The effects of social and political openness on the welfare state in 18 OECD countries

Studies examining the relationship between globalisation and the welfare state tend to focus on the effects of economic dimensions of globalisation, the extent to which a country is part of the world market. Globalisation also has social and political dimensions and the effects of these on welfare states – in terms of social security transfers and generosity – are studied in this article. Data from the KOF Index of Globalisation , the OECD Historical Statistics and the Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset are used to analyse the effects of social and political openness on the welfare states of 18 countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development between 1970 and 2000. The analyses show that social security transfers and generosity have increased less in countries with the highest increase in social openness and that the welfare state is not affected by political openness.     

解析《汤姆叔叔的小屋》的主题意义

斯托夫人的代表作《汤姆叔叔的小屋》是19世纪美国反蓄奴制运动里最伟大的宣言书,它使北方人民振奋起来,决心以武力对付坚持蓄奴制的南方,同时这本书也忠实地记录了美国南方黑奴的悲惨命运,唤醒了白人对黑奴的同情。文章试图通过分析主人公汤姆叔叔——一个充满着基督精神、虔诚地信仰上帝的黑奴在其所经历的苦难生活中所体现出的忠诚、仁慈和宽恕,以及他对奴隶制度的残忍性所表现出来的妥协与忍让,得出黑人奴隶要获得自由就必须进行斗争这一作品的主题意义。     

语用礼貌原则在商务英语中的运用

英语是一种世界性的语言,成为国际间的交际工具。由于国际贸易的迅猛发展,商务英语逐渐显示出自己的语言特征。各种各样的函电往来,业务洽谈,以及合同、协议、单证,无不反映出商务英语的特点。从事国际商务活动的人员在进行商务交际时,不管是商务谈判,还是函电往来,如果只熟悉国际贸易知识,不一定能使商务交际顺利进行。如果能掌握和运用一些语用策略,即语言的表达手段和技巧,就能使商务活动更加顺利地进行,从而达到预期的目的。     

论《周易·易传》中的"宽厚"精神

“宽厚”精神是中国传统文化的基本精神之一。《周易·易传》中的“宽厚”思想是中国文化中宽厚精神的总结 ,具有丰富的内涵 ,对中国社会历史的发展产生了深远的影响     

笛卡尔“慷慨”概念中的意志与理性问题

慷慨是笛卡尔道德学的核心概念.笛卡尔对慷慨的定义和慷慨者的德行的描述紧扣意志和理性这两个要素展开.意志和理性是慷慨的基石,慷慨者从自尊到尊他、从利己到利他的度越,其根据就在于意志;而理性则为慷慨者的意志坚强、慷慨者关于善恶的判断提供支持.笛卡尔看到了人的理性的限度,为弥补理性的缺陷,在慷慨者进行道德抉择和道德实践的具体场合,笛卡尔并没有彻底忽视适当地遵循法律与习俗而采取行动的必要性.     

从骑士比武探中世纪西欧贵族社会的价值观念

在西欧中世纪社会,贵族社会的价值观念是当时社会价值体系的核心部分,不仅对当时社会其他阶层的价值观念具有辐射影响作用,而且对近代资产阶级的价值观念也具有不可低估的影响作用。中世纪贵族把比武视为其事业和必须履行的责任;比武揭示了中世纪贵族对荣誉、英勇、慷慨品质追求的价值观念。     

Welfare resources and social risks in times of social and economic change: a multilevel study of material deprivation in European countries

This paper studies the association between collective welfare resources, levels of and inequalities in, material deprivation among ‘new’ as well as ‘old’ social risk groups four years into the global crisis. The data are based on the cross-sectional survey EU-SILC (European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) 2012. The multilevel analysis includes 27 European countries and 294,803 individuals between 18 and 64 years of age. The results demonstrate that the risk of material deprivation decreased in absolute terms with increasing welfare generosity among all three risk groups studied: individuals facing limiting long-standing illness, the non-employed and the low educated. In some instances the modifying effect of welfare generosity was stronger among the advantaged group than among the disadvantaged groups. The low educated benefitted the most in terms of a substantially lower risk of material deprivation. Results also show that both the absolute inequalities and levels of material deprivation were consistently lower in generous welfare states. The findings support the view that directing undue weight on risks, risk assessment and risk management in the context of social work practices should not reduce the importance of collective welfare resources to alleviate welfare problems among disadvantaged groups.     

Public response to welfare policy retrenchment: The importance of trust in implementing agencies. The case of early retirement in Sweden 1999–2010

There is a long-standing argument that citizensapos; trust in the state needs to be recurrently reproduced for policies to endure and that this also includes trust in its separate policy agencies. Such trust is likely to be more important for costlier policies, as, for example, social insurance schemes. The article explores whether short-term changes in welfare programme generosity affect peopleapos;s trust in the agency implementing the programme. Using the example of early retirement in the encompassing welfare state of Sweden, we study a decade of significant reform (1999–2010), during which the inflow to early retirement diminished greatly, as did citizensapos; trust in the implementing Swedish Social Insurance Agency (SSIA). We conclude that citizensapos; trust is higher when implementation is more generous. Indeed, a third of the drop in citizensapos; trust in the SSIA over the period can be explained by declining levels of generosity in early retirement, with people politically to the left responding with lower trust. Theoretically, we suggest, first, that trust in implementing institutions can function as feedback to policy and, second, that there is a basic relationship between more generous policy outcome and higher trust in encompassing welfare states such as Sweden.     

Welfare Generosity in Europe: A Multi‐level Study of Material Deprivation and Income Poverty among Disadvantaged Groups

The aim of this study is to analyze whether and to what extent welfare generosity moderates the risk of income poverty and material deprivation among disadvantaged groups, that is, people with ill health, low education and lack of employment. The data are based on the 2009 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (cross‐sectional) surveys. The analyses comprise 27 and 28 European countries, including 292,874 and 302,343 individuals between 18 and 64 years of age. Multi‐level analyses demonstrated that welfare generosity moderated the risk of both material deprivation and income poverty. With few exceptions, the risk decreased among disadvantaged groups in absolute terms. Among individuals who experienced the combinations of limiting long‐standing illness and either low education or non‐employment, the absolute inequalities in material deprivation decreased with increasing welfare generosity. Also, the absolute inequalities in income poverty among individuals who experienced the combination of limiting long‐standing illness and low education were lower in more generous welfare contexts. Results indicated lower absolute levels of both material deprivation and income poverty among disadvantaged individuals in generous welfare states. However, for material deprivation the results were more substantial and consistent than for income poverty. Taken together, these findings support the view that generous welfare states reach the worst‐off and are successful in buffering material deprivation and income poverty and, hence, in reducing social inequalities.     

Coverage versus generosity: Comparing eligibility and need assessment in six cash‐for‐care programmes

This paper investigates the potential trade‐offs between extension of coverage and adequate generosity in cash‐for‐care (CfC) programmes in six European countries (Austria, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Spain), which are characterised by different configurations of CfC programmes. Building on an empirical analysis of the eligibility rules, of the regulation applied to classify beneficiaries according to their level of dependency, and the ways CfC benefits are distributed among them, it becomes clear that these programmes differ substantially in terms of coverage and generosity. Such differences reflect the variety of ways by which universalism, selectivity, and adequacy are built up together throughout Europe.