Suspicious minds: local context and attitude variation across Swedish municipalities

Johansson Sevä I. Suspicious minds: local context and attitude variation across Swedish municipalities
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 225–235 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article investigates whether degree of suspicion of welfare abuse relates to local context in Sweden. It is suggested that certain features of Swedish municipalities can create a local information bias influencing individual suspicion of welfare abuse. Prevalence of social problems and political climate are features of the municipal context having the potential to influence opinion formation. Social problems are captured by local unemployment, social assistance and ill‐health rates. Political climate is captured by electoral support for conservatives. The results indicate that local context can influence suspicion of welfare abuse, contexts where social problems are widespread reduce such suspicion. While local political climate seems important in itself, it also interacts with social problem level, increasing suspicion if a conservative political climate and social problems coexist. While social problems seem to generate less suspicion regarding social policy abuse, they also provide ‘raw material’ for political rhetoric regarding suspicion.     

我国城市居民最低生活保障制度发展与完善研究——以长沙市为例

我国城市居民最低生活保障制度是我国实施比较成功的一项社会救助制度。目前,长沙的低保制度在制度设计和运行方面仍存在消极的救助取向、平均式的救助标准、配套政策的负激励效应以及管理监督体系不健全等一些问题。为此,有必要对其进行探索改革,通过采取积极的福利政策、制定科学的保障标准,推行分类施助和差异救助、建立健全低保制度的管理监督体系等积极措施解决其存在的问题,更好地发挥最低生活保障制度的有效功能。     

Exploring Neglected Dimensions of Social Policy: The SDW, Fiscal Welfare and the Exemplar of Local Taxation in England

Titmuss's Social Division of Welfare (SDW) thesis is a vitally important but much neglected element of social policy analysis. This article seeks to explore the SDW, with a particular focus on fiscal welfare. Fiscal welfare has been described as forming a hidden welfare state, and while taxation is one of the main ways in which governments affect the lives of citizens, studies of welfare pay remarkably little attention to its impact. Fiscal welfare is examined by using, as an exemplar, local taxation in England, a subject that itself is neglected within social policy. Local taxation in England is of interest because it illustrates the impact of a system of taxation on different groups of citizens, and how this can operate to the benefit of rich over poor citizens. This is because the current system is highly regressive, meaning that those on low and middle incomes spend proportionately more of their income paying the tax than do those on high incomes. What is of further interest is how within the debate about reform of local taxation, concern with regressivity becomes obscured and ceases to be the focus of attention. We are thus provided with an example of how fiscal welfare remains a hidden issue. The article concludes by arguing that social policy analysis needs to move beyond the narrow confines of social welfare and develop a broader understanding of welfare, based on the SDW.     

隐性财务契约与企业价值关系研究

知识经济时代,以关系资本、客户资本、声誉资本等为代表的隐性财务资本对企业价值的贡献度越来越大.针对现有文献对隐性财务契约的研究空白,本文在系统归纳、梳理国内外文献基础上,探究了隐性财务契约的基本思想、研究模型、构成要素、驱动系统等,并分别从隐性债务契约、隐性股权契约、隐性福利薪酬契约三个视角对隐性财务契约和企业价值的关系进行了深入的分析探讨.研究表明:隐性债务契约可能与企业价值正相关有助于提升企业价值,也可能与企业价值负相关无助于提升企业价值;隐性股权契约是一种基于财务控制权配置的激励约束机制,这种激励约束机制使得隐性股权契约与企业价值创造正相关;隐性消费方式在影响隐性福利报酬契约履行度的同时进一步影响到企业价值的创造.上述研究结论为深入理解隐性财务契约与企业价值的关系奠定了理论基础.     

可行能力与农民工的福利状况评价

基于辽宁省沈阳市农民工调查数据,应用森的可行能力理论和模糊数学方法对农民工的福利状况进行整体评价。结果发现,农民工福利水平的总模糊指数为0.365,处于较低水平。分指标看,健康状况方面的福利状况处于较高水平,居住环境和精神感受方面的福利状况处于中间水平,其它功能性指标的福利水平较低。在影响农民工福利的主要因素中,工作环境和防护性保障的改善对提升农民工福利影响最大。运用OLS回归模型对农民工的福利状况进行扩展分析,发现农民工群体内部存在较强的异质性,并且不同特征的农民工群体福利水平相差很大。     

农村经济、社会福利与区域非均衡性研究

我国农村经济增长与社会福利存在明显的区域非均衡性,二者均呈现出自东部向西部递减的规律;大部分省、市经济增长和社会福利的耦合度经历了从勉强协调向基本协调过渡的发展过程,二者的协调程度还有进一步提升的空间;经济增长指数与耦合度表现出了一致的波动性,经济子系统对整个系统具有牵引作用.当前,加快发展农村经济,扩大对农村地区的必要性供给,推进农村地区的城镇化进程是实现我国农村地区经济增长与社会福利协同发展的有效途径.     

元朝野生动物保护政策及其对旅游资源保护的启示

在中国历史上,元朝统治者比较懂得爱惜野生动物。在这种思想意识的支配下,他们制定了一套完整的保护野生动物的条例和法规,详细规定了狩猎和禁猎的时间、地点及捕猎野生动物的种类,并在实践中认真贯彻执行,使元朝的野生动物保护工作走上了法制轨道,取得了明显的社会效益、经济效益和生态效益。这一切对于今天的旅游资源开发与保护仍有借鉴意义。     

金融知识差异与我国家庭财富积累

通过应用中国城市家庭消费金融调研数据,本文系统的实证检验了改进后的金融知识指标、经济学专业、金融学专业以及家庭理财规划等因素对家庭各项财富积累的影响,并通过使用合适的工具变量进行两阶段估计,验证了这种正向影响的稳健性。此外,实证结果中家庭理财规划以及理财规划时间跨度的正向边际效应表明,理财规划可能是金融知识差异影响家庭财富积累的重要机制。研究结论有利于更准确地理解居民金融知识差异对于家庭福利,特别是退休福利的影响。     

Dual conditionality in welfare and housing for lone parents in Ireland: Change and continuity?

This article focuses on multiple conditionalities in benefits and housing from the perspective of lone parents in Ireland. The Irish case echoes historical experiences elsewhere and is offered not as an exceptional or extreme case but as an in-depth single case study and a lens for comparison. Although contemporary forms and combinations of conditionalities are new to Ireland, the experience of multiple conditionalities in benefits and housing is not new. Hence, a historical perspective is used to examine contemporary multiple conditionalities in benefits and housing. In the past, conditional regimes for lone parents were justified in terms of moral reformation for first time mothers and avoiding moral contagion of mothers with subsequent pregnancies. In contemporary times, in the case of employment, lone parents are problematised as working part-time and “nesting” on in-work-benefits, and in the case of homelessness, lone parents who prioritise the security of tenure embedded in social housing are accused of “gaming” the system. While acknowledging ambiguities, the paper finds the overlap of welfare and housing discourses contribute, intentionally or unintentionally, to epistemological foundations or understandings of lone parents, shifting public perceptions, and framing them as “problems” to be solved. They simultaneously temper lone parents' expectations. Increased precarity and disempowerment is associated with dual conditionality, and ontological uncertainty is multiplied when experienced cumulatively across employment, social protection, and housing regimes in a context of generally poor public services and labour market precarity and in the historical context of stigmatisation. Nonetheless, lone parents demonstrate considerable agency.     

Evaluating social investment in disability policy

Disability policy in European countries is displaying a shift towards social investment: increasing human capital and access to the labour market. The reasoning that underlies this transition is that disabled persons would benefit from mainstream employment, but are impeded in traditional policy by deficiencies in labour supply and demand. However, the shift towards more activating policies in many countries is accompanied by a decline in social protection. It is unclear whether social investment may effectively promote the employment chances of disabled persons within this context. The present research examines this question through a quantitative, cross-sectional, multilevel analysis on microdata from 22 EU countries. Our findings suggest greater activation to predict lower employment chances, while reducing passive support shows mixed effects. Conversely, measures for facilitation in daily life predict greater employment chances, as do measures for sheltered work. These findings raise questions over the value of social investment for disabled persons—and underline the need to overcome broader barriers in the labour market and in society.