Exchange rate and wage policies in Central and Eastern Europe

After the eastern enlargement of the European Union (EU) and due to increasing labor market integration, wage determination in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has become a key issue in European economic policy making. In addition, a controversial discussion concerning the monetary integration of CEE countries into the EMU has emerged. Both issues have earned particular academic and political interest because Eastern and Western Europe are at different stages of economic development and volatile international capital flows seem to require either a higher degree of wage or exchange rate flexibility. Based on the Scandinavian model of wage adjustment by Lindbeck (1979), we analyze the role of exchange rates in the wage determination process of the Central and Eastern European countries to identify which exchange rate strategy contributes to faster wage convergence in Europe. Panel estimations suggest that workers in countries with fixed exchange rates are likely to benefit in the long run from higher wage increases.     

Poverty and deprivation among children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Although there is now a large body of literature on poverty in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, there remains a dearth of comparative analysis of child poverty and wellbeing. This article uses household survey microdata for the period 2001–2003 to compare absolute poverty, relative poverty, material deprivation and participation in schooling among children in five countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Russia and Tajikistan. The analysis shows that low absolute levels of household consumption are associated with other deprivation indicators and with children's participation in schooling. The article also highlights the usefulness of relative poverty measures that effectively identify children at risk of exclusion in even the poorest countries in the region. The article concludes by arguing that household consumption is a good indicator of child poverty and deprivation in the region, and that relative poverty measures should be more widely used in monitoring global targets for poverty reduction.     

Hybridization instead of Clustering: Transformation Processes of Welfare Policies in Central and Eastern Europe

Welfare state theories tend to use concepts of clustering for defining the affiliation of national social security systems to overarching worlds of welfare. A closer look at the transformation processes of welfare policies in Central and Eastern Europe shows a great variability among those countries in approximating their welfare states to Western European standards. In the design of their pension systems, their health care provision and their unemployment protection, Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) follow different reform paths. Welfare clusters in Western Europe are used as reference models, but no single example applies to all sectors of social security. Thus, a generalizing picture of welfare provision cannot be drawn for Central and Eastern Europe. Instead of constituting a new individual type of welfare arrangement, a hybridization process is observable.     

Second‐pillar pensions in Central and Eastern Europe: Payment constraints and exit options

During 1998–2007, a majority of Central and Eastern European (CEE) governments enacted laws obligating workers to save for retirement in privately managed individual accounts. The governments funded these accounts with a portion of public pension revenues, thus creating or increasing deficits in public systems. After the onset of the global financial and economic crisis (2008), most CEE governments reduced these funding diversions and scaled back the accounts. Now, a decade after the crisis, this article examines the benefits that the accounts are beginning to pay retiring workers. In general, these benefits are shown to be disadvantageous compared with public pensions. Some pay lump sums in lieu of regular monthly benefits, most fail to adjust pensions regularly for inflation, and some pay women less than men with equal account balances. In several countries, pensioners with individual accounts receive lower benefits than those without them. To enable retiring workers to avoid these disadvantages, several CEE governments have allowed them to refund their account balances and receive full public pensions. Yet while this strategy diffuses worker dissatisfaction, it also places strains on public pension finance. To assist second‐pillar account holders without weakening public pensions, governments should consider making private pension savings voluntary and financing these schemes independently of public pensions – i.e. by worker and employer contributions and, possibly, direct state support.     

The impact of euro Area monetary policy on Central and Eastern Europe

This paper investigates the effects of a euro area monetary policy shock on Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe (CESEE). We use shadow rates as a proxy for the monetary policy stance and propose a novel way of treating euro area countries in a multi-country framework. More specifically, our approach allows to place sign restrictions on both euro area aggregate and single member states’ quantities. This procedure fully takes cross-country heterogeneity within the euro area into account and leads to shocks that are economically consistent between both layers of aggregation. Our results show that prices and output fall in response to the euro area monetary tightening, both within the euro area and the CESEE region but to a varying degree. The revealed cross-country heterogeneity in the size of the effects emphasizes the usefulness and importance of our empirical approach.     

Transition Countries of Central Europe Entering the European Union: Some Social Protection Issues

A brief overview of essential choices facing the transition countries of central Europe with regard to social security policy precedes the discussion of some selected issues related to their entry into the European Union (EU). While not much weight is given to the idea of these countries bringing in yet another social model, the problem of social dumping is considered more seriously, particularly in view of the continuing impact of neoliberal ideology. The central issue of maintaining equilibrium between economic and social development is then examined in the context of current preparations for accession, and attention is drawn to the inherent weakness of the present EU policy, which deals with economic aspects of social protection only and fails to give the populations concerned a clear vision of attainable social goals for the future.     

Ageing and the politics of pension reforms in Central Europe,South‐Eastern Europe and the Baltic States

Cerami A. Ageing and the politics of pension reforms in Central Europe, South‐Eastern Europe and the Baltic States Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 331–343 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article investigates ageing and the politics of pension reforms in Central Europe, South‐Eastern Europe and the Baltic States. It emphasises the importance of historical legacies, presence of veto points, trade unions' power, electoral rules and country‐specific patterns of political competition, but it also highlights the central role in institutional change played by other concomitant factors, such as those associated with the communicative actions of national and international actors. The role played by power politics, class conflicts and strategic use of social policies is also emphasised. The main argument put forward in this article is that pressures for reforms in the pension systems have not only been the response of demographic, economic and financial pressures but have also been the result of a new consensus found on new economic ideas and discourses that saw in the privatisation of the economy a new modernisation paradigm.     

Reforms And Performance of the Medical Systems in the Transition States of the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

The States of the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe inherited acute health problems and introduced numerous reforms in their health sectors in the 1990s. In the initial years of transition most countries experienced increases in morbidity and mortality that were caused by deterioration in health conditions (demographic, consumption, social, environmental) and deficiencies in medical systems. The latter were the result of malfunctioning economies, continued low priority status of health, and ineffective health reforms. Although health trends in the East have become more positive in recent years, they are unlikely to converge rapidly with those in western Europe unless health sector institutions in transition countries are allocated more resources and improve their efficiency and effectiveness.     

Antisocial and Prosocial Teasing Among Children: Perceptions and Individual Differences

Two studies examined fifth‐ and sixth‐grade students’ perceptions of antisocial and prosocial teasing among peers and potential correlates of individual differences in their tendencies to engage in both forms of teasing. The children were rated as showing a greater tendency to be prosocial teasers than antisocial teasers by both teachers and peers. In addition, the children indicated that they generally experienced and observed prosocial teasing more frequently than antisocial teasing at home and in school. Although boys were perceived to tease in a hostile, antisocial manner to a greater extent than were girls, the evidence for a gender difference in affiliative, prosocial teasing among these children was relatively weak. Additionally, systematic relations were found among ratings of the children's tendencies to engage in antisocial and prosocial teasing with peers, teachers’ ratings of their general level of antisocial and prosocial behavior with peers, ratings of the frequency with which they experienced antisocial and prosocial teasing at home and at school, and their attitudes toward antisocial and prosocial teasing.     

Trust and health in Eastern Europe: Conceptions of a new society

Little attention has been paid to why trends and levels of mortality and morbidity differ in Eastern Europe and few studies have addressed people's own perceptions of their new political system – perceptions which per se may be important for social development. The aim of the present study was to analyse the extent to which trust and economic circumstances affect self‐rated health in Poland, Estonia and Russia and how much health differences between the countries can be explained by these factors. A better economy and higher trust were related to better individual health, while economic factors seemed most important for inter‐country differences. It is probable that both institutional factors and individual perceptions contribute to people's well‐being, but in terms of social policy, an improved welfare system may be the most effective way forward.     

Authority Concepts Among Children and Adolescents in the Island of Macao

We examined the reasoning of children and adolescents in the island of Macao regarding the bases of legitimate authority across social contexts. We asked 101 children in 3rd, 5th, and 7th grades to evaluate the authority of persons issuing commands to children in two events. In one, persons with varying combinations of authority attributes issue a command that resolves a turn‐taking dispute between children in school. In another, persons with varying social positions issue a command to children to stop playing ball across three contexts: school, home, and a public park. Results show that, although young Macanese reason in many ways similar to American children, social position may be a less important legitimizing authority attribute for them than for American children.     

Preventive Services for Adolescents: Exploring the Process of Change

This paper reports on a quasi-experimental study which comparedoutcomes for young people referred to specialist family supportteams with those for others referred to mainstream social workteams. Although there was no evidence that the specialist servicewas more effective in promoting changes in child and familyfunctioning, nevertheless, many young people in both groupsshowed improvement in this respect. This paper explores how,why and in what circumstances these positive changes occurred.The factors which moderated or mediated the effectiveness ofinterventions included both risk and protective factors foremotional and behavioural problems and aspects of the interventionsthemselves. The paper explores the mechanisms whereby thesefactors interacted to help or hinder workers’ effortsto promote change. Child and family attributes and histories,the duration of child and family difficulties, motivation andoptimism all moderated the impact of interventions, making changemore, or less, likely to occur. Aspects of the interventionsthemselves also mediated their effectiveness, such as theirecological approach, the strategies used to change child behaviourand parenting style and the development of a therapeutic alliance.These moderators and mediators of change had a stronger impacton the outcome of interventions than differences in servicetype.     

Perceptions of Benzodiazepine Dependence Among Women Age 65 and Older

A phenomenological study explored whether older women who are chronic benzodiazepine users identified themselves as dependent, how dependence was perceived, and how meanings and understandings shaped experiences of benzodiazepine use. Self-reported benzodiazepine dependence was associated with being unable to reduce use or a desire to discontinue use and reliance on benzodiazepines to remain comfortable and able to handle daily life. Themes included: (a) benzodiazepine dependence is similar to dependence to diabetes or blood pressure medications; (b) dependence is distinctive from addiction/abuse; (c) addiction/abuse is perceived as worse than dependence; and (d) concerns of addiction/abuse result in low-dose benzodiazepine use.     

Caregiving in Transition in Southern Europe: Neither Complete Altruists nor Free-riders

In the framework of the SOCCARE Project, focusing on families dealing with a double front of care for children and frail elderly people, similarities can be found in Italy, France and Portugal beyond their different welfare regimes. The comparison of family histories and caregiving strategies, by the methodology of case‐matching, gives an interesting overview of the relationship between the debate on social care and that on the intergenerational contract. The paper aims to understand which are the available combinations of family, informal and institutional resources making a heavy burden of care “acceptable and still normal”: this focuses both typical situations of each country and common features through the countries. The results show how changes in the representations of obligation and duty in the intergenerational pact produce different outcomes and demands in welfare systems. The analysis of shifting boundaries between the public and private spheres in care provides useful policy recommendations, aimed at improving choices and “sustainable” responsibilities of individuals, families and social networks. Sustainable policies seem to be more dependent on family and structural types and resources of networks than on different welfare and services support.