bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Two Kurdish Refugee Camps in Iran, May 1991: The Value of Cluster Sampling in Producing Priorities and Policy
Authors: PORTER JOHN D.H. , Loock Frank L. Van , DEVAUX ALAIN
Published: December 2007

Following the end of the Gulf war in March 1991, Kurdish refugees from Iraq crossed the border into Western Iran. To plan public health interventions and to assist in priority setting for scarce resources, a rapid epidemiological assessment of two camps, Hafez and Kaliche, was conducted in May 1991. A 30 cluster sampling method was used to determine the demographics of the camp population, the morbidity and mortality from certain diseases, and the nutritional status of the children <5 years of age. The estimated population of the camps at the time of the survey was 28,500 and 22,500 for Hafez and Kaliche respectively; children < 5 years of age accounted for approximately 25 per cent of both camp populations. The mortality rate was highest in Hafez and estimated to be 2.5/10,000 per day (95%CI:0.3–5) for adults (> 14 years of age) and 4.9/10,000 per day (95%CI:2.4–7.4) for children. Diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases accounted for major morbidity in both camps with diarrhoea the commonest stated cause of death. Little malnutrition was found but it was greater in Hafez where 6 per cent (19/327) of the children between 1 and 5 years of age had a mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) <12 cm and eleven (5.2 per cent) of the 211 children measured for height and weight were below 80 per cent of the median (95%CI:2.6%;7.8%). The survey identified that morbidity and mortality were less severe than in the Kurdish camps on the Turkish border and provided information for camp authorities to plan appropriate relief interventions.
The Prevention and Mitigation of Famine: Policy Lessons from Botswana and Sudan
Authors: TEKLU TESFAYE
Published: December 2007

Botswana and Sudan experienced consecutive years of drought in the 1980s. Sudan faced a large decline in food entitlement and nutritional deterioration, which translated into famine in 1984/85. Botswana, on the other hand, nearly compensated income losses and averted nutritional deterioration and famine‐related deaths. There are important lessons to learn from the famine prevention experience of Botswana. Its strategy for dealing with drought and famine combines policies of steady economic growth with supplementary poverty alleviation and drought relief programs. To provide continuity and stabilization of market operations in times of distress, the country channels sufficient food through market chains, provides price support to preempt market collapse and augments the income of consumers through public income transfer programs to prevent demand failure. In addition, it maintains a responsive and accountable political system and a decentralized participatory administrative structure. While Sudan should develop policies that are compatible with its own environment, it is crucial that it recognizes the critical role of public action in promoting growth, alleviating poverty, and providing timely relief responses in times of anticipated growth failure.
Development of a Computer Workstation for Famine Early Warning and Food Security
Authors: MARSH STUART E. , HUTCHINSON CHARLES F. , PFIRMAN ERIC E. , ROSIERS SHARON A. DES , HARTEN CAMILLE VAN DER
Published: December 2007

Beginning in 1990, the University of Arizona, Arizona Remote Sensing Center (ARSC) has been involved in a collaborative effort with the Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) and the Remote Sensing Center of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in designing and developing an integrated computer workstation for famine early warning. The goal of the project is to provide food security analysts with a set of computer tools to manage a very large and diverse set of data for predicting the onset of food security emergencies for every country on Earth. The initial stage of the project involved the conceptual definition of system elements and the development of overall system architecture. We are now developing an open, flexible, and portable system designed to significantly assist the work of the analysts. System architecture provides a task‐specific and user‐friendly graphic user interface (GUI) within a Windows environment that will link image processing, geographic information system (GIS), spreadsheet, text, and graphics software packages into a single operational environment. A relational database management system (RDBMS) is serving as the back‐end of the workstation to facilitate data storage and retrieval and as a means to preserve analysis methodologies.
Saving Enemy Children: Save the Children's Russian Relief Operation, 1921‐23
Authors: BREEN RODNEY
Published: December 2007

When the Russian harvest failed in 1921, the economy had been devastated by years of disasters. Appeals were made to the outside world, and Save the Children was one of the main agencies to respond. Despite reservations about supporting the Soviets, a major advertising campaign was launched, raising large sums of money which were used to open feeding centres in the face of adverse climate and a devastated infrastructure. Facing some critical press coverage, the Fund used advanced media techniques to get its message across. By summer 1923, the famine was over and the Fund had succeeded in feeding up to 675,000 people.
Post‐War Social Reconstruction in Mozambique: Re‐Framing Children's Experience of Trauma and Healing
Authors: GIBBS SARA
Published: December 2007

This time in Mozambique is a time of broken hearts … but we are working now and filling our hearts with work so like this we can begin to forget, our hearts are being calmed; there is no place in our hearts for sadness and fear any more as they are filled up with work.
Desert Locusts in Africa: a Disaster?
Authors: KRALL S.
Published: December 2007

Migrating locusts, especially the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), have been feared in Africa for thousands of years as famine‐inducing pests. Instead of simply waiting for outbreaks to occur, attempts are being made to take preventive action against these pests. Since the breeding areas of the desert locust are distributed across the entire Sahel region, the Arabian peninsula, Pakistan and India, a gigantic logistical and organizational effort is required. Every year, millions of dollars are spent on these preventive control measures, which are still unable to prevent locust plagues completely. The outbreaks in 1987/88 and 1993/94 are the most recent examples. Exactly how large potential disasters caused by gigantic locust swarms may be and whether the effort and expense involved in preventing them pays off economically has never been systematically investigated. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) project, ‘Integrated Biological Control of Grasshoppers and Locusts’, has attempted to assess, on the basis of the available data, what the costs and potential benefits are and to identify the difficulties involved in developing an effective strategy.
Damage to Urban Infrastructure and Other Public Property from the 1989 Loma Prieta (California) Earthquake
Authors: FRENCH STEVEN P.
Published: December 2007

This research project investigated the damage to public property caused by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The claims filed by state and local governments, special districts and non‐profit organizations under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) disaster assistance program were analyzed to understand better the pattern of damage caused by the earthquake. These claims accounted for nearly $600 million. The damage distribution was very skewed with eleven agencies claiming more than 70 per cent of this total. Non‐profit agencies accounted for a surprisingly large portion of overall damage. Heavy damage was concentrated in relatively few areas. The extent of damage in an area was a function of concentration of property, site conditions, characteristics of building stock, and distance from the epicenter.
Long‐Term Effects of Hurricane Andrew: Revisiting Mental Health Indicators
Authors: MCDONNELL SHARON , TROIANO RICHARD P. , BARKER NANCY , NOTI ERIC , HLADY W. GARY , HOPKINS RICHARD
Published: December 2007

Two population‐based surveys of South Dade County, Florida, were conducted after Hurricane Andrew to compare hurricane‐related symptoms of mental distress and describe the impact of mental health outreach teams. Households were selected by three‐stage cluster sampling and findings from the two surveys, 13 months apart, were compared. Response rates were 75 per cent and 84 per cent. The prevalence of symptoms of mental distress decreased over time. However, in the households contacted by the teams (25 per cent of sample), the prevalence of symptoms (50 per cent) did not differ from households not contacted (43 per cent). Households contacted by teams that reported symptoms were just as likely to have been referred for help by the teams (72 per cent) as those without symptoms (68 per cent). Households reporting symptoms were equally likely to get counselling regardless of whether the teams visited. Mental health teams had no significant impact on mental health symptoms or the use of mental health services. Alternative approaches to mental health outreach teams need to be explored.
Effective Emergency Management: Reconsidering the Bureaucratic Approach
Authors: NEAL DAVID M. , PHILLIPS BRENDA D.
Published: December 2007

The command and control approach is compared with the Emergent Human Resources Model (EHRM) approach to emergency management. Four decades of systematic research shows that a rigid, bureaucratic command and control approach to emergency management generally leads to an ineffective emergency response. Previous studies and our own research suggest that flexible, malleable, loosely coupled, organizational configurations can create a more effective disaster response.
The Symphony of the Damned: Racial Discourse, Complex Political Emergencies and Humanitarian Aid
Authors: DUFFIELD MARK
Published: December 2007

This paper concerns the manner in which the West is responding to protracted political crises beyond its borders. It examines the conceptual world‐view that aid agencies bring to complex emergencies and which shapes action. The paper provides an analysis of developmentalism. That is, the currently dominant idea of development which is an adapted form of multiculturalism. It is based on the empowerment of cultural differences and the relativisation of progress. As a variant of multiculturalism, developmentalism is part of Western racial discourse. In terms of understanding conflict, it establishes a mirror‐image relationship with new rascist ideas premised on cultural pluralism inevitably leading to social breakdown, violence and anarchy. To the contrary, with its functional view of social harmony, libertine developmentalism claims that even unresolved political crisis constitutes a development opportunity.

Developmentalism, like culturalism generally, is incapable of analysing power. It therefore cannot understand the effects and significance of its own organisational forms. Moreover, since the absence of power translates into operational neutrality in a war zone, it is also unable to analyse the nature of new political formations emerging in the global periphery. That is, the so‐called weak or failed states, warlords and so on. This functional ignorance has allowed a widespread incorporation of humanitarian aid into the fabric of political violence. Developmentalism is an essential underpinning for the growing organisational accommodation to ongoing conflict and eroding standards of justice and accountability.
Social Contract and Deterring Famine: First Thoughts
Authors: WAAL ALEX DE
Published: December 2007

The links between certain kinds of political systems and protection against famine are investigated in this paper. The starting‐point is a critique of Amartya Sen's observation that famines are unknown in countries with a free press and competitive elections. This holds true only in India because of a unique political history in which freedom from famine became a right, upon which political legitimacy was founded: an anti‐famine ‘social contract’.

The rise and decline of anti‐famine systems in Africa is charted. Major reasons for decay include neo‐liberalism and the international humanitarian system, both of which undermine relationships of domestic political accountability that underpin effective famine prevention. A number of politically regressive tendencies in ‘actually existing humanitarianism’ are identified that work against any nascent anti‐famine social contracts in Africa. This is possible because famine prevention has not been established as a right in Africa.
HISTORICAL
Authors: Gooch G. P.
Published: December 2007

Letters of the Prince Consort 1831–1861, edited by Dr. Kurt Jagow

W. 0. Henderson, The Zollverein

W. F. Bruck, Social and Economic Histoy of Germany 1888–1938.

John W. Wheeler Bennett, Brest‐Litovsk: The Forgotten Peace

David Lloyd George, The Truth about the Peace Treaties, 2 vols.

Elizabeth Wiskemann, Czechs and Germans

Oswald Redlich, Das Werden einer Grossmacht: Österreich 1700–1740.

Guido Zernatto, Die Wahrheit über Österreich, Longmans

Ludwig Raschdau, Unter Bismarck and Capivi. Erinnerungen eines Deutschen Diplomatea aus den Juhren 1885–1894

Hermann Rauschning, Die Revolution des Nihilismus

Friedrich Stieve, Geschichte des deultschen Volkes, Oldenbourg, Munich.

Werner Richter, Kaiser Friedrich III. Eugen Rentsch Verlag. Zürich u. Leipzig.

Egon Caesar Conte Corti, Ludwng I. von Bayern. Sein Ringen um Freiheit, Schönheit und Liebe. Bruckmann, München, M7.80.

Hermann Schneider, Die Götter der Gernzmen. Tübingen, Mohr, 1938.

Julius Petersen, Die Wissenschaft von der Dichtung. Band I: Werk und Dichter.

Leonhard Beriger, Die literarische Wertung. Ein Spektrum der Kritik. Halle, Niemeyer, 1938.
III.—Rome's Foreign Policy and Trade Interests
Authors: Baynes. Norman H.
Published: December 2007

[Under this title it is proposed to give in each number of History two or three notes on historical subjects which modern research has shown to be most widely misunderstood, with a view to bringing the teaching of History in schools and elsewhere more closely into touch with historical scholarship.]
DUBY'S ELEVENTH CENTURY
Authors: MOORE R. I.
Published: December 2007

LE CEIEVALIER. LA FEMME ET LE PRETRE: LE MARIAGE DANS LA FRANCE FEODALE. By Georges Duby.

THE THREE ORDERS: FEUDAL SOCIETY IMAGINED. By Georges Duby. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer.

THE AGE OF THE CATHEDRALS: ART AND SOCIETY. 980–1420. By GeorgeS Duby. Translated by Eleanor Levieux and Barbara Thompson.
EDUCATION AND MODERN SOCIETY
Authors: ROACH JOHN
Published: December 2007

EDUCATION AS HISTORY: INTERPRETING NINETEENTH‐ AND TWENTIETH‐CENTURY EDUCATION. By Harold Silver.

EDUCATION, ECONOMIC CHANGE AND SOCIETY IN ENGLAND 1780–1870. By Michael Sanderson. (Economic History Society, Studies in Economic and Social History).

THE TRADES UNION CONGRESS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR EDUCATION 1868–1925. By Clive Griggs.

DAYS OF JUDGEMENT: SCIENCE. EXAMINATIONS AND THE ORGANIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN LATE VICTORIAN ENGLAND. Edited by Roy MacLeod.

FROM CLERGYMAN TO DON: THE RISE OF THE ACADEMIC PROFESSION IN nineteenth‐century OXFORD By A.J. Engel.
INTERPRETING INDUSTRIALIZATION
Authors: FLOUD RODERICK
Published: December 2007

THE VICTORIAN ECONOMY. By François Crouzet.

THE COMING OF THE MASS MARKET, 1850–1914. By W. Hamish Fraser.

TECHNICAL DIFFUSION AND INDUSTRIALISATION BEFORE 1914. By A.G. Kenwood and A.L. Lougheed.

WHERE DID WE GO WRONG? INDUSTRY, EDUCATION AND ECONOMY OF VICTORIAN BRITAIN. Edited by Gordon Roderick and Michael Stephens.

THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF THE CONTINENTAL POWERS, 1780–1914. By Clive Trebilcock.
ADDING A TOUCH OF CLASS
Authors: McCORD NORMAN
Published: December 2007

WORLDS OF LABOUR: FURTHER STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF LABOUR. By Eric Hobsbawm.

LANGUAGES OF CLASS: STUDIES IN ENGLISH WORKING CLASS HISTORY, 1832–1982. By Gareth Stedman Jones.

THE CHARTISTS. By Dorothy Thompson.
Domesday Book, a facsimile edition
Authors: Green Judith A.
Published: December 2007

Great Domesday Book, Library Edition: Facsimile, translations, maps, indices, A. Williams (Editor‐in‐Chief), R.W.H. Erskine (General Editor)

Northamptonshire and Rutland, County Edition: Domesday Book Studies, Introduction and Translation, Folios and Maps Alecto Historical Editions
Survivors’pensions and death benefits: Current issues and future perspectives
Authors: Creutz Helmut
Published: December 2007

With the merits of the survivors’benefits paid by existing social insurance schemes being called into question, it is useful to take a closer look at such benefits and their future prospects. After presenting a detailed review of the relevant aspects of various national legislations, the author describes major recent changes in customs and lifestyles, and the problems to which they have given rise as regards the derivative rights of survivors, particularly in the context of the dissolution or absence of family ties. These problems concern the equality of rights between widows and widowers, the maintenance of protection beyond the usual framework of marriage for divorced persons, and the extension of coverage to unmarried couples who live together. Next the author discusses identifiable trends with a view to discerning options for future policy, and describes reforms to survivors’benefits which have already been implemented or are currently under consideration in several countries.
Sole parent families in Australia
Authors: Saunders Peter , Matheson George
Published: December 2007

This paper provides a descriptive account of sole parent families in Australia. Its aim is essentially to provide data on the numbers and circumstances of sole parent families, describe how they are treated within the Australian social security system, explain some recent income support reforms for sole parents, and consider how sole parents fare in the labour market. First, the circumstances of sole parent families are explored, specifically those relating to their number and type, income levels and composition and poverty status. The following section briefly describes income support arrangements for sole parent families in Australia and how these have been reformed in recent years in order to meet the challenges posed by the growth in numbers and expenditures. There follows an outline of the employment and labour force status of sole parents and how these have been changing as the labour market has evolved over the last two decades. The main conclusions of the paper are briefly summarized in the final section.
The free circulation of Individuals between the European Community member states: The practical implications for social security schemes
Authors: Voirin Michel
Published: December 2007

Freedom of movement in an integrated European Economic Area created the need to coordinate social security legislations by means of complex regulations. Improving their application calls for innovative solutions based on the experience of ISSA member institutions, ILO standards and the initiative of non‐governmental organizations. These solutions are also of interest to institutions in states — even non‐European states — linked to the Community by bilateral or multilateral conventions. The main objective is to simplify and speed up administrative procedures, notably for the award of pensions to migrants, given the desirability of identifying them and reconstructing their working careers at the earliest opportunity. Teleprocessing must gradually replace the international circulation of forms, facilitating in particular the provision of medical care during a temporary stay. Recipients’effective access to benefits can also be improved through the personal intervention of liaison offices, the use of migrants’own language and the aid of social services.
Beveridge in the longue durée
Authors: Baldwin Peter
Published: December 2007

Beveridge and his Plan occupy a singular place in the pantheon of social policy. This is due partly to the wartime circumstances under which the Plan was published and partly to T.H. Marshall's world‐historical reading of the Beveridge‐inspired welfare reforms of the first majority Labour government. Equally, Beveridge's reputation rests on his ability to balance the liberalism and collectivism inherent in any social policy. But this balance also introduced fundamental ambiguities into his proposals. Most important was the contradiction between a right to benefits based, on the one hand, on the recipient's status as a contributor to social insurance and, on the other, sheerly on the facts of citizenship and need. Social rights are not, as one might believe from the Marshallian interpretation, a simple extension of civil and political rights. Finally, the increasing internationalization of the welfare state and the consequent broadening of its interpretation, which tends to marginalize the social citizenship model, will either diminish or significantly change the evaluation of Beveridge's place in history.
Focusing on individual needs: Developing the law's mechanisms for mentally disabled and elderly people
Authors: Creyke Robin
Published: December 2007

The author examines the development in Australia of mechanisms for formal legal representation for people who are mentally incompetent: these include guardianship and property management; enduring powers of attorney; and government schemes for pensioners. Other legal protections discussed include the implementation of a statutorily required agreement between owners and residents in nursing homes. The paper lists the principles which now permeate legislation for formal legal representation — client‐centred decision‐making standards; limited loss of civil rights; encouragement of independence; deference to the wishes of the individual; informal and accessible determination and review processes — and sounds a warning about the influence of legal culture, particularly when there are people with legal experience on bodies determining whether substitute decision‐making should be implemented. It calls for lawyers to be sensitive to the influence they are capable of exerting and also recommends steps which can be taken to rectify weaknesses in the enduring power of attorney and government pensioner schemes. Finally the paper considers the new government initiatives to improve the conditions of people in aged care accommodation and raises some of the problems which can be anticipated in implementing that programme.
Information technology in social security offices: Changing relations between caseworkers and clients
Authors: Scheepers Ad
Published: December 2007

In this article possible implications of introducing information technology (IT) in social security administrations for their relationship with clients are discussed on the basis of a study on its effects in Netherlands municipal social services departments on clients’bureaucratic competence and caseworkers’discretion the accessibility and susceptibility of the administrations to the influence of clients, and the congruence in the definition of the bureaucratic situation by caseworkers and clients. Results show an increase in hierarchical authority and programming of work processes, a decrease in caseworkers’discretion and information monopoly, a growing discrepancy between caseworkers’and clients’definition of the bureaucratic situation, and an emphasis on verbal communicative aspects in the concrete interaction between the two. It is concluded that IT has paradoxical effects on the relationship between administrations and clients. On one hand the distance between them seems to diminish through an emphasis on direct, physical contacts with street‐level officials. On the other, the accessibility and susceptibility of administrations to clients’influence seems to decrease because street‐level workers become more embedded in the organization. It becomes more difficult for clients to bring their individual situation to the fore.
The protection of atypical work in the Australian, British and German social security systems
Authors: Bieback Karl‐Jürgen
Published: December 2007

It is a common feature of Australian, British and German social security law to exclude atypical work from many normal standards of protection. Social insurance and occupational welfare law still concentrate on the standard employment relationship, as they use length and continuity of employment as the major criteria for distributing benefits, and means‐tested systems put those who depend on different sources of income, as most atypical workers do, at a disadvantage. However, equal treatment and even promotion are granted to one type of atypical work: the combination of domestic and atypical labour market work. Examples are the law of unemployment insurance in Great Britain and Germany, the family components within the social insurance schemes, the special British and Australian means‐tested benefits for the working poor family, and parental leave legislation in Germany.
The mutual benefit movement in Chile from its origins to the present time (1853‐1992)
Authors: Toso Sergio Grez
Published: December 2007

The mutual benefit movement in Chile first appeared with the beginnings of industrialization and urbanization from the 1830s onwards. The first associations of urban workers emerged in 1853: this was followed by an initial period of expansion of mutual benefit activities until 1890. Almost all the urban trades were represented. During this period the mutual benefit movement was the principal organizing force for popular demands. From the 1890s onwards mutual benefit — linked with the workers’movement — grew rapidly and entered on a process of unification. Encouraging the development of the trade union movement, it took a leading part in determining the shape of the people's movements and maintained this role until 1924: this period marked the high point of mutual benefit activities in Chile. Mutual benefit organizations defended workers’demands and the boundaries between mutual benefit and trade union organizations were quite fluid. But the adoption of the social legislation and the support offered by certain leaders of the mutual benefit movement to the military dictatorship marked the beginning of the movement's decline. Efforts were then made to extend its scope of activities and unify the mutual benefit movement in Chile and in Latin America as a whole. The results of this were limited and the crisis continued after the Second World War. The 1973 coup d'état aggravated the situation still further. Today, with the virtual destruction of social security and its replacement by a system of private insurance schemes, one needs to ask whether the Chilean mutual benefit movement, which at one time was the principal form of popular organization, has a future.
Social security and mutual assistance in India: A preliminary account
Authors: Gupta Ranajit Das
Published: December 2007

This paper describes workers’mutual benefit and welfare arrangements in late colonial India, concentrating on the Calcutta and Bombay areas. The meaning and specificities of informal, non‐governmental social security and insurance for industrial labour are explained in relation to the prevailing social situation. A descriptive account of the few known instances of efforts made by sections of the working classes to organize mutual assistance or benefits, and of the more numerous attempts made from time to time by philanthropists and social reformers to provide labour with social security in the virtual absence of formal organizations for mutual benefits, brings out some of the limitations of such efforts. The role of trade unions in relation to labour welfare is considered. Explanations of the weaknesses of the various arrangements are given. A preliminary analysis of the informal mechanisms for the provision of social security, insurance and mutual assistance in the absence of government support and employer provision and of formal mutual benefit and friendly societies is followed by concluding comments.
The difficulties of extending social security in Tunisia's agricultural sector
Authors: Mouelhi Abdessatar
Published: December 2007

The development of social security in the agricultural sector in Tunisia faces obstacles due to the particular social and economic conditions that apply. The desire of the public authorities to extend social protection to the rural population as a whole runs up against both technical and financial problems. The exact number of people employed in the agricultural sector is not known and it is difficult to define precisely the range of persons to be protected. The changes that have been made in the legal framework in order to adapt social security to the composition and the working conditions of the agricultural population have not achieved their objective. The lack of a coherent system is reflected in particular in the variety of legal provisions and schemes which may be applicable to employees engaged in the same work or working in the same firm. The precarious nature of agricultural employment, the low incomes and thus the low contributory capacity of the workers, the level of benefits offered — in the agricultural schemes sometimes very much below those in the general scheme — all these make social security appear impossible to achieve or not worth while. The resistance encountered by the social security institution may also be due in part to the failure of the Social Security Fund to make people sufficiently aware of the position in the face of some of the traditional structures of solidarity.
Poland: Social protection and the pension system during the transition
Authors: Maret Xavier , Schwartz Gerd
Published: December 2007

This paper argues that the brunt of the transition‐induced increase in Polish social protection expenditures during 1989‐93 has been borne by social insurance arrangements, particularly pensions, rather than by social assistance schemes targeted to the poor or more temporary social safety net schemes. This is largely due to ease of access to social insurance and its more attractive benefit structure. Much of the recent efforts to reform social protection arrangements had an ad hoc nature and was driven by the need to alleviate looming financial distress. A major policy challenge is to avoid further burdening the social insurance system, particularly pensions, by problems that should be addressed by basic income support and emergency assistance policies or by general transfers (e.g. family allowances). Current reform needs are illustrated by using the pension system as an example.
Family policy and the under‐3s: Money, services, and time in a policy package
Authors: Kamernian Sheila B. , Kahn Alfred J.
Published: December 2007

The key components of social policy toward the elderly and disabled, and policies for families and their children, have featured what are by now widely employed income and service components. Now, as demographic and social change have motivated increasing numbers of countries to face the need for societal policies for children under the age of 3, exploration reveals the centrality of an additional policy dimension — time. A six‐country study and earlier research targeted on this group finds that several major policy patterns are emerging, with individual country choices reflecting history, culture, religious traditions, political configurations, and resources. Referring to illustrative countries, the paper explicates these options: (a) supporting an at‐home parent in “family work”; (b) backing a pattern of involvement of parents in both family and work; (c) offering parents of very young children the option of concentrating on family or work; (d) stressing programmes in support of the socialization and education of young children and their parents. It is suggested that social security institutions internationally contribute to these new developments through data collection, dissemination activities, and encouragement of discussion and research.
Social protection for the family in the Maghreb
Authors: Boudahrain Abdellah
Published: December 2007

This article is based on a study of the protection afforded to the family under the social insurance schemes of the five Member States of the Arab Maghreb Union, and considers the usefulness of family benefits in economically poor countries gripped by the great problems of population growth and unemployment. This type of social protection is conditional upon the individual being actively employed and covers only a very small part of the working population, leaving out the majority. Should not priority be given to coverage against real occupational risks that threaten employment? This is not an easy question to answer in an increasingly unfavourable economic climate, but it should be possible, in the name of those social and human ethics founded on Maghrebi sentiments of family, local, national and regional solidarity, to mobilize particularly the political will to find better solutions or alternatives. It will, however, be necessary first to reconsider family benefit systems in relation to other, more urgent forms of protection in accordance with a social choice based on the rights and cultural values of Maghrebi citizens. By showing the common features of the Maghrebi schemes at the same time as some of their differences, the article will also present useful elements for their harmonization and even their unification into a regional social security system.
Assessing disability: A six‐nation study of disability pension claim processing and appeals
Authors: Bloch Frank S.
Published: December 2007

This article studies disability pension benefit claim processing and appeal procedures in six countries — the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United States of America, and Canada. It examines eligibility requirements and programme goals, focusing on how those countries assess a claimant's disability. Among these six countries, there were variations between the burdens on the agency and those on the claimant to compile evidence to support the claim. In addition, the use of agency doctors, or referrals to outside physicians, was often predictive of how this burden was distributed. The countries use similar procedures to make initial disability assessments; however, they differ in how they structure the process: whether it is centralized or decentralized, whether teams or individual decision makers are used, and whether the decision makers have specialized training or rely on experts. The study also notes variations in the appeals process. All countries have considered adopting or discarding an internal administrative review of eligibility decisions; the debate continues on whether an internal review is of any value. With or without it, all six countries allow at least one level of appeal on both factual and legal issues. Some countries use specialized tribunals, while others use courts to hear post‐agency appeals. The article concludes with observations and recommendations applicable generally to disability pension benefit claim processing and appeals.
Unemployment insurance: Theoretical approaches and empirical evidence
Authors: Christián Larraín P. , Mario Velásquez P.
Published: December 2007

This article analyses the principal theoretical approaches to the effects on the labour market when an unemployment insurance scheme is introduced. The article also reviews the international data derived from such insurance schemes already in use in some European and American economies. The principal conclusion of this study is that an unemployment scheme does not necessarily affect employment decisions adversely, nor does it encourage long‐term unemployment. Furthermore, to the extent that this analysis goes beyond the traditional limits of the employment‐unemployment relationship and considers the institutional aspects, which can be at least as important as the individual benefits, the effects on employment and on the allocation of resources in the economy can be positive. Finally, the study identifies some criteria to be considered when designing the scheme, such as the level of benefits, the period for which they are granted, the type of beneficiary covered, the type of financing and its relationship to the quality of the information and its complementary role in the process of adapting the labour force to new demands.
Provident funds and investment in developing countries in the Pacific
Authors: Yee Lionel D.S.
Published: December 2007

This report describes the current avenues of investment used by provident fund schemes in seven island nations in the Pacific; the returns on these investments; the criteria for their selection; and the governments' guidelines and restrictions on these schemes. New investment guidelines from 1988 to 1992 are summarized and the reasons for them are explained. Limitations on permitted investment avenues are briefly described. The latter part of the report, and its main focus, analyses the problems faced when trying to balance the interests of provident fund members with national interests when selecting investments. The report concludes with some recommendations for solutions to the problems related to limited investment outlets and government restrictions. To gather information for this report, a questionnaire was sent to the provident fund schemes in the Pacific and the available annual reports were analysed. Responses, when received, have been included.
The use of replacement rates in international comparisons of benefit systems
Authors: Whiteford Peter
Published: December 2007

Comparative studies of social security systems have increasingly turned towards the use of replacement rates as measures of the level of benefits in different countries and therefore of the degree of social protection afforded by different welfare systems. The rationale for this is that replacement rates provide consistent measures of the relative generosity of payments and therefore indicate the “quality” of social security systems. This article reviews the use of replacement rates in comparisons of the generosity of retirement pensions and argues that they are not necessarily reliable as such measures. This reflects a number of factors, including incomplete measurement of benefit packages and differences in what must be bought out of disposable incomes. Most importantly, the article suggests that the levels of earnings in different countries are not independent of the processes of redistribution. In particular, countries which rely on social security contributions from employers appear to provide more generous benefits than those which rely on income taxes or employee contributions. This is a consequence of the fact that employer contributions do not figure specifically in the calculation of replacement rates. The relative generosity of benefit systems is overstated in countries which rely on employer social security contributions to fund benefits. The article concludes that a range of complementary indicators of social security systems should be used in future analysis of these issues.
Financial management and control of supplementary pension schemes
Authors: Daykin Christopher D.
Published: December 2007

As a result of demographic, financial and other pressures on social security schemes, governments are increasingly seeking to promote the development of complementary pension schemes and a partnership between the public social security system and private provision through occupational pension schemes or individualized pension arrangements. This paper considers the different aspects of complementary pension schemes which might be subject to some degree of regulation and deals briefly with some of the options available for establishing a satisfactory system of regulation and supervision.
Private and public pension schemes: Elements of a comparative approach
Authors: Voirin Michel
Published: December 2007

The comparative approach offers improved understanding of what is at stake for enterprises, workers and States in developing private pension schemes to fill the gap left by public schemes. The features that distinguish private schemes result from the freedom with which they were designed — by enterprises themselves or through collective bargaining — and the limits imposed by growing state intervention in granting fiscal concessions or stipulating social guarantees. Depending on how these various components are combined, private schemes may offers workers added protection or form a source of insecurity.
Privatization, provision, and targeting: Trends and policy implications for social security in the United States
Authors: Gilbert Neil , Park Neung‐Hoo
Published: December 2007

This paper examines several important trends in the changing structure of social security in the United States and their impact on the elderly in different income groups. These trends involve the shifting public/private mix of retirement income, the declining replacement rates of public benefits, and reforms for targeting benefits by age. An analysis of these trends suggests that (a) social security will provide declining economic support for those most in need; (b) middle‐ and upper‐income groups will have a diminished stake in social security, reducing the programme's political base of support; (c) increasing reliance on occupational pensions will heighten the need for greater public regulation of private schemes; (d) an unplanned two‐tiered system of pensions will emerge, with the first tier consisting of a whittled‐down version of social security to provide a predominant source of retirement income for low‐income wage earners and the second tier consisting of private pensions for middle‐ and upper‐income groups.
The advantages and disadvantages of the contribution base in targeting benefits: A social analysis of the insurance scheme in the United Kingdom
Authors: Alcock Pete
Published: December 2007

This article assesses the role which social insurance plays within the social security scheme in contemporary Great Britain, and presents this analysis for comparison and assessment to an international audience. The structure of the Beveridge scheme is briefly outlined and adaptations to it discussed. The scheme's failure to provide comprehensive social protection in Great Britain is then explained and the consequent drift towards social assistance is noted. A contrast is drawn between the advantages and disadvantages of insurance protection from a social policy perspective. Finally, the prospects for social insurance are briefly appraised and compared with alternative possible models for social security. From this it is concluded that, despite its past failings, even in Great Britain the prospects for social insurance protection remain strong.
Introduction of long‐term care insurance in Germany: An economic interpretation
Authors: Goerke Laszlo
Published: December 2007

This paper analyses the introduction of long‐term care insurance in Germany and provides an overview of some of the main arguments. It focuses on economic aspects of the new scheme, namely its impact on efficiency, distribution and employment as well as government budgets. The new insurance is suboptimal on a number of dimensions but not clearly inferior to an alternative discussed in the literature.
The growing risk of dependency in old age: What role for families and for social security?
Authors: Hennessy Patrick
Published: December 2007

This paper attempts a broad overview of recent trends in the organization and financing of long‐term care, giving special consideration to the role of families and social security mechanisms. Recent reforms in a number of countries are reviewed, and finally a set of goals is proposed by which both current systems and proposed alternatives may be assessed. An overall conclusion is that the industrial societies will most certainly have to devote more resources to long‐term care. While we now have a reasonably good idea how we would wish services to be deployed, major questions remain about how the cost is to be shared across the population.
Work incapacity and reintegration: Theory and design of a cross‐national study
Authors: Bloch Frank S. , Prins Rienk
Published: December 2007

This article presents the theory and design of a prospective cross‐national study on work incapacity and reintegration with cohorts of low back pain patients from Denmark, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. The aim of the project, which is being coordinated by the ISSA, is to learn how social security, labour, and healthcare systems address problems of work incapacity and reintegration and to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of various interventions, incentives, and disincentives on return to work. The article includes discussion of common problems that motivated the sponsors to join the project, the benefit programmes and services currently available in the participating countries, the theoretical model for the research, the project's core research design, and some key elements of its methodology.
Social protection: An obstacle to employment?
Authors: Walwei Ulrich , Zika Gerd
Published: December 2007

This article examines the ambivalent effect of social security on employment. First, an international comparison looks at protection from layoff by the employer, wage floors as defined in social and employment legislation, and levels of wage‐related costs and their effect on employment. Simulations for western Germany are then used to analyse the effects on the labour market of lowering social security contributions. The conclusion which emerges is that the effects of social protection on employment are determined both by the way it is organized – and thus ultimately how much it costs – and by the way it is funded, i.e. who picks up the bill for social security.
The challenge of youth unemployment
Authors: O'Higgins Niall
Published: December 2007

This article was prepared as a contribution to the ILO's Action Programme on Youth Unemployment. It presents an overview of the youth unemployment problem and youth employment policy principally from a European perspective, although it is hoped that much of the comment and analysis is relevant to afar broader range of countries. In the first section, which considers the nature and causes of youth unemployment, it is shown that its basic cause is aggregate demand rather than high youth wages or the size of the youth cohort, and suggests that a successful strategy for dealing with the problem must take this into account. In the second section, dealing principally with the examples of Germany and the United Kingdom, a number of factors are identified which influence the effectiveness of youth employment policy. In particular, it is found that precise targeting of programmes and the involvement of employers' and workers' organizations, as well as government, in the design and implementation of policy are both important determinants of an effective policy. A third section attempts to set the analysis in a more general context.
THE MINIMUM ANGLE OF RESOLUTION VS ANGLE OF REGARD FUNCTION AS MEASURED WITH DIFFERENT TARGETS*
Authors: Roy Gscenter C. , Kandel Gillray L. , Bedell Harold E.
Published: December 2007

Abstract Although the minimum angle of resolution (reciprocal visual acuity) may be well approximated as a linear function of angle of regard, a fresh look at past research using several target types and spanning a wide luminance range indicate that a small but distinct monotonic nonlinearity exists in the function.
A NEW LOOK AT READING ADDITIONS: THE MAGNIFICATION METHOD
Authors: Watts M. N.
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT A method for determining reading additions is described, based on the addition required to give a potential magnification of 25%. A set of results obtained before and after implementation of ibis “magnification method” is presented.