OVEREXPANSION IN THE SOCIAL INSURANCE BUDGET AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Browning (1975) has recently reasoned that the social insurance budget is inevitably too large in a democracy. The purpose of this paper is to argue that there are different conceptual contexts within which the correct size of the social insurance budget can be analyzed. Within at least one relevant context it is not at all obvious that the social insurance budget must inevitably be too large in a democracy, The first part of this paper reviews Browning's argument. The second presents an alternative analysis which leads to the conclusion that the social insurance system may well have certain characteristics that work toward the maintenance of an efficient budget level.     

民国时期社会保险辨析

民国时期是否建立了社会保险制度,是社会保障学界存在重大分歧的重要问题。本文在提出判断社会保险制度确立与否的标准的基础上,根据民国时期社会保险在立法、行政与实施方面的实践考辨,得出民国时期没有成功建立社会保险制度的结论,进而从宏观环境结构、中观制度复合体和微观行动者等3个层面,对民国时期影响社会保险制度产生的机制进行探究。     

Social security reform ideas in Japan

Japan has a complex social security system. This article discusses the demographic and economic situation in Japan as background for understanding the setting in which the social security system functions. Japan has a three-pillar system for retirement income. The first pillar is the social security pension plan; the second pillar is the voluntary occupational pension plan; and the third pillar is personal savings, including the personal pension plan. The most important part of the retirement income system is the social security pension plan, which paid benefits accounting for 64% of the total income of elderly households in 1998. The five Employees' Pension Plans are established on a compulsory social insurance basis. Most large Japanese employers have a mandatory retirement age. Over 90% of all employees, including public sector ones, must retire from their career jobs at age 60.     

社会保险权的历史发展:从工业公民资格到社会公民资格

伴随着现代社会保障制度的改革与发展,社会保险权的发展轨迹也愈加清晰:从德国《1881年帝国诏书》中面向劳工阶级的"书面性"权利,到美国1935年《社会保障法案》中"较为丰满"的法定权利,再到1942年《贝弗里奇报告》描画的国民普享式社会权利,并经受住了20世纪70年代末以来"新保守主义及其政策导向的考验",经历了从工业公民资格到社会公民资格的螺旋式演进。在这个过程中,社会保险制度呈现出的全民化、福利化和私营化趋向,已经、正在、未来必将继续影响社会保险权的发展。     

Youth Perspectives on Social Insurance in Egypt: Qualitative Insights on the Gap between Legal and Effective Coverage

A gap between legal and effective coverage rates is a common challenge facing social insurance systems in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries. This article draws on an exploratory qualitative study with youth in Egypt to examine how labour market dynamics and worker preferences contribute to this gap. Labour market factors, particularly instability of employment and job mobility, were found to reduce the perceived value of social insurance. Poor understanding of how social insurance works was another contributing factor. However, youth displayed a high level of trust in the public social insurance system and saw pensions as valuable in the abstract. In combination with awareness promotion, eliminating penalties to discontinuous labour force participation could make social insurance more attractive to youth.     

Social Security Reform Ideas in Japan

Abstract

Japan has a complex social security system. This article discusses the demographic and economic situation in Japan as background for understanding the setting in which the social security system functions. Japan has a three-pillar system for retirement income. The first pillar is the social security pension plan; the second pillar is the voluntary occupational pension plan; and the third pillar is personal savings, including the personal pension plan. The most important part of the retirement income system is the social security pension plan, which paid benefits accounting for 64% of the total income of elderly households in 1998. The five Employees' Pension Plans are established on a compulsory social insurance basis. Most large Japanese employers have a mandatory retirement age. Over 90% of all employees, including public sector ones, must retire from their career jobs at age 60.     

Women and social security: a progressive approach

This article explores some major assumptions underlying the Social Security system and alternative approaches to rendering the system more economically viable, meeting the income needs of the elderly and/or providing greater equity under its benefit and taxation provisions. It attempts to show that the current structure of Social Security not only reinforces but also exacerbates the underlying economic inequalities in our nation's political economy under the guise of a social insurance program. In addressing selected benefit and taxation issues, the article focuses on how working and older women are faring in the 1990s under the Social Security system. It argues that although the program theoretically is gender neutral, its impact is not. Women, particularly those who are single, are poorly served. The article concludes that a progressive restructuring of the Social Security system itself is imperative if we are to meet the needs of a large percentage of workers, older people, and the economic and social demands of the 1990s and beyond. It also offers some suggestions for such change.     

Women and Social Security:

This article explores some major assumptions underlying the Social Security system and alternative approaches to rendering the system more economically viable, meeting the income needs of the elderly and/or providing greater equity under its benefit and taxation provisions. It attempts to show that the current structure of Social Security not only reinforces but also exacerbates the underlying economic inequalities in our nation's political economy under the guise of a social insurance program. In addressing selected benefit and taxation issues, the article focuses on how working and older women are faring in the 1990s under the Social Security system. It argues that although the program theoretically is gender neutral, its impact is not. Women, particularly those who are single, are poorly served. The article concludes that a progressive restructuring of the Social Security system itself is imperative if we are to meet the needs of a large percentage of workers, older people, and the economic and social demands of the 1990s and beyond. It also offers some suggestions for such change.     

Private agencies for public purposes: some new perspectives on policy making in health insurance between the wars

The approved societies, who were charged with the administration of health insurance in Britain, have long been blamed for the failure of the scheme to expand its coverage or scope in the interwar period. This paper takes a closer look at the administrative process and argues that societies were more vulnerable to central regulation than is commonly thought and were unable to resist cuts in public subsidies and extensions in liability introduced at their expense. They provided a convenient scapegoat for policies emanating primarily from the economic orthodoxy subscribed to by both government and the Treasury, modified to protect the unemployed during the slump. Health insurance policy was dominated to a large extent by the Government Actuary, who aimed to guarantee the cost effectiveness of the scheme. This paper also shows how administrative definitions and practices affected the classification of claimants to state social insurance at this time. It re-establishes the major weaknesses of the system, arguing that--in the light of recent discussions about reviving a system of national health insurance--we have much to learn from looking again at the experience of the interwar period.     

Payroll taxes for social security in the United States: The future of fiscal and social policy illusions

This paper examines the validity of common assumptions about the basis of public support for the U.S. social security program. Various rationales for the social insurance approach are summarized and critically assessed. A review of public opinion surveys from 1935–1981 shows: (1) the distinction between social insurance and public assistance was not regarded as important by the public in the program's early years; (2) most Americans are now aware that the system operates on a pay-as-you-go basis; (3) there is widespread feeling that social security payroll taxes are too high, but at the same time a majority of the population thinks program benefits should be maintained or increased; and (4) serious doubt about the program's future is widespread, with many workers believing that there will not be sufficient money left for their own pensions when they retire. The paper concludes that the explanation of social security's enduring popular appeal and the phenomenon of mass toleration of rising payroll taxes is more closely tied to the perception that the program serves a deserving clientele, rather than a result of the social insurance approach.     

Competing for seafaring labour: Social security and agency employment in Chinese shipping

This paper discusses one strategy that Chinese crewing agencies adopt to compete with each other in the global seafarer labour supplying market. This strategy is related to Chinese seafarers’ social insurance participation. It shows that crewing agencies utilised a dual workforce – ‘company-owned seafarers’ and ‘externally hired seafarers’. Externally hired seafarers, though in precarious employment, are offered higher salaries in place of social insurance coverage. By contrast, company-owned seafarers are paid less, though enjoy social insurance arranged by agencies. This strategy serves to segment the seafarer labour market, conceal the level playing field and help agencies recruit seafarers cost-effectively, though in violation of labour rights. This paper argues that this strategy grows out of the competitive landscape co-shaped by the national regulatory and institutional settings and the global structure of the shipping industry.     

加快完善上海城乡基本社会保障机制研究

本文以促进上海城乡社会保障协调发展、提高上海社会保障效力为目标,研究完善上海社会保障机制的方法和策略,在对上海现行城乡社会保障机制进行现状评估的基础上,重点从三个方面进行突破：一是对上海社会保险项目重新进行目标定位、对覆盖的人群进行重新界定,进而对上海社会保障体系进行“顸层设计”,提出完善的上海城乡社会保险制度体系及内容;二是着重探讨上海社会保障城乡待遇的合理梯度和各基本社会保险项目之间的衔接机制,以探寻实现社会保障目标模式的路径及其手段;三是提出“十二五”时期上海市城乡社会保障机制建设的主要目标、任务,以及实现目标任务的时间表和保障措施,以期为政府决策提供咨询和参考。     

The importance of employer sponsorship in the long-term care insurance market

Medicare and Medicaid are major sources of long-term care payments and thus will bear much of the burden from the growth in long-term care service use. The large future demand for long-term care services is of great concern among policymakers due to its expense and the use of public program dollars. It is argued that the individual purchase of long-term care insurance can help alleviate the increasing financial pressure on public programs responsible for the majority of longterm care financing. However, consumers have shown little interest in insuring against the high costs of long-term care. This analysis examines the effect of several factors on the decision to purchase a long-term care insurance policy: knowledge and attitudes of long-term care insurance and the long-term care financing system, the perceived risk for longterm care, financial planning behavior, and the availability of long-term care insurance. The interim results indicate the factor most likely to affect the decision to purchase long-term care insurance is access to employer-sponsored long-term care insurance. This suggests tht the availability of affordable and high quality coverage is more important than demand-side factors such as awareness of long-term care insurance and a perceived greater risk for long-term care.     

ENTITLEMENT EFFECTS, UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE AND EMPLOYMENT DECISIONS

Many studies have identified the work disincentive effects of unemployment insurance. This paper points out the entitlement effect of this and other social insurance programs on employment, as the risks of labor-market participation are reduced by the existence of unemployment benefits. This employment-increasing effect can offset the disincentive effect, with the net impact on employment becoming an empirical issue. Using data on a sample of married women for 1971, we find that on net there is a slight negative effect on employment of higher unemployment insurance benefits. The entitlement effect on employment is, though, generally positive and significant, suggesting that the provisions of social insurance induce increased labor-force participation among women who otherwise would remain out of the labor force.     

Index insurance and climate risk management: Addressing social equity

Fair distribution of benefits from index insurance matters. Lack of attention to social equity can reinforce inequalities and undermine the potential index insurance holds as a tool for climate risk management that is also pro‐poor. The aims of this article are to: (a) examine social equity concerns raised by index insurance in the context of climate risk management, (b) consider how greater attention can be paid to social equity in index insurance initiatives, and (c) reflect on the policy challenges raised by taking social equity into account as a mechanism for climate risk reduction. The article draws on learning from the CGIAR's Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and presents the cases of the Index Based Livelihoods Insurance (IBLI) and Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise Ltd. (ACRE) in East Africa. It proposes a framework for unpacking social equity related to equitable access, procedures, representation and distribution within index insurance schemes. The framework facilitates identification of opportunities for building outcomes that are more equitable, with greater potential for inclusion and fairer distribution of benefits related to index insurance. The article argues that systematically addressing social equity raises hard policy choices for index insurance initiatives without straightforward solutions. Attention to how benefits and burdens of index insurance are distributed, suggests the unpalatable truth for development policy that the poorest members of rural society can be excluded. Nevertheless, a focus on social equity—facilitated by the framework—opens up opportunities to ensure index insurance is linked to more socially just climate risk management. At the very least, it may prevent index insurance from generating greater inequality. Taking social equity into account, thus, shifts the focus from agricultural systems in transition per se to systems with potential to incorporate societal transformation through distributive justice.     

China's agenda for an old-age insurance program in rural areas

Based on a field study conducted in August 1993 by the author, this article discusses the experimental program of old-age insurance in rural areas of China. The achievements made so far, the feasibility of old-age insurance in rural areas, and the problems encountered by the program are discussed. Policy recommendations regarding maintenance of the value of the premium, legislation, management of the program, and continuation of the family support system are proposed. It is emphasized that China urgently needs to establish a universal old-age insurance program and other social support services for the elderly. This would be akin to building a new Great Wall to help solve the serious problems of aging, reverse the trend of a high male-to-female sex ratio at birth, and further reduce fertility levels in less developed rural areas.     

The emergence of a health insurance system in a developing country: the case of South Korea

In an attempt to understand the social forces and the economic and political conditions under which new social policies emerge in developing countries, this study outlines factors affecting the introduction of the health insurance system in South Korea. The emergence of the South Korean health insurance system was influenced by changing labor needs of the industrial sector, increasing social expectations, external and international pressures, increasing medical costs, and class conflict. These pressures compelled the South Korean government to respond to demands for the introduction of new social welfare policies in the 1970s. In the case of South Korea, the new health insurance system resulted from the government's attempts to cope with political, economic, and social pressures rather than from an ideological commitment to the well-being of the population. The resulting insurance system was a way to maintain the social order and legitimacy of the regime, and a means to promote the health of groups important to defense or production.     

China's Agenda for an Old-Age Insurance Program in Rural Areas

Based on a field study conducted in August 1993 by the author, this article discusses the experimental program of old-age insurance in rural areas of China. The achievements made so far, the feasibility of old-age insurance in rural areas, and the problems encountered by the program are discussed. Policy recommendations regarding maintenance of the value of the premium, legislation, management of the program, and continuation of the family support system are proposed. It is emphasized that China urgently needs to establish a universal old-age insurance program and other social support services for the elderly. This would be ain to building a new Great Wall to help solve the serious problems of againg, reverse the trend to a high male-to-female sex ratio at birth, and further reduce fertility levels in less developed areas.     

浅析社保处养老保险档案管理

养老保险档案管理工作是社会保障工作的一个重要内容。当前社保处养老保险档案管理工作中存在着对养老保险档案管理的重要性认识不够,档案管理人员素质参差不齐,档案管理制度不够健全,档案硬件设施投入不足等一些问题。针对这些问题,可以从加强宣传,争取领导重视．加大投入力度;加强档案管理人才培养．打造高素质管理队伍;健全规章制度．确保档案管理规范、高效;提高技术支撑,实行档案信息化管理等四个方面加强管理。     

Expanding the focus of health insurance education for Medicare beneficiaries

Health insurance education plays an important role in helping consumers make informed decisions about their need for supplemental coverage. This article reviews findings on the knowledge of Medicare beneficiaries about their health insurance coverage. Then, current health insurance education programs are examined with regard to their ability to meet the needs of a competition-based public policy. Barriers outside the control of individuals that impede the growth of the long-term care insurance market are identified and the need for an alternative, broader form of health insurance education is suggested. Changes in the scope and content of health insurance education are proposed that would educate the elderly to their own needs as well as the larger policy issues. An expanded model of education based on the concept of the Swedish study circle is discussed to illustrate the possibility of combining individual knowledge and public debate about complex social issues.