bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fear of Crime in an Island Paradise
Authors: Hodgkinson Tarah , Gately Natalie , McCue James , Shuhad Ahmed , Corrado Raymond R. , Andresen Martin A.
Published: March 2017

Numerous empirical studies have examined fear of crime. Key theoretical constructs include age, gender, vulnerability, marital status, social cohesion, social incivilities, and perceptions of police. While these constructs have extensive empirical support from cross-sectional and longitudinal projects, they focused on Western liberal democratic nations. Little research exists on fear of crime and its correlates within smaller, island nation-states. The current study ( N = 480) examines (a) the prevalence of fear of crime within the Maldives and (b) the extent to which previous theoretical constructs can be generalized to other population areas. Findings demonstrate levels of fear of crime in the Maldives consistent with Western liberal democratic societies but that only certain previous theoretical constructs are associated with variations in fear of crime.
The Implementation of Performance Management Systems in U.S. Physician Organizations
Authors: Pimperl Alexander F. , Rodriguez Hector P. , Schmittdiel Julie A. , Shortell Stephen M.
Published: March 2017

Performance management systems (PMSYS) aid in improving the quality and efficiency of care, but little is known about factors that influence more robust PMSYS among physician organizations. Using a nationally representative survey of U.S. medical practices, we examined the extent to which organizational capabilities and external factors were associated with more developed PMSYS. Linear regression estimated the relative impact of these factors on PMSYS. On average, practices implemented a minority (32 points out of 100) of the PMSYS processes assessed. Practices evaluated ( p < .01) or financially incentivized by external entities ( p < .01), receiving data from health plans ( p < .01), participating in an accountable care organization ( p < .01), affiliating with an independent practice association and/or physician–hospital organization ( p < .01), and using health information technology ( p < .01) and chronic disease registries ( p < .01) to greater degrees had more robust PMSYS. PMSYS of medical practices are underdeveloped, although both external incentives and organizational capabilities may support PMSYS development.
Does Democracy Enhance or Reduce Lethal Violence? Examining the Role of the Rule of Law
Authors: Testa Alexander , Young Joseph K. , Mullins Christopher
Published: March 2017

This study builds on prior cross-national criminological literature by using disaggregated measures of democracy, notably rule of law, to examine the influence key components of democracy have on homicide rates. To assess this relationship, the current study uses two measures of rule of law: (a) a measurement of an independent judiciary; (b) a measurement of “Law and Order Tradition” from the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG). Findings indicate that the measures of rule of law have a significant negative effect on homicide rates.
Hormonal and Neuromuscular Responses to Breastfeeding: A Pilot Study
Authors: Neu Madalynn , Pan Zhaoxing , Haight Ashley , Fehringer Karen , Maluf Katrina
Published: March 2017

Objectives:

Difficult breastfeeding in the first weeks after birth may result in muscle tension in infants and activation of the maternal hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Our primary objective was to examine the feasibility of collecting neuroendocrine markers of maternal HPA axis and SNS activation (salivary cortisol and α-amylase [sAA]) and electromyographic (EMG) markers of infant distress during feeding in the first 2 weeks after birth. We also examined the relationships of these indices to each other and to mother–infant interactive behaviors during feeding.

Methods:

We recruited mothers in the postpartum unit of a teaching hospital and observed a feeding in the dyad’s home. Cortisol and sAA were sampled before feeding, 10 min into feeding, at feeding end, and 20 min after feeding. Infant muscle activity was recorded continuously with an EMG data logger. We used the Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale to measure mother–infant interaction.

Results:

The 20 mothers reported no disruption to breastfeeding and no change in infant behavior due to collection measures. Mean cortisol levels decreased significantly; there was no significant change in sAA levels. Relationships were found between interactive behavior and trends in neuroendocrine biomarkers. Longer bursts of infant muscle activity were associated with higher levels of maternal cortisol during feeding but not mother–infant interactive behaviors.

Conclusions:

Maternal salivary biomarkers and their association with feeding behaviors can be a useful tool for clinical longitudinal research beginning soon after birth. Infant EMG data may be useful for assessing maternal arousal.
Transformations of Public Space and the Limits of Resistance in Biographic Narratives of Workers
Authors: Meier Lars
Published: March 2017

This essay analyses biographic memories of practices of resistance of workers in the industrial transformation region in the south of Nuremberg. These memories are marked by a nostalgic view of public space in former times, which is put in contrast with public space as it is today. While former practices of resistance are remembered with nostalgia, present-day resistance practices are described as threatening practices performed by others. It turns out that nostalgia for resistance in the public space in the past is also a social positioning in the present.
Analysis of the investment security of the accommodation industry for countries along the B&R
Authors: Yin Jie , Yang Xiaoyan , Zheng Xiangmin , Jiao Niantao
Published: March 2017

The construction of the B&R (the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road) is undergoing promotion. In addition, China’s foreign investment is growing. Moreover, investment in the accommodation industry is an important component of investment in the B&R. Therefore, analysis is necessary to understand the security of the investment environment, the division of the investment security zone and the selection of optimal investments. This research applies a safety evaluation index system on investment in the accommodation industry using relevant data on 24 countries along the B&R from 2005 to 2014 as study samples. The results of the empirical analysis show that factor analysis based on multidimensional panel data estimated the safety of the investment of the sample countries. The coefficient of variation of the sample countries across 10 years was very large, meaning that the investment environment of sample countries was complex. The samples were divided into high, medium and low regions by means of panel data clustering analysis. Variance analysis showed significant differences among the three regions. The research used the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method to identify the optimal country in which to invest. The optimal country was Greece and the worst was Macedonia. Finally, this research provides some analysis on conclusions and data selection.
How Will We Provide and Pay for Long-Term Care?
Authors: Casey Bernard H
Published: March 2017

Ageing produces not only financial dependency but also physical dependency. The projected fiscal costs of increased long-term care provision can be higher than those of increased pension provision. Cost projections can be questioned for failing to take account of increased demands for formal care as female labour force participation rises and as social constrains and household structures supportive of informal caring disappear. New ways are needed to pay for care, and conventional methods have not proved successful. Voluntary saving is unlikely to suffice, equity release schemes are inefficient, and mandatory care insurance schemes add burdens to wage costs in the same way as mandatory pension schemes do. The paper proposes the recouping of care costs from bequests as a way of increasing economic efficiency, of increasing choice and provision, and of reinforcing traditional intra-familial responsibilities. However, some redistribution to the less well-off elderly is inevitable. Evidence and examples of care technologies, of care costs, and of care financing systems are drawn from across the OECD area.
Why People Don't Choose Private Pensions: The Impact of ‘Contagion’
Authors: Casey Bernard H.
Published: March 2017

Pension privatisation requires that people exercise choice. They might have to choose whether to opt out of a public scheme into a private scheme, or whether to supplement public pension contributions with private pension contributions. If they do choose to participate in a private scheme, they are likely to have to choose how their savings are to be invested. This paper looks at whether people are happy to opt for private solutions, and particularly, how well disposed they are to saving for old age in private, equity-based, funds. It suggests that the experience of poor stock market performance, provider failure, counter-intuitive decisions by regulators and the working of means-testing rules frighten people off voluntary participation in private pension schemes. Whether justified or not, negative experiences can be contagious. Evidence from the USA, Germany, Sweden and the UK is offered to support this assertion.
The Production of Last Resort Support: A Comparison of Social Assistance Schemes in Europe Using the Notion of Welfare Production and the Concept of Social Rights
Authors: Kuivalainen Susan
Published: March 2017

This article aims to assess present social assistance schemes using the notion of welfare production and the concept of social rights. The focus is on how different stages of social assistance schemes are linked, and how well schemes succeed using a number of different indicators. The data are from the year 2000. The six countries that are included in the study represent different welfare state models. The findings show that there are a number of relationships between inputs, outputs and outcomes. Countries with more extensive social security schemes have less extensive social assistance schemes. The results also indicate that countries with less extensive social assistance schemes provide more generous levels of support; and simultaneously, that more generous schemes are associated with a lower prevalence of poverty. In the two Scandinavian countries that are included in the study (Finland and Sweden), social assistance schemes were the most generous from a social rights point of view.
Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty in Finland in the 1990S
Authors: Airio Ilpo , Moisio Pasi , Niemelä Mikko
Published: March 2017

The focus of this study is to investigate whether there are links between social mobility and poverty from the viewpoint of the intergenerational transmission of poverty. The context for the study is the economic crisis of the early 1990s in Finland. The study seeks answers to questions such as whether there were changes in the intergenerational transmission of poverty during the first half of the 1990s and whether the intergenerational transmission of poverty is different among men and women. In addition, the study seeks to determine whether the intergenerational transmission of poverty is different among those coming from poor and non-poor family backgrounds in the period 1990 – 1995.

The data are derived from the 1970–1995 Longitudinal Census Data File of Statistics Finland. The panel, gathered every fifth year, is a register-based dataset, containing information on around 700 000 Finns. The 1960 birth cohort, who were 10 years old in 1970, and consequently 30 years old in 1990, was selected as the basis for the analysis.

The results of the study indicate that poverty shows clear signs of intergenerational transmission in Finland: those coming from a poor family background have around twice as high a risk of poverty in young adulthood compared to those from a non-poor family background. However, the transmission of poverty did not change during the depression: those coming from a poor family background had the same risk of poverty before and after the depression. In addition, intergenerational transmission of poverty was quite similar among men and women.
The Life Course and the System of Social Security: Rethinking Incentives, Solidarity and Risks
Authors: Plantenga Janneke
Published: March 2017

The life course has become an important frame of reference in the debate about modernising social security. There is a general feeling that the current structure of social security is not adequately adapted to the altered life courses of men and women, nor is the current design adequate given the changing economic circumstances. This article describes the challenges the life-course perspective poses with regard to the system of social security and the trade-offs that are involved. The main argument of the article is that a life-course-conscious system of social security forces us to rethink the incentive structure of the current system of social security, the notion of solidarity and the concept of risk.
Co-Ordination of Pensions in the European Union: The Case of Mandatory Defined-Contribution Schemes in the Central and Eastern European Countries
Authors: Leppik Lauri
Published: March 2017

This article investigates mandatory funded defined-contribution pension schemes of six new Member States of the European Union (Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, the Slovak Republic) in respect of the co-ordination of these schemes for persons moving within the Community. It considers how such schemes are coordinated and under which rules. It looks at the principal and practical implications. It argues that the existing legal dichotomy of statutory and supplementary pension schemes, upon which the Community co-ordination rules are established, is no longer functional. The article suggests that mandatory funded defined-contribution pension schemes should fall under the scope of Regulation 1408/71 (which is to be replaced by Regulation 883/2004), but simultaneously the schemes should be subject to Directive 98/49 and the new portability directive, once the latter is adopted. However, amendments are needed to all these Community instruments to make them suitable for the co-ordination of mandatory funded defined-contribution schemes.
Complexity, Law and Social Security in the United Kingdom
Authors: Harris Neville
Published: March 2017

The UK has a very complex system of interrelated, rule-based social security benefits and tax credits which are highly conditional and targeted. The conditions of entitlement and provision for the assessment of need have been bound up in an intricate legal framework. Rules have enabled governments to adapt and develop schemes to meet social needs while controlling the delivery of welfare from the centre, but the system, its components and its legal framework have evolved into a state of such complexity that some of the core aims of welfare and its management in the modern state are being undermined. Focussing on Great Britain,1 this article explains the causes of this complexity and discusses its impact. It also assesses the practicability of significant simplification, for which there are increasingly urgent calls.
Income Dynamics in Norwegian Families on Social Assistance: A Panel Data Study of a Social Assistance Cohort
Authors: Lorentzen Thomas
Published: March 2017

This paper provides new evidence about the income dynamics among families with children in Norway receiving social assistance benefits. The data includes all Norwegian families receiving social assistance benefits for the first time in 1995. The income development of these families is followed until the end of 1999. In order to take advantage of the longitudinal character of the data, multivariate panel data models are applied. The analytical framework is elaborated from two theoretical approaches, where hypotheses drawn from a dependency framework are tested alongside hypotheses developed from a life-course perspective. The latter is of particular relevance for the families under scrutiny. The results show that, far from being permanently marginalised from the labour market, most families respond positively to upturning business cycles, and work activity seems to be an important factor in increasing family income. Certain groups are worse-off economically than others: in particular, families going through life-phase changes, both expected and unexpected, are likely to experience longer periods of low income. Hence, the parents' transition from adolescence to adulthood and entry into the labour market seems to be a critical phase for families. Further, single parenting seems to influence family income negatively. Families with backgrounds from developing countries have a substantially lower income than native Norwegians and western immigrants; however, the former do not seem to have a stronger inclination towards benefit dependency than native Norwegians.
Routes to Employment for Administrators of Discretionary Payments within Social Assistance Schemes in Britain and the Netherlands
Authors: Davidson Jacqueline
Published: March 2017

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the routes to employment taken by administrators of discretionary exceptional needs payments within social assistance in Britain and the Netherlands and questions assertions that administrators seek out their ‘occupations because of their potential as socially useful roles’ (Lipsky 1980). Empirical data illustrates that whilst Dutch administrators had often purposely embarked on a previous course of study and a subsequent career in ‘helping people’, British administrators had often come from a bureaucratic background and had, as they saw it, ‘ended up’ as Social Fund Officers, having mostly perceived the Civil Service as a means to helping themselves get a secure career. The paper concludes that, when asked to make the same kinds of decisions about (the sometimes complex exceptional needs of) social assistance beneficiaries, the two sets of workers came equipped to deal with their stressful occupations with quite different personal resources, which may be thought to impact on their understandings of poverty and the nature of social assistance dynamics.
Regulation 883/2004 and Invalidity and Old-Age Pensions
Authors: Verschueren Herwig
Published: March 2017

This article examines the provisions in Regulation 883/2004 on pensions, and compares them with those of Regulation 1408/71. It does not enter into the sometimes very technical details, particularly with regard to the rules on the calculation and award of pensions, but it rather analyses the main characteristics of the coordination of these benefits in the new regulation. It first comments on horizontal issues such as the material scope of the new regulation and the general principles of the aggregation of periods and the assimilation of facts. This part focuses in particular on the position of non-statutory schemes, funded schemes and pre-retirement benefits. The article continues by analysing the rules in Regulation 883/2004 on the calculation and award of invalidity and old-age benefits. It further explores to what extent the new provisions in Regulation 833/2004 really introduce novelties into the coordination system for invalidity and old-age pensions. It also examines the issue of whether these provisions adequately respond to new developments in the pension schemes of the Member States, including the introduction of non-statutory and funded schemes.
‘Citizens as Consumers’: A Discussion of New Emergent Forms of Marginalisation in the Nordic Welfare States
Authors: Hohnen Pernille , Hjort Torbjörn
Published: March 2017

The Nordic welfare state has traditionally been associated with principles of universalism, a high degree of collective welfare redistribution and an encompassing state. However in recent years, in line with the rest of Europe, we have seen a tendency towards a more market-oriented welfare state, reflected in policy changes characterised by a renewed division of welfare responsibility between public and private, a movement from a direct protection of citizens towards enabling them to individually satisfy their welfare needs within markets, thereby promoting freedom of choice as a significant dimension of welfare services. However, although this is not usually part of the public debate concerning increased marketisation of the welfare state, these changes require a specific set of individual competences and capacities to navigate, foresee and plan one's own future and calculate one's future welfare needs. Based on empirical data analysing financial practices and orientation amongst two different groups of citizens, the paper discusses the possible implications of this increased individualisation of welfare for different groups of citizens – low-income and middle-income groups. Although both groups show a high degree of willingness to comply with norms associated with consumer-citizenship, clear distinctions arise when we look at the actual possibilities and ‘capabilities’ of complying with the emerging role and assumed behaviour inherent in the development of the consumer-citizenship welfare regime.
The Flip Side of the Coin: The Consequences of the European Budgetary Projections on the Adequacy of Social Security Pensions
Authors: Dekkers Gijs , Buslei Hermann , Cozzolino Maria , Desmet Raphael , Geyer Johannes , Hofmann Dirk , Raitano Michele , Steiner Viktor , Tanda Paola , Tedeschi Simone , Verschueren Frédéric
Published: March 2017

The Ageing Working Group (AWG) assesses the long-term sustainability of public finances by presenting a set of public expenditure projections for all Member States, including projections on pensions. These projections are based on demographic forecasts and agreed assumptions on key economic variables. The adequacy and sustainability of pensions are, however, two sides of the same coin and a full assessment of pensions therefore requires integration. This paper applies the dynamic micro-simulation model MIDAS to assess the consequences of the AWG projections and assumptions on the future adequacy of public pensions in Belgium, Germany and Italy.

A comparison of the simulation results suggests that the impact of the parametric pension reform in Belgium and Germany and the systemic reform in Italy on (re) distribution and the risk of low-income go in the same direction, but that the magnitudes differ. Indeed, the impact is stronger in Italy than in Belgium and Germany. In the latter especially, important changes safeguarding the sustainability of the pension system seem to have had a relatively small impact on the risk of low-income among pension benefit recipients in particular.
The New Zealand Experience of Child-Based Work Incentives
Authors: St John Susan , Dale M. Claire
Published: March 2017

New Zealand has gone further than most European countries in the use of child-based tax credits that emphasise work as the way out of poverty, especially for lone parents. From a background of neglect, as outlined in St John's ‘New Zealand's Financial Assistance for Poor Children: Are Work Incentives the Answer?’ published in the European Journal of Social Security (2006), family financial assistance was substantially boosted between 2005 and 2007 when the Working for Families package was introduced. The In Work Tax Credit (IWTC) is a major part of Working for Families. It is a dual-purpose tool, aiming to both improve labour market participation of lone parents and to reduce child poverty. Holding to the two objectives has however been problematic, and the IWTC has proved to be a costly experiment. It has also raised human rights concerns; necessitated other complex adjustments in the tax system; and proved to be poorly designed in times of recession with unintended consequences for children. Official evaluations have not established that the small work incentive effects justify the selective achievement of the child poverty objective. European countries may find the New Zealand experience interesting as they also grapple with the seemingly intractable problems of child poverty and look to paid work as the solution.
If You Pay Peanuts …: A Laboratory Experiment on Reward Schemes in Employment Service Contracting
Authors: van de Meerendonk Arthur , Onderstal Sander
Published: March 2017

The design of tenders and contracts is a crucial factor in the success or failure of the contracting-out of reintegration services. In a laboratory experiment with professionals from private reintegration service providers, we tested two tender designs. In the first design, the government announces a predetermined amount that will be paid for each employment outcome. Participants then bid an amount of money that they are prepared to pay to operate the contract. This auction resembles contracting in the Australian Job Network and the British Employment Zones. The second design is the lowest-reward auction. In this auction, the participants bid a reward. The lowest bid wins the contract, and the reward is then paid for each unit of effort. The lowest-reward auction is similar to the current tendering practice in the Netherlands.

We find that an auction with a fixed reward per placement is more efficient, yields more effort from the winner, and results in higher welfare than an auction in which bidders compete on the basis of the reward per placement. We derive this conclusion from both our theoretical analysis and data from our laboratory experiment with professional bidders.
Efficiency Measurement: Economic and Institutional Influences on the Efficiency of the Dutch Social Benefits System – An Empirical Application
Authors: Blank Jos L.T. , Koot Patrick M.
Published: March 2017

The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of environmental factors on labour market performance. Performance is defined in terms of preventing people from flowing into the social benefits system and enhancing the flow of people from the social benefits system into employment, which we measure by the reciprocal of the ratio of the number of social beneficiaries compared to the size of the labour force. To deal with the problem of multidimensionality and the influence of environmental factors, we introduce the concept of an output distance function. We apply this model to regional data in the Netherlands for the period 1998–2005 and estimate the parameters of the model. We conclude that the specific environment in the regions – quantified in this research by economic, demographic and institutional incentive variables – influences regional performances in terms of the number of recipients of full-time unemployment benefits, occupational disability benefits and social assistance benefits.
Activating the Unemployed — Directions and Divisions in Europe
Authors: Aurich Patrizia
Published: March 2017

One of the continuously disputed issues of research on welfare state reform is the question of convergence or divergence. Despite much reform in the direction of an activating kind of unemployment policy, for example, differences between these unemployment policies remain. These differences are often attributed to different types of welfare regimes. This article departs from the assumption that policy changes have brought about changes in diversity. It proposes a two-dimensional model of activation, putting forward a new type of ‘coercive welfare’ in addition to the distinction between generous and strict activation. The study compares policy development in three European countries, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom, and applies a fuzzy-set methodology (Ragin 2000). The findings show that by re-conceptualising indicators commonly used in research on activation policies, a puzzle of opposite reform directions emerges.
The Cross-Border Health Care Directive: More Free Movement for Citizens and More Coherent EU Law?
Authors: Pennings Frans
Published: March 2017

In 2011 the Patients' Rights in Cross-border Health Care Directive was adopted. This Directive is meant, inter alia, to implement the case law of the Court of Justice on patient mobility. This article investigates the ways in which the position of patients has been reinforced. The question of whether the dual system of reimbursement of costs – on the basis of Regulation 883/2004 and on the basis of the Treaty – has been simplified, or whether it has become even more complicated, is also investigated.
Gender Equalising and Gender Neutral Policies and Their Pitfalls: A Typology of the Gender Dimensions of Social Policies
Authors: Frericks Patricia
Published: March 2017

The restructuring of modern capitalist welfare states is characterised by the tendency to individualise social protection. This article develops a simple and conceptually sound typology to analyse and classify these reforms and measures with regard to their effects on women's financial well-being. It distinguishes between policy measures that aim to improve women's financial situations, policies that reduce women's benefits and ‘gender neutral’ policies.

For distinguishing between policies that have a positive or negative effect on women's (own) financial situation, I introduce three sets of criteria. The direct elimination of negative discriminatory constraints can work out positively for women. On the other hand, if the conditions that originally motivated the establishment of positive discrimination remain, the elimination of earlier forms of (positive) discrimination can bring unexpected hardship. Therefore, their abolition is often is phased in over quite long periods of time. Other policies that offer new opportunities may benefit certain specific groups of women. However, for a majority of women, they entail a proportional reduction in their entitlements.
How Do Intentions Affect Future Retirement? A Case Study of the Finnish Flexible Old-Age Pension Scheme
Authors: Tuominen Eila , Karisalmi Seppo , Takala Mervi , Kaliva Kasimir
Published: March 2017

The aim of this study is to examine the factors that impact on older employees in their plans to continue at work or to retire, and to find out to what extent retirement plans are actually realised. The frame of reference for the study is Beehr's model (1986) of the retirement process. It consists of three stages: retirement preferences (thoughts about retirement), retirement intentions, and retirement outcomes. In this study, two stages of Beehr's model have been examined: retirement intentions and realised retirement. Retirement figures from the register data showed that people have retired somewhat later than they planned. Slightly more than half of the older employees retired when they intended, a third retired later, and a small proportion retired earlier than they intended. Intentions to continue working longer were explained by many personal and work-related factors, most of which are consistent with earlier studies on retirement plans, whereas realised retirement was largely explained by work-related factors. The centrality of work, a short working career and financial incentives to continue working were the best predictors of late retirement. With reference to Beehr, we conclude that different factors are emphasised as explanatory variables at different stages of the retirement process.
Property Protection as a Limit to Deteriorating Social Security Protection
Authors: Tsetoura Anna
Published: March 2017

This paper explores how the protection of property rights can serve as a limit to deteriorating social security protection. The protection of property rights under Article 1 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), often combined with the right to fair trial under Article 6(1), has proved a valuable legal instrument in social security matters when the respective rights seem to be threatened by potential changes in social security law. This article therefore focuses on the judicial protection provided when a social security claim is brought to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and certain selected national courts. If the right to social security actually provides a more targeted content with regard to the status quo of an individual protected under a social security system, then what are the consequences for law and juridical practice? Jurisprudence and relevant case law at a European level under the ECHR focuses attention on the obligations of the contracting Member States in respect of the protection of social security rights, classified under the Article 1 1P of the ECHR.
Firm Ownership and Social Insurance Inequality in Transitional China: Evidence from a Large Panel of Firm-Level Data
Authors: Gao Qin , Rickne Johanna
Published: March 2017

In dramatic reforms during the past 15 years, China has aimed to create a unified social insurance system across state, collective, and private ownership sectors in urban areas. Despite this nominal equality, a large panel of firm-level data from 2004 to 2007 provides empirical evidence of large disparities between firm ownership sectors in social insurance participation and generosity. We examine three types of social insurance programme: pensions and medical insurance, unemployment insurance, and the housing provident fund and housing subsidies. The results demonstrate that state-owned firms continued to be more compliant in social insurance participation and more generous in their benefit levels than collective and foreign-owned firms. Private domestic firms lagged furthest behind, being at least two thirds less likely to participate in each social insurance programme than the average state-owned firm. These disparities remain substantial and robust even after controlling for various firm characteristics and running multiple sensitivity tests. As China continues to combat evasion of social insurance payments among firms, and as the informal sector expands rapidly, these results suggest that action is required to address ownership-based segmentation in the urban labour markets.
Parental Benefits in the Coordination Regulation: (Where) Do They Fit in? The Swedish Example
Authors: Holm Emma
Published: March 2017

In this article the issue of coordination of parental benefits in cross-border situations, with the Swedish example in focus, is analysed. There are no specific provisions in the Coordination Regulations concerning these benefits.

At the national level, parental benefits can be a mix between individual, income-related benefits (similar to maternity/paternity benefits) and family-oriented, residence-based family benefits. The classification of a benefit is of importance in solving issues like aggregation of insurance periods, exportability and the overlapping of benefits, and the result may differ depending on which classification is made. The situation of the family members may also be affected.

Sweden has had particular problems relating to the coordination of parental benefits, which can be partly explained by the fact that Swedish parental benefit has been classified as a family benefit for the purposes of the Coordination Regulations. The problems of coordination have been raised in cases referred to the CJEU and in recent developments in national law. The Swedish example is also used in this article to raise some general questions in the area of maternity/paternity benefits and family benefits.
Social Security Administration Confronting Sustainability Challenges the Greek Pension System from a Comparative Perspective
Authors: Galazoulas Theodoros , Tsetoura Anna
Published: March 2017

This paper explores sustainability in social security, placing a particular emphasis on pension funds. The article starts by presenting various elements involved in a pension scheme. After defining the problem regarding the fiscal challenges with which pensions are confronted, both at international and at EU level, the research concentrates on tracking down the mix of instruments underlying a pension scheme which is best able to deal with the imbalances within it. Such imbalances have become very intensive since the economic crisis of 2008. A potential classification of pension schemes is provided, and the ways in which the public and private sectors may interact within the identified categories are outlined. The main focus of our analysis is on the management and asset allocation of pension funds, and comparisons are made between different practices in order to identify which are most suitable for ensuring sustainability. Finally, Greece is placed under the microscope, and the parameters affecting the administration of its pension system are examined from both an economic and a legal perspective.
Repressive Welfare States: The Spiral of Obligations and Sanctions in Social Security
Authors: Vonk Gijsbert
Published: March 2017

This article discusses the trend of introducing increasingly strict obligations and sanctions for social security claimants in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. It is argued that this trend should be judged critically because it upsets the balance between rights and obligations for benefit claimants and may undermine the ‘elevating function’ of social security. Courts play an important role in maintaining the balance between rights and obligations. The article discusses recent case law in the three countries and also refers to a remarkable case at the Czech Constitutional Court of November 2012, which paves the way for a more fundamental approach to scrutinising repressive welfare state excesses.
Psychosocial Factors Predicting Job Search Behaviour of Long-Term Welfare Recipients in the Netherlands
Authors: Varekamp Inge , Knijn Trudie , Bos Peter , van Wel Frits
Published: March 2017

In spite of active labour market policies, a considerable number of welfare recipients in the Netherlands are long-term unemployed. In order to investigate the job search behaviour of this group, we developed a model of job search behaviour, inspired by the theory of planned behaviour, expectancy value theory and self-determination theory Survey data relating to 193 individuals receiving welfare benefits for at least one year were collected. A model, consisting of six social-demographic and eight social and psychosocial variables, was tested with hierarchical multiple regression. Seven factors were found to be positively related to job search behaviour: being a non-Western immigrant, having recently started receiving welfare benefits, receiving encouragement in searching for work from an intimate social network, having a job search requirement imposed, having an expectation of finding a job, individual work valence and job search attitudes. Of these, duration of welfare assistance, the encouragement of an intimate social network, work valence and job search attitude appeared to be mediating factors. The article concludes that activation policy might benefit from a combination of improving job searching attitudes, for instance by discussing ideas about the valence of employment and expectations of success or by considering potential barriers to finding employment within social networks, and introducing a clear requirement to search for jobs, in particular for native Dutch, single mothers and people who have been in receipt of benefits for a long period of time. Such policies have been absent in the Netherlands for a long time, priority being given to those with better chances in the labour market.
An Argument for Social Insurance Based on Personal Identity
Authors: Dubois Mikael
Published: March 2017

This article presents an argument for compulsory insurance that compensates for loss of income in the event of sickness or unemployment. The argument is based on a concern for the protection of our identity according to what is called a ‘thick’ conception of the person, as developed by communitarians such as Michael Sandel, which holds that our identities as separate persons are constituted by our ends and ideals. Briefly, the proposed argument is that since we typically require a reasonably steady income to protect and maintain our identity as separate persons, and since most of us are exposed to the risk of loss of income because of sickness or unemployment, we have reason to endorse social insurance in the form of insurance against loss of income for those reasons. It is also argued that, contrary to what has been claimed by opponents of social insurance, such insurance need not lead to exploitation by benefitting those whom insurers would consider as bad risks at the expense of those whom insurers would consider as good risks or be in head-on conflict with individual freedom.
Overview of Recent Cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union (October–December 2014)
Authors: van der Mei Anne Pieter
Published: March 2017

For all those following the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in social security matters, the last three months of 2014 were particularly interesting.1 The CJEU delivered its long-awaited judgment in the ‘social tourism case’ of Dano, expressed itself (once again) on the powers of the European Union (EU) to adopt social security measures vis-à-vis third countries (Turkey in United Kingdom v Council) and provided important clarification about the rights of third-country nationals who de facto cannot be treated for the illnesses they suffer from in their countries of origin (M'Bodj and Abdida). In addition, the CJEU delivered noteworthy rulings on planned hospital treatment in other Member States (Petru), old-age pensions (Larcher; Somova) and family benefits (Fassbender-Firman; Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund).
Southern European Governments and Public Bureaucracies in the Context of Economic Crisis
Authors: Sotiropoulos Dimitri A.
Published: March 2017

Before the economic crisis erupted, the public bureaucracies of Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain had embarked on public administration reforms reflecting Neo-Weberian and New Public Management influences. After the onset of the crisis, which functioned as a critical juncture, reforms of public administration and the structures and functions of government decision-making were hastily effected. Administrative reforms reflected almost exclusively New Public Management concerns, whereas reforms of government indicated a rapid concentration and centralisation of power at the summit of the executive. A combination of ‘goodness-of-fit’ and historical institutionalist theories and fiscal pressures exerted by the international economic and institutional environment may explain the abruptness, extent and direction of reform. Southern European governments and public bureaucracies have preserved only some of the historical legacies of government and bureaucratic organisation, but have hurriedly adapted to externally induced pressures to reform.
Austerity and Welfare Reform in South-Western Europe: A Farewell to Corporatism in Italy, Spain and Portugal?
Authors: Balbona David Luque , Begega Sergio González
Published: March 2017

This article examines the impact of the current economic and financial crisis on the consistency of the corporatist dynamic that has oriented governments, trade unions and employers' associations towards consensus in Spain, Italy and Portugal over the past two decades. Following the analytical framework developed by Öbert et al. (2011), which interprets corporatism as a process of political dialogue, we analyse whether the conditions that make exchange possible have been altered during the crisis and, ask, if this is the case, whether such a transformation is cyclical or structural in nature. New limitations on the autonomy of national governments with regard to the design of socio-economic policies have arisen. These are related to the supervision of national politics by supranational institutions, the introduction of which has profoundly altered some of the basic requirements for corporatist political dialogue: the mandate or sovereignty in decision-making and the value of the assets available for exchange between stakeholders.
Is Welfare Dependency Inherited? Estimating Causal Welfare Transmission Effects Using Swedish Sibling Data
Authors: Edmark Karin , Hanspers Kajsa
Published: March 2017

This study tests whether individuals who grow up with parents on welfare benefits are themselves more (or less) likely to be welfare recipients as young adults, compared to individuals who grow up in non-welfare households. Using detailed register-based information on full Swedish cohorts born in 1982 and 1983 and their parents, we estimate the intergenerational correlation in welfare benefit receipt. The results indicate a strong positive correlation, even after we control for a large set of household level and parental characteristics. The correlation is particularly strong for children who are exposed to parental welfare benefit spells during their late teenage years. We then make use of the sibling difference method to control for unobserved heterogeneity, and thus identify causal effects. This sibling analysis provides no support for a causal effect of parents' welfare benefit receipt on children's future welfare use. The lack of evidence for a causal intergenerational effect might be due to the fact that the sibling method can only be applied to short-term welfare spells. Whether the effect looks different for long-term spells is an interesting topic for future research, but one that cannot be investigated using the sibling method.
Stratification in Changing Swedish Sickness Insurance
Authors: Grees Nadja
Published: March 2017

This paper proposes an analytical approach to capturing gradual institutional change in mature welfare states. The approach takes account of both public and occupational provisions of income security and investigates differences between diverse groups in the labour market, various income levels within such groups, as well as changes over time. The analytical approach is then applied to the empirical case of Swedish sickness insurance, on which new data covering the last 30 years have been collected. The results show that sickness insurance as a whole still offers generous replacement rates but that there has been an institutional shift in the provision of income protection. The earlier system of universal public provision that was closely related to former income has developed into a system where this is the case only for certain groups in the labour market while the rest are dependent on collectively negotiated solutions. Accordingly the traditional Swedish institutional model in which an all-encompassing public system promotes equality of status has been transformed over time. In the absence of an adequate analytical approach this is a fact that has not been fully recognised in earlier welfare state research.
The Coupling of Disadvantages: Material Poverty and Multiple Deprivation in Europe before and after the Great Recession
Authors: Hick Rod
Published: March 2017

This paper examines the impact of the Great Recession on material poverty and multiple deprivation in Europe. Applying as its conceptual framework Poverty as Capability Deprivation (Hick 2014), which is one specification of Amartya Sen's capability approach, and employing the Alkire-Foster adjusted headcount measure, the paper draws on data from the EU Survey of Income and Living Conditions to present a multidimensional poverty analysis of 24 EU Member States at four time points: 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2013. The analysis shows that the pre-crisis period was associated with substantial reductions in multidimensional poverty in Europe, with the largest reductions occurring in the poorest Member States. However, the Southern European countries largely failed to benefit from these pre-crisis poverty reductions and, when the crisis hit, experienced the largest increases in multidimensional poverty in Europe. These patterns reflect a changing geography of poverty within the European Union, increasingly concentrated away from the East, and towards the South.