Health care privatization processes in Europe: Theoretical justifications and empirical classification

This article analyses the health care system reform process in Europe based on the concept of privatization. This notion is understood from two perspectives. First, privatization may concern the health care financing or the provision of health services. Second, privatization can be “imposed” on individuals or be “internalized” and then introduced by individuals (patients and doctors). So we emphasize the diversity that privatization can assume. We classify privatization mechanisms used by different countries and identify which of the perspectives presented are more common in 14 European Union countries since the 1980s. The article shows that even if privatization processes are widespread, they assume different patterns in each country.     

Placement breakdowns in long‐term foster care – a regional Swedish study

We used a regional sample of children in long‐term foster care to investigate the prevalence of placement breakdown in adolescence, and to assess risk factors/risk markers for placement disruption. The sample consisted of all 136 foster children in the region, born 1980–1992, who on their 12th birthday had been in the same foster family for at least 4 years. They were followed in case files until date of disruption or their 18th birthday. Data on conditions before and during placement were retrieved from case files, and analysed in bi‐ and multivariate models. Results showed that one in four placements broke down in adolescence. The median child who experienced a breakdown was 14 years old, and had been in the same foster home for more than 10 years. Prominent risk factors were (i) being placed after age 2 and (ii) having a birth sibling in the same foster home. We also uncovered strong risk markers that can be viewed as precursors of placement disruption. When the child or the foster parents repeatedly over time expressed dissatisfaction with the placement, this ended with a placement breakdown in 60% of cases. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Civil Organizations in Mexico: Recent Evolution and Prospects

This paper begins by identifying how, as a result of the confluence of a number of factors, civil organizations (COs) in Mexico have shown an exponential development in the past 15 years. However, it is argued that COs are suffering a fiscal crisis and, in some sense, an economic one, provoked by the political reaction of the government toward this growth. At the same time, there is no crisis of legitimacy; their increasing levels of social support suggests a trend in the reverse direction. However, the legitimacy attributable by the population to nonprofits seems to be due to the novelty of this sociopolitical actor in the context of a disappointment with more traditional ones including government and political parties—as opposed to an endorsement of their proven capacity or efficiency in solving the problems of development. To take advantage of what seems to be a golden opportunity for its positive development, in addition to changing the unfavorable economic environment, it is argued that the sector has to face the challenge of thinking in its long-term interest and making sure that it is positioned to act as capably efficient.     

Book Review: Carrie A. Meyer,The Economics and Politics of NGOs in Latin America,Praeger, West Port, 1999, xix + 196 pp

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Employment Quality: Are There Differences by Types of Contract?

Measuring welfare state generosity in developing and transitional welfare states is often challenged not only by lack of comparative quantitative data, but also by issues of conceptual stretching. This paper demonstrates and discusses the use of one of the key measures of welfare entitlement generosity developed in the comparative welfare state research in the context of post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). With the new time series data provided by the Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset CWED2, comparative approaches including the CEE countries have become feasible. This paper first discusses quantitative measures of welfare entitlement generosity in the tradition of the social rights of citizenship approach and how they can be applied for cross-country comparisons. It then demonstrates empirically how the emerging CEE welfare states’ generosity compares to mature “old” OECD welfare states. Finally, the paper shows the potential and the pitfalls of quantitative measures of welfare state generosity by discussing, to what extent do indicators of social security scheme generosity measure the same in established and emerging welfare states, which functional equivalents may be relevant in the context of emerging welfare states and how far can we stretch our theoretical concepts.     

Socioeconomic Classification of the Working-Age Brazilian Population: A Joint Latent Class Analysis Using Social Class and Asset-Based Perspectives

This paper presents and applies a methodology of socioeconomic classification that integrates asset- and social class approaches. We employ data from the 2013 Brazilian National Household Survey and use latent class analysis to identify clusters and classify the working population. With regard to social class the Brazilian occupations are classified based on the European Socioeconomic Classification (ESeC) schema and an indicator of employment status. As for household wealth, we use the items related to household condition, ownership of durable goods and access to public services with the highest discriminatory power. We also make use of variables that account for the Brazilian spatial and socio-demographic heterogeneity. We found four clusters which we term latent socioeconomic stratum (LSeS). When compared we found an ordered pattern from the best-off LSeS (1) to the worst-off (4) with respect to household wealth and ESeC classes. Nevertheless, although the class composition of each LSeS reveals a distinct concentration of specific ESeC classes, all classes are present in each LSeS. Controlling for social class, differences in household wealth are more marked between LSeS than between social classes within the same LSeS. Hence, the methodology unveils the latent socioeconomic strata, reveals a class schema for each stratum and points out potential stratum fractions within them. The results were validated using variables external to the model, namely household food security status and years of schooling. The external validation revealed the same ordered pattern and the presence of stratum fractions.