage of the dibao program should be extended and the transfer amounts increased, so that the scheme genuinely covers all of the target population in rural China.     

Measuring Support Provisions for People Living With Disabilities in South Asia: An Accessibility Index

ABSTRACT

The terms “empowerment,” “rights,” and “inclusiveness” are now commonly used in public policy, but little emphasis is placed on “accessibility” issues in the integration of disabled people. This article proposes a composite index to measure economic support provisions, such as employment, vocational training, microfinance, and safety nets. The index was tested in a case study (N= 245) of two districts in Pakistan. Results support a “cost/benefit”-based philosophy, rather than the “means–ends” goal, where the disabled poor are viewed as unproductive and risky payers, instead of giving them an opportunity to exercise their potential. Change for the disadvantaged poor can be brought about with the mandatory use of this index in local annual audits. Future research might examine the impact of the index and standardize it for global use.     

The Influence of “Made in China” on the Great Moderation of the Global Economy：An Empirical Test Based on Value Chains*

We have collected data on China’s 22 main trading partners for 1984-2012 and used System GMM to study the influence of “Made in China” on the “Great Moderation” of the global economy. Our research shows that although trade scale, real effective exchange rate, oil prices, fixed capital investment and other variables have significantly expanded global economic volatility, “Made in China” has markedly restrained output growth rate fluctuations in countries around the world and price fluctuations in developed countries, helping the global economy develop with “high growth, low volatility.” “Made in China” is a long-term variable in the context of the global value chain. China needs to take advantage of global value chain restructuring to further upgrade and develop processing and manufacturing industry and expand its presence in the international market. It could choose to adopt a “mirror strategy” and launch trade sanctions targeting counterpart industries or enterprises to counter irrational trade sanctions from the developed countries. At the same time, however, it is important for China to make its own contribution to improve global economic governance and building a new international economic order in the era of global value chains by strengthening its policy coordination with other countries.     

The State, Institutional Transition and the Creation of New Urban Poverty in China

Since the 1990s, the introduction of a market economy and the process of rapid urbanization have been accompanied by a new urban poverty related to lay‐offs and unemployment as well as by large‐scale rural–urban migration, which is different from the traditional urban poverty of the ‘Three Nos’ (no relatives or dependants, no working capacity and no source of income). This article focuses on new urban poverty in China under market transition and discusses the causes of poverty creation. Instead of considering Chinese new urban poverty only as a result of market mechanisms, it argues that the state as the manipulator of institutions and policies does matter in the creation of new urban poverty, and that the cleavages between the old and new institutions further intensify it. Specifically, the following aspects of the creation of new urban poverty are examined in detail: the adjustment of industrial policy, the reform of state‐owned enterprises, evolution of the household registration system, and the transformation of the welfare state.     

Can the minimum living standard guarantee scheme enable the poor to escape the poverty trap in rural China?

The rural Minimum Living Standard Guarantee (Dibao) Scheme is the most important social assistance programme in rural China. However, how the rural Dibao programme affects household expenditures and whether it can enable the poor to escape the poverty trap are questions that remain largely unexplored. This study used data from the 2012 Rural Household Survey in China to investigate the impact of the rural Dibao programme on household expenditures. We found that the programme significantly improved the well‐being of low‐income households. Particularly, the programme significantly increased household expenditures on housing, education and health; furthermore, the impact was greater for households with educated household heads. However, the programme did not significantly affect household expenditures on food, transportation or farming inputs. The results imply that participation in the rural Dibao programme induces household investment in human capital, which could help to break the inter‐generational transmission of poverty and raise long‐run welfare.     

Explaining Italian “exceptionalism” and its end: Minimum income from neglect to hyper-politicization

Traditionally at the margins of the political debate, minimum income protection has recently become a key issue in Italian politics. After decades of social and political “neglect” letting Italy the only European country (with Greece) still lacking an anti-poverty minimum income safety net in the 2010s, finally a national programme called Inclusion Income was introduced in 2018, then replaced by a more robustly financed scheme, the Citizenship Income in 2019. The introduction of these new programmes was the object of an intense political debate, which raises two main puzzles. Why a policy field characterized by the low political resources of would be beneficiaries and low incidence on the overall welfare budget has become so important in the political debate? How did it occur in Italy, where minimum income protection had been absent in political discourses for at least five decades after World War II? To answer these questions, this article first elaborates a novel theoretical framework which combines the main properties of socio-political demand and political supply in order to explain the scope and direction of minimum income reforms. Second, it provides an analytically oriented reconstruction of MIS policy trajectory in Italy in the three different phases: the phase of MIS “neglect” (1948–1992) characterized by inertia; the period of political “contentiousness” (1993–2012), marked by attempts of path departure followed by policy reversals; the more recent phase leading to the introduction and institutionalization of a MIS. Third, the article provides a theoretically framed interpretation of the overall MIS trajectory in Italy.     

Do economic growth and institutional quality reduce poverty and inequality in West Africa?

Over the past two decades, the West African region has experienced much faster economic growth than other parts of the world. However, despite this economic upturn, the region has continued to experience high levels of inequality and poverty, yet economic growth is considered to be one of the main drivers of poverty reduction. An interesting literature indicates that local conditions may limit the expected effects of economic growth on poverty and income inequality. In this study, we are interested in the role of institutional factors that have been largely ignored in explaining poverty reduction and inequality outcomes in this region. Thus, this study empirically examines the role of economic growth and institutional quality on inequality and poverty reduction in West Africa. Using data from the World Development Indicators (WDI), the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) and the Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID), our results show that economic growth remains a necessary condition for poverty reduction and that the overall improvement in the quality of institutions contributes significantly to reducing poverty and income inequality in the long term. This contribution is made in particular through the improvement of democratic institutions, the alleviation of bureaucratic constraints, the quality of the judicial and regulatory system, the control of corruption and the quality of government stability. Furthermore, we show that improvements in the judicial system, low levels of corruption and better bureaucratic quality happen to be prerequisites for economic growth to significantly reduce income inequality. These results therefore call on policy makers in the West African region to improve their institutional framework and especially these dimensions with a view to enabling the region citizens to improve their living conditions.     

The prevalence and composition of asset poverty in Canada: 1999, 2005, and 2012

A household is considered asset poor if its assets (financial assets or net worth, taken separately) are insufficient to maintain well‐being at a low‐income threshold for 3 months. We provide the first national‐level estimates of asset poverty for Canada, using the 1999, 2005, and 2012 cycles of the Survey of Financial Security, and juxtapose these estimates with income poverty. The analysis provides new insight into economic insecurity by showing that asset poverty rates are consistently two to three times higher than income poverty rates. In addition to the prevalence of asset poverty across socio‐demographic groups, we analyzed how the composition of the poor change over time. Age and geography shape the risk for asset poverty in distinct ways. We found that while education appears to play a comparable role in shaping both income poverty and asset poverty, immigration places Canadians at a relatively higher risk of income poverty but not asset poverty. Key Practitioner Message: ? Practitioners ought to consider assets as well as income in assessing economic vulnerability; ? Asset poverty levels are 2–3 times higher than income poverty levels; ? Certain groups (e.g., immigrants) may be income poor but maintain sufficient assets.     

Anti‐Poverty Family Policies in China: A Critical Evaluation

Despite its rapid economic growth, China remains a developing country facing serious challenges of poverty and inequality. This article examines the development and effectiveness of China's primary anti‐poverty family policy, the Minimum Living Standard Assurance (MLSA, or Dibao). Using rich administrative data and building on the existing literature, this article provides a critical evaluation of MLSA's benefit generosity, coverage, targeting, and anti‐poverty effectiveness. To help reinforce MLSA's anti‐poverty impacts, local governments in recent years have implemented a series of supplementary policies and programs, including health, education, housing, and work support programs. This article also provides an assessment of these supplementary policies and programs and draws policy implications for the ongoing expansion of the Chinese government's anti‐poverty efforts.     

Explaining Restrictive TANF Policies: Group Threat Hypothesis and State Economy Conditions

ABSTRACT

This study examined whether TANF policies' restrictiveness is related to states' racial composition and economic conditions. The data were extracted from various reports dated 2000–2014. Results from generalized least squares random-effects modeling showed the number of restrictive TANF policies to be associated positively with larger populations of Hispanic individuals and associated negatively with larger populations of African American individuals. No association was found between policies' restrictiveness and “other” minority population, nor between restrictiveness and either poverty or unemployment. One conclusion suggested by the analysis is that restrictive TANF policies result from dramatic increases in the Hispanic population that trigger the dominant group's resentment of ethnic minorities. Several policy implications are stated.     

The relationship between different social expenditure schemes and poverty,inequality and economic growth

In this article, we study how social expenditure is related to poverty, income inequality and GDP growth. Our main contribution is to disentangle these relationships by the following social expenditure schemes: 1) “old age and survivors”, 2) “incapacity”, 3) “health”, 4) “family”, 5) “unemployment and active labour market policies” and 6) “housing and others”. For this purpose, we employ OLS and 2SLS regression models using a panel data set for 22 Member States of the European Union from 1990 until 2015. We find total public social expenditure to be negatively related to poverty and inequality, but not related to GDP growth. The results vary substantially between the different social expenditure schemes, which makes more accurate targeting possible.