Effects of Work Incentive Policies and Determinants of the Socioeconomic Status of Welfare Leavers in an Economically Disadvantaged Area

Abstract

This study explores how work incentive policies influence the socioeconomic status of welfare leavers. Logistic and ordinal regression methods were used to analyze 1999 statewide survey data on West Virginia WORKS leavers. This study found that people who had more months of eligibility remaining for TANF were more likely to have jobs than those with fewer months of eligibility. People who had been sanctioned for noncompliance with work requirementswere less likely to have jobs than those who had not been sanctioned. However, childcare assistance had a significant influence on the employment of welfare leavers. EITC was significantly associated with the expectation of high economic status. Policy implications are discussed.     

文化的多元性与少数民族双语教学

现代化是每个民族繁荣昌盛的必由之路,丧失现代化意味着民族的贫困;每个民族又应保在自己的优秀文化传统,丧失文化传统意味着民族的消亡。民族教育中正确处理好现代化与传统文化的关系,就要做到民族教育的现代化和现代教育的现代化。文章结合两个藏汉双语教学的典型实践,从文化的多元性角度,引发了对民族教育中双语教学问题的思考。     

福利国家为什么需要慈善部门？

自福利国家陷入危机以来,慈善部门在福利国家中的功能问题一直没有得到全面和系统的讨论。福利多元主义者将慈善部门视为政府的合作伙伴,希望通过政府委托慈善部门提供公共服务的方式来缓解福利国家的危机;新自由主义者则认为这一定位会使慈善部门对政府的资金产生依赖,使慈善部门失去独立性,因而主张以市场化的方式来解决国家的福利供给问题,让慈善部门在公共服务以外的领域发挥作用。辨析福利多元主义与新自由主义的争论,结合全球化时代慈善部门出现的新特征,可以看到,慈善部门在福利国家中具有绩效提升、结构补充、价值倡导、民主促进、就业吸收和国际支援等六大功能。     

Rhetoric and Reality of Economic Self-sufficiency Among Rural,Low-Income Mothers: A Longitudinal Study

This study examined the contributions of maternal labor force participation and marital status on economic self-sufficiency over time for rural mothers. Data were from 174 rural families participating in three waves of data collection in Rural Families Speak. χ ² and multiple logistic regression were utilized. Results revealed only one-third of mothers moved toward economic self-sufficiency over three years. Maternal education, employment status, and weekly work hours were associated with improved economic well-being. Compared to single-parent families, unmarried-couple and married-couple families had increased odds of improving economically. In an analysis of all mothers with partners, married or unmarried, martial status was not significant in economic improvement. Findings suggest the role of marriage in welfare reform for rural families should be reconsidered.

Bridging the gap between social work practice and community based welfare agencies

This article argues that social work in the UK needs to renegotiate its relationship with community welfare agencies. It begins by examining what we mean by local community and how welfare needs reflect complex non-linear dynamics unique to the local circumstances. It is argued that these are not always recognised in centralised policy agendas. The article broadly draws a parallel between policy issues for the European Community and for the national state. The drive for both is towards uniformity, which potentially fails to acknowledge the unique circumstances at both the national level between nations and the local level between communities.

The focus of the analysis is the lack of engagement with the subtleties of the local within the arena of social work education and practice. With the opportunity presented by the introduction of a new social work degree in the UK, the authors describe how a social work programme in Liverpool undertook a piece of research with the aim of creating an appropriate place for community welfare agencies in practice placements, the academic curriculum and, ultimately, with the next generation of social work practitioners. Eight welfare agencies within the proximity of Liverpool University, an area known as Toxteth, agreed to participate in the research to investigate what kind of placement module would enable local welfare agencies to engage meaningfully in the social work degree. Out of this process emerged a model for research based curriculum development involving local community agencies and academic institutions. More specifically for Liverpool, it placed the notion of social work's relationship with local community welfare at the heart of professional development for qualifying social workers, paving the way in this region of England for closer links between welfare agencies associated with civil society and professional social workers.     

Disagreement over the immigration of low-income earners in a welfare state

This paper studies natives’ economically motivated preferences over different levels of immigration of low-income earners. Immigration affects natives through both intra- and intergenerational redistribution programmes and in the labour market. Our analysis suggests, in a welfare state that looks after the poor and the aged, economic motivation does not necessarily lead a native to have an extreme opinion on the preferable level of immigration, although it causes disagreement among natives. We find, regardless of parameter values, high-income earners prefer at least as much immigration as low-income earners who, in turn, prefer at least as much immigration as pensioners. The median voter is then likely to be a low-income native.

西方新自由主义福利思想述评

新自由主义继承和延续了古典自由主义的政治和经济思想内核,同时在批判凯恩斯主义的基础上阐述了自己的福利思想。新自由主义者以政治自由和经济自由为基本出发点,对集权主义和国家干预的制度模式进行批判,反对福利国家的福利制度。20世纪80年代后新自由主义的福利思想渐渐在一些西方国家成为主流思想,以新自由主义福利思想为指导的社会福利政策改革开始实施。     

福利多元主义视角下城市“老漂族”精神赡养问题研究——以广州市三个典型社区为例

本研究聚焦渐趋普遍的“老漂族”群体异地养老现象,关注其精神健康。以福利多元和精神赡养理论为分析框架,对广州市三个老年流动人口较集中地区的“老漂族”进行问卷调查及访谈,通过多元线性回归分析政府、家庭、社区、市场等主体的服务供给对“老漂族”异地养老精神需求产生的影响,剖析“老漂族”异地精神赡养的需求和供给现状。本文的主要结论是,目前的养老福利托底政策和市场补充供给的不足给“老漂族”带来异地养老尤其是精神赡养上一定的困难,建议更多地发挥家庭、社区和社会组织的作用,提倡养老资源供给模式应将物质服务和精神扶助结合起来,实现养老渠道多样化、社会福利供给主体多元化,形成多元供给主体之间的协调与互补,共同支撑起能够惠及“老漂族”异地精神赡养的养老服务体系。     

Getting low educated and older people into work: The role of fiscal policy

Raising employment, in particular employment among older individuals and low educated individuals, stands high on the agenda of policy makers in many OECD countries. Increased sensitivity in recent years to rising inequality has made the challenge only larger. In this paper we evaluate alternative fiscal policy scenarios to face this challenge. We construct and use an overlapping generations model for an open economy where individuals differ not only by age, but also by innate ability and human capital. The model allows us to study effects on aggregate employment, per capita income and welfare, as well as effects for specific age and ability groups. We show that well-considered fiscal policy changes can significantly improve macroeconomic productive efficiency, without increasing intergenerational or intragenerational welfare inequality. Our results strongly prefer a reduction in the labor tax rate on older workers and on all low-wage earners, financed by an overall reduction in non-employment benefits. An alternative financing option is to raise the consumption tax rate. These results are to be seen as long-run effects for economies at potential output.     

多元·创新·现实主义--20世纪美国文学综述

20世纪美国文学取得了举世瞩目的成就.其主要有以下几个特点文学流派繁多,异彩纷呈;戏剧、诗歌、小说各领风骚,现实主义小说成就最高;文学批评表现出独立性、多元性和科学性;文学创作者具有反传统性与创新性.这些特点使美国文学充满了生机和活力,并对世界其他国家的文学发展产生了越来越大的影响.