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.     

Singapore's policy responses to ageing, inequality and poverty: An assessment

Abstract   Singapore represents an instructive case study in responding to rapid ageing, growing inequalities, and significant relative poverty. Unlike other high-income Asian countries, it has relied on single-tier mandatory savings to finance retirement, housing, and to a lesser extent, healthcare. To address the low fertility rates, it has permitted the share of the non-citizen population to triple between 1990 and 2005 to nearly 30 per cent. This is subtly altering Singapore's socio-political dynamics, while assisting in sustaining growth and competitiveness. The paper argues that Singapore has the fiscal, institutional, and organizational capacities for a modern multi-tier social security system. Singapore is, however, determined to continue with current inadequate and inequitable arrangements, requiring individuals and their families to bear disproportionate risks in financing retirement, healthcare, and short-term income support. This reflects conscious policy choices arising from a Darwinist vision of society, and the need for socio-political control.     

Rural poverty and disability in Ethiopia: Formidable policy challenges

Our study aims to deepen our understanding of the links between rural poverty and disability in Ethiopia. We use panel data for Ethiopia to illustrate these linkages, using rigorous econometric methodology. The 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly recognise disability as a major impediment to elimination of poverty and hunger. In the current development discourse, disability has thus acquired high priority. Since disability is neither a purely medical nor a social phenomenon but an outcome of their interplay, the policy challenges are formidable.     

Closing the gap: the growing divide between poverty research and policy in Australia

This paper reviews major developments in Australian poverty research in the 50 years since the Melbourne poverty study established the Henderson measurement framework. It focuses on the limitations of the dominant, but narrow income (poverty line) approach used in Australia, contrasts it with the deprivation approach pioneered and refined in the United Kingdom, and shows how this provides more compelling evidence that poverty exists. Against the background of recent developments in international poverty research, the paper identifies existing gaps in Australia, and explores what needs to be done to address this situation. It then draws on international experience to examine how anti‐poverty policy has evolved, focusing on the role of poverty targets in producing better data and promoting debate between policy makers, researchers and community sector practitioners about developing better measures. Australia lags behind these developments: a new approach is needed that engages researchers, policy makers, and other key stakeholders in positive dialogue aimed at setting a new framework for poverty measurement and an achievable anti‐poverty policy agenda.     

Growth,inequality and poverty in Vietnam: How did trade liberalisation help the poor, 2002–2008

Using the Vietnamese Living Standards Surveys for 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008, we explore how provinces with differential access to trade liberalisation reforms differ in their pro-poor growth performance in Vietnam. Using both non-parametric and parametric estimation, we find strong, robust evidence of pro-poor growth in provinces with greater exposure to trade liberalisation. Using censored and uncensored regressions, the study also shows that increased wages play a critical role in this outcome. Our analysis enables identification of the core mechanisms through which the poor materialise their gains from trade-driven growth in a transition economy.     

Working late: policy relevance for older workers in the United States

The United States has seen a sizable increase in older worker labour force participation, although how much of this is due to public policy is uncertain. In fact, outside of academic and policy research circles, there has been relatively little attention paid to older workers and the challenges of an aging workforce in that country. Public policymakers have not demonstrated the same interest in expanding employment opportunities for older workers that they have shown for other groups, or that has been seen in other countries. Still, a number of significant pieces of legislation have been enacted over the past several decades that should be making continued employment at later ages easier, more attractive, or more essential financially. This paper examines those policies. However, because of confounding and conflicting influences from elsewhere, public policy initiatives focusing on older worker employment do not appear to be major contributors to rising labour force participation rates at older ages.     

Social work students and social change: on the link between views on poverty, social work goals and policy practice

This article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the factors that are associated with social work students' willingness to engage in policy practice. It examines a model according to which the willingness to engage in policy practice is linked to the importance that students attribute to the goals of social work and to their views on poverty. The sample consisted of 138 social work students in one of Israel's leading universities. The measures consisted of four questionnaires developed specifically for this study. The findings revealed strong relationships between students' views regarding the causes of poverty and their attitudes towards the preferred ways to deal with poverty. In addition, strong relationships were found between the importance that students attributed to the goals of social work and their willingness to engage in policy practice. However, no significant relationships were found between students' views on poverty and their willingness to engage in policy practice. Different explanations for these findings are advanced in the article.     

Changes in household poverty among South Korean young adults: Decomposition analysis for 1995, 2006 and 2016

This study analysed the causes behind changes in the poverty rate among young South Korean households, using the 1995, 2006 and 2016 Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Labour market instability has intensified since the Asian economic crisis of 1997. This has increased the risk of poverty among young people who lack financial assets and must obtain economic security through work. The poverty rates among people aged 18–29 have steadily increased. Using Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, this study evaluated the contribution that characteristics and structure make to poverty rate changes. The study found that the poverty rate was lower in households with a higher level of education and in households with fewer members. The study also found that the poverty rate was higher in female‐headed households and in households where fewer of its members were employed. Furthermore, the poverty rate was found to have increased among the younger population in general. These findings indicate that social policies should take into consideration the changing life circumstances of young adults.     

The effectiveness of poverty reduction and the target efficiency of social security transfers in South Korea, 1999–2003

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of social security transfers between 1999 and 2003 in South Korea, the period during which the Asian economic crisis of 1997 occurred. The study used a secondary data set, which is part of the Korea Labour Panel Data. Of 5,000 original household samples, the results for the 2,728 households (54.6 per cent) that completed the surveys for all five years studied were analysed. One finding was that the average percentage of social security transfers appeared to be nominal, as was the 1.9 per cent in 1999, which grew to 2.4 per cent in 2003. Another finding was that the average poverty-reduction effectiveness for the five-year period was as low as 7.9 per cent, indicating a slightly increasing pattern. This percentage is only one-seventh to one-tenth that of Western countries. Target efficiency appeared to be 31.8 per cent. We give the following reasons to explain why the level of the poverty-reduction effectiveness of Korean social security transfers is comparatively low: the immaturity of the Korean Old Age Pension; the lack of diversity in social transfer programmes; and a cultural factor of stronger dependency on private transfers within the family structure.     

Subjective experiences of older adults in poverty in urban China and the role of social policy

This study establishes an evidence base regarding the experiences of older adults living in poverty in Beijing. Given the factors that shape the lives of low-income older adults, the findings are relevant for many middle- and low-income countries. Based on a series of in-depth interviews conducted with government officials and low-income older adults in Beijing, the study finds that poverty manifests as cumulative stress arising from four sources: financial strain, poor health, care burden and poverty-related shame. This stress is attributable to the co-existence of individual and structural factors that reflect the framing of anti-poverty policies in China.     

Varieties of liberalism: A comparative analysis of family policy and poverty outcomes across the 50 United States

The United States is generally recognised as an exemplar of liberal policy regime types. However, given evidence of state-level divergence in social policy, this article investigates to what extent such variation is present and relevant in state-level family policy. To this end, we pose a primary and secondary research question. Our primary question is whether varieties of liberalism exist across the 50 states in the United States. Our secondary question is whether these varieties of liberalism correspond to variety in social indicators of families' economic well-being. To answer our primary question, we first construct a family policy index that scores the relative generosity and coverage of state-administered social programmes that contribute to the (de)commodification and (de)familialisation of households with children. We then perform a cluster analysis to group states by shared decommodifying and defamilialising features. To answer our secondary question, we investigate how our family-policy clusters are associated with social indicators of families' financial security. Our findings suggest that varieties of liberalism do, indeed, exist within the United States. With the exception of Vermont, which stands out with respect to its comparatively generous family policies, we classify states into two groups: those with ‘soft’ liberal family policy in states featuring relatively generous and accessible policies and ‘hard’ liberal family policy in states achieving little of either. We find that these differences help explain state-level heterogeneity in levels of economic security among households with children, particularly single-mother households.     

Courtship,sex and poverty: illegitimacy in eighteenth-century Wales

This article sheds new light on illegitimacy in eighteenth-century Britain through an analysis of evidence from 36 parishes across the former Welsh counties Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire. Quantitative analysis of illegitimacy ratios demonstrates that levels were significantly higher in certain, but not all, parts of Wales in the eighteenth century. This evidence is considered in relation to explanatory frameworks used in the analysis of English data, which attempt to account for rising levels through cultural changes that influenced premarital sexual behaviour, and economic opportunities created by industrialization. Welsh evidence appears to present a challenge to these understandings in two key ways: Wales was linguistically different and lacked certain cultural markers which some historians have associated with an eighteenth-century ‘sexual revolution’, and because the highest levels of illegitimacy were found in agricultural regions of Wales which experienced little or no industrial change. It is argued that Welsh illegitimacy was influenced by a combination of courtship-led marriage customs, a decline in traditional forms of social control and worsening economic circumstances which, on closer examination, appear remarkably similar to London. This analysis provides further evidence that illegitimacy in eighteenth-century Britain was a deeply complex phenomenon governed by diverse regionally specific social and economic influences.     

Family policy and the under-3s: Money, services, and time in a policy package

The key components of social policy toward the elderly and disabled, and policies for families and their children, have featured what are by now widely employed income and service components. Now, as demographic and social change have motivated increasing numbers of countries to face the need for societal policies for children under the age of 3, exploration reveals the centrality of an additional policy dimension — time. A six-country study and earlier research targeted on this group finds that several major policy patterns are emerging, with individual country choices reflecting history, culture, religious traditions, political configurations, and resources. Referring to illustrative countries, the paper explicates these options: (a) supporting an at-home parent in "family work"; (b) backing a pattern of involvement of parents in both family and work; (c) offering parents of very young children the option of concentrating on family or work; (d) stressing programmes in support of the socialization and education of young children and their parents. It is suggested that social security institutions internationally contribute to these new developments through data collection, dissemination activities, and encouragement of discussion and research.     

Defining, measuring and talking about poverty: the case of Finland

Scholars have always disagreed about the definition and measurement of poverty. This article looks at these issues in the light of Finnish poverty research. The chief target of the methodological criticism is the use of equivalence scales or units of individual consumption in the comparison of individual people's disposable income. The main argument against this method is that it tends to be based on the implicit assumption that "people with low incomes need less money". Another major concern is to demonstrate the key significance of the empirical definition of poverty. Different methods of calculation single out very different groups of poor people Furthermore, part of the poor people are excluded from all conventional definitions.     

Elite,exclusive and elusive: transgovernmental policy networks and iterative policy transfer in the Anglosphere

ABSTRACT

The prominent corridor of bilateral policy transfer between Australia and the UK is underpinned by a long-standing cultural and political proximity. While ad hoc cases of transfer have in recent years been the subject to concerted attention from transfer theorists, much less attention has been given to the rise of multilateral, or transgovernmental, policy networks based on similar cultural and political amity amongst the ‘Anglosphere’ group of states including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US. Populated by policy elites and regularly interacting, these networks represent potentially important modes of policy transfer yet little is known about how they operate, with what purposes or what outcomes. This article therefore sets out research findings that offer an insight into 23 identified networks, suggesting that understanding the emergence of these networks are crucial to explaining any bilateral transfer between Anglosphere states in general, and specifically Australia and the UK. The article contends that a consideration of these networks provides insight into (i) the substantive landscape of Anglosphere policy learning and collaboration, (ii) the attendant dynamics of collaborative policy networks as elite, elusive and exclusive and (iii) iterative policy transfers.     

The Rise and Fall of the UK's First Tax Credit: The Working Families Tax Credit 1998–2000

The Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC), introduced in 1998/9, was regarded as the most important and easily the most redistributive measure introduced by the New Labour administration elected in 1997. WFTC is, however, scheduled to end, and to be replaced by another tax credit in 2003. This paper reviews the birth, brief life and "death" of WFTC in the period 1998–2000 and examines the structure of eligibility for WFTC in one UK region.     

Working in the Social Services: Job Satisfaction, Stress and Violence

Correspondence to Professor Jan Pahl, Department of Social and Public Policy and Social Work, Darwin College, University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury CT2 7NY. Summary A major survey of the social services workforce (Balloch etal., forthcoming), carried out in the Research Unit at the NationalInstitute for Social Work, has produced new data about sourcesof job satisfaction and about the incidence of stress and violence.The survey took place in five different local authorities inEngland, and interviews were carried out with 1276 individuals,selected from four groups of staff: managers, social work staff,home care workers and residential staff. The results suggestedthat those who work in the statutory, social services do experiencemore stress and violence than workers in other parts of thehealth and welfare services. However, different jobs presenteddifferent hazards. In general, home care workers were the mostsatisfied with their jobs, and were also the group least likelyto be stressed or to experience violence in the course of theirwork. By contrast, residential workers, especially those withmanagement responsibilities, were most at risk of both violenceand stress. Men were more likely than women to experience violence,while other groups with a higher than average risk of stressincluded younger members of staff, and managers and social workstaff responsible for elderly people.     

The M/V Selendang Ayu disaster: Linkages between policy change, gaps, and crises

The 2004 M/V Selendang Ayu grounding in the Aleutian Islands was the worst spill disaster to hit Alaska coastal waters since the 1989 Exxon Valdez catastrophe. The grounding – resulting in several crew member deaths and 354,000 gallons of spilled diesel fuel – left stakeholders asking some basic questions. How could such a tragedy have happened? Was the tragedy a result of shortcomings in the existing policy? This case study suggests answers can be found through an examination of the linkages between crisis catalysts, policy change and subsequent gaps in statutory provisions.     

Explaining the perceived justice of disaster relief policy: An empirical study based on the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China

The Chinese government issued generous relief policies after the Wenchuan Earthquake. However, according to my survey, 20.32 per cent (n = 1,949) of the earthquake victim‐survivors felt that they were treated unfairly in receiving government assistance after the earthquake. In the present study, a perceived justice framework was established to explain the victim‐survivors’ perception of justice of the disaster relief policy in China and several hypotheses were developed. The hypotheses were tested empirically using household survey data of the Wenchuan Earthquake. The empirical study found that perceived justice, which is composed of three dimensions (distributive justice, interpersonal justice and informational justice), could directly assess the effect of the disaster relief policy. The results of the empirical study also demonstrated that the most important principle of the disaster relief policy was ‘need distribution’, which was also the most important factor of perceived justice. The study concluded that it is imperative to improve victim‐survivors’ feeling of fairness, policy information delivery and their expectations management when implementing a disaster relief policy.