PhD Thesis: Trends in Social Assistance, Minimum Income Benefits and Income Polarization in an International Perspective

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinxian Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Assistance ◽  
International Perspective ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Income Polarization ◽  
Phd Thesis

scholarly journals Smaller net or just fewer to catch? Disentangling the causes for the varying sizes of minimum income schemes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jussi Tervola ◽  
Merita Jokela ◽  
Joonas Ollonqvist
Keyword(s):  
Social Assistance ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Weak Evidence

The sizes of minimum income schemes vary significantly even in welfare states that are considered similar. For example among Nordic countries, the share of recipients is almost double in Finland compared to Nordic peers. Considering the strong political will to diminish the receipt of last-resort benefits, we demonstrate a methodological framework to evaluate the reasons for varying number of beneficiaries and apply it to two Nordic countries, Finland and Sweden. By using microsimulation of eligibility rates, we examine the role of social assistance legislation, first-tier benefits and non-take-up. Relatively high number of beneficiaries in Finland is traced back to social assistance policies such as higher norm levels and earning disregard but also to lower non-take-up rate of social assistance benefits, which potentially reflects looser discretion and asset test. We also find some, albeit weak, evidence that the implementation reform of social assistance in Finland 2017 has further reduced non-take-up.

scholarly journals Improvement of the targeted social support of low-income families with children: Vologda Pilot Project

POPULATION ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-121
Author(s):  
Vyacheslav Bobkov
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Lump Sum ◽  
Subsistence Minimum ◽  
Regional Budget ◽  
Low Income Families ◽  
Families With Children ◽  
Guaranteed Minimum Income

The article deals with the theoretical, methodical and practical principles of forming a new model of targeted social support of low-income families with children on the basis of guaranteed minimum income. Approbation of the new approaches to targeted social support of low-income families with children was implemented in Vologda oblast. The target representative sample was 70 families. It has been found out that after the targeted social support under the current legislation (lump-sum payments excluded), basic income in these families averaged 35.3 per cent of the differentiated equivalent subsistence minimum, thus being evidence of the inefficient state social assistance. The author has substantiated introducing additional monthly targeted social payments to parents besides the set regular payments (additional family poverty benefit) that will enable families to improve their economic sustainability. He substantiated a number of threshold values of the guaranteed minimum income that would ensure current consumption ranging from the cost food basket up to the size of the differentiated equivalent living standards of families, depending on the financial capacity of the regional budget. The guaranteed minimum income of low-income families with children averaged 54.6 per cent of the regional differentiated equivalent subsistence minimum. There have been developed methodical recommendations for identifying untapped socio-economic potential of families as a source of raising income from employment, as well as criteria for removal of families from the recipients of targeted social assistance in the form of cash benefits. Proposals on correcting the current legislation on the state social support have been formulated.

scholarly journals The Benefit non-take-up in the Context of Cash Social Assistance Reform in Lithuania

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 96-121
Author(s):  
Tautvydas Vencius ◽  
Vitalija Gabnytė ◽  
Jekaterina Navickė
Keyword(s):  
Social Assistance ◽  
Growth Cycle ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
System Reform ◽  
Economic Cycle ◽  
Annual Average ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Single Person ◽  
The Right ◽  
Annual Average Number

The purpose of this article is to present the results of cash social assistance (CSA) benefit non-take-up in the context of the CSA system reform in Lithuania. The right to adequate minimum income benefits is one of the 20 key principles under the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR). Using the tax-benefit microsimulation model EUROMOD we seek to identify all those eligible to CSA benefit and to analyse its non-take-up rates in Lithuania. The analysis for 2016 showed that CSA benefit non-take-up in Lithuania was around 22%. This means that around one fifth of those who are entitled to this benefit do not get it for various reasons. The results show that there are two types of households, with a non-take-up rate exceeding 30%: single person and lone parent households. The dynamics of CSA benefit non-take-up between 2007-2016 were strongly negatively correlated to the annual average number of recipients of the CSA benefit. This makes for a counter-cyclical dynamic of the CSA non-take-up relative to the economic growth cycle. We find some evidence of an increase in the CSA non-take-up rate following the recent CSA reform in Lithuania. Further analysis is needed to distinguish between the effects of the economic cycle and the CSA reform.

scholarly journals Portuguese and Greek Experiences with Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) in Comparative Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Varvara Lalioti
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Domestic Policy ◽  
Pilot Programme ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Common Criteria ◽  
Guaranteed Minimum Income

Portugal and Greece have divergent histories with regard to Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI), arguably the principal difference in the two countries’ evolutions of social assistance in recent decades. Neither had a GMI when EEC common criteria on sufficient resources and social assistance were issued in 1992. Portugal introduced a pilot programme in 1996 that went operational in 1997. Greece is among only a few European countries never to experiment with GMI. Only recently (in 2012) was a decision reached to launch a pilot GMI scheme, with implementation still forthcoming.An account for the different Portuguese and Greek GMI experiences emphasizes the importance of actors such as political parties and trade unions. This actor-centred approach argues that the Portuguese GMI success is attributable to a coalition among key domestic policy actors, while ambivalent and fragmented attitudes among Greek policy actors hindered institution. The recent decision for a GMI pilot in Greece should be viewed as a product of the severe economic crisis and state debt obligations that leave little space for ambivalence. 

Patterns of institutional change in minimum income protection in Sweden and Germany

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Angelin ◽  
Håkan Johansson ◽  
Max Koch
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Change ◽  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Qualitative Change ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Expert Interviews ◽  
Sickness Insurance ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Policy Fields ◽  
Exclusive Focus

Germany is generally regarded as a case of qualitative “change” in minimum income protection (MIP) schemes, while Sweden is perceived as one of institutional “inertia”. This paper seeks to qualify this view by embedding developments in MIP in wider policy and governance trends. Empirically, it is based on document analysis and qualitative expert interviews in the two countries. Theoretically, the paper applies recent institutional approaches that address patterns of change in more complex ways. In Sweden, an exclusive focus on formal continuity regarding social assistance would disguise its change in function from temporary security system of last resort into one that permanently provides income protection when neighboring policy fields, unemployment and sickness insurance, are downsized. Conversely, in Germany a merger of social assistance and unemployment assistance took place. Yet an exclusive focus on the Hartz reforms would downplay the degree of continuity that nevertheless exists in the unemployment insurance.

Last Actor Standing Against Populism? The Role of the Catholic Church in Italy and its Defence of Social Assistance and Migration Policies

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Emmanuele Pavolini ◽  
Marco Arlotti ◽  
Ugo Ascoli
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Moral Authority ◽  
Public Intervention ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Material Interests ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Catholic Church

Churches’ positions and preferences in social policy are often described in the literature as fixed over time. The article challenges this assumption. In particular, it shows how the Italian Catholic Church (CC) changed over time its position toward social assistance and migration policies. In relation to social assistance, the CC has shifted from an antagonist approach to public intervention to the support of a universal public minimum income scheme. At a time of increasing aversion towards migrants, the Catholic Church has also become one of the few core actors in Italian society advocating explicitly for more welcoming migration policies and criticising national governments, especially the populist ones. Four factors explain these changes: the way institutions have worked in this policy field, CC material interests, how new ideas on social rights and social justice have been re-elaborated within the CC and its moral authority in politics.

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