How Welfare Regimes Generate and Erode Social Capital

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Christian Albrekt

2007-01-01

in the USA and other liberal welfare regimes, while social capital is stable in the so-called social democratic and conservative welfare regimes. The second puzzle is why the group of social democratic regimes have extremely high levels of social trust. It is argued that both puzzles have to do......Comparative studies of social capital, operationalised as social trust between citizens, have revealed two major puzzles. The first puzzle has to do with the decline in social trust in the USA, which fuelled considerable debate about social capital. The question is why social capital erodes...... with the presence or absence of a poor and culturally distinct underclass. The social democratic welfare regimes hinder – while the liberal welfare regime generate – such underclass phenomena....

Active Social Policy meets Welfare Professions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Marie Østergaard

2013-01-01

Active social policy is an example of New Public Management, which contains a set of policy tools directly affecting the various professions working in the welfare sector (Harrits & Møller 2011). The legitimization of the policy is based in a need to strengthen control with public expenditures...... capacities and the doctor’s specialized focus on physical deviations. As such, the paper is an empirically informed contribution to understanding what happens when new forms of New Public Management meet front-line workers such as social workers and doctors who use both rules and professional norms...... and to restore public support for redistributive social benefits such as early retirement pension. Yet, New Public Management and professional norms are typically seen as two distinct rationalities, as reflected in the conflicting aims of the political system (retrenchment) and the ‘street-level bureaucrats...

Communicating with Employees about Pension and Welfare Benefits.

Science.gov (United States)

Srb, Jozetta H.

The purpose of this report is to examine some of the problems of communication with employees about pension and welfare benefits. Issues discussed relate to (1) employees' attitudes toward benefits and benefit communication, (2) the structure of private benefit programs, (3) the case for fair labeling, and (4) the trend toward statutory criteria…

29 CFR 4.175 - Meeting requirements for health, welfare, and/or pension benefits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Meeting requirements for health, welfare, and/or pension... health, welfare, and/or pension benefits. (a) Determining the required amount of benefits. (1) Most fringe benefit determinations containing health and welfare and/or pension requirements specify a fixed...

Mandatory volunteer work as fair reciprocity for unemployment and social benefits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veldboer, L.; Kleinhans, R.J.; Van Ham, M.

2015-01-01

Modern welfare policies are increasingly based on notions of reciprocity. Citizens on welfare benefits have to do something in return, e.g. volunteer work. Notwithstanding general public support, social philosophers have been critical on ‘mandatory’ activities in community programmes. So far, the

The weakest link in welfare state legitimacy : European perceptions of moral and administrative failure in the targeting of social benefits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roosma, F.; van Oorschot, W.J.H.; Gelissen, J.P.T.M.

2014-01-01

In the field of welfare attitude research, generally studies examining critical attitudes toward the welfare state are rather limited. However, the existing studies find that people are most negative about the mis-targeting of welfare benefits – that is, people are particularly critical of the high

Nationalism and social welfare in the post-Soviet context.

Science.gov (United States)

Chandler, Andrea

2011-01-01

This paper offers hypotheses on the role that state social welfare measures can play in reflecting nationalism and in aggravating interethnic tensions. Social welfare is often overlooked in theoretical literature on nationalism, because of the widespread assumption that the welfare state promotes social cohesion. However, social welfare systems may face contradictions between the goal of promoting universal access to all citizens on the one hand, and social pressures to recognize particular groups in distinct ways on the other. Examples from the post-Soviet context (particularly Russia) are offered to illustrate the ways in which social welfare issues may be perceived as having ethnic connotations.

Previdência social rural e gênero Rural Social Welfare and gender

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anita Brumer

2002-06-01

Full Text Available O trabalho apresenta uma análise das principais transformações da previdência social rural no Brasil, que culminaram com a inclusão das mulheres trabalhadoras rurais como beneficiárias (direito à aposentadoria por idade e salário-maternidade na legislação aprovada pelo Congresso Nacional em 1988. Paralelamente, faz-se um exame do papel do Estado e da sociedade civil na evolução da legislação relativa à previdência social rural, procurando-se evidenciar seu caráter de "doação" por parte do Estado ou da "conquista" polos próprios trabalhadores(as. Finalmente, são examinados alguns impactos da implantação da previdência social rural no Sul do Brasil, ressaltando-se seu papel na diminuição da pobreza rural e da desigualdade na distribuição da renda, assim como sua importância material e simbólica na mudança de relações de gênero no meio rural.The work analyzes the main transformations in the rural Social Welfare in Brazil. The outcome of these transformations has been the inclusion of rural hard-working women in the welfare system as of the legislation approved by the National Congress in 1988. Rural-work women in Brazil have become entitled to the benefits of paid maternity leave and retirement accordant to a legal age limit. Concurrently, the article examines the role played by the State and the civil society in the unfolding of the legislation related to rural Social Welfare, in an attempt of exposing its character of either a "donation" given by the State or the workers' own "conquest". Finally, the author queries the impact of rural Social Welfare implementation in the South of Brazil, emphasizing its achievements in the decrease of rural poverty and unequal income distribution, as well as its material and symbolic importance in the gender relationship shift in rural areas.

On economic inequality and social welfare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Begović Boris

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to explore the relations between economic inequality and social welfare staring from the assumption that causality goes from economic inequality to social welfare. Standard methodological framework of economic science was enhanced with interpersonal function of individual welfare so the effects of economic inequality of the level of social welfare can be considered. It was demonstrated that there is no unequivocal theoretical conclusion and that differences in the preferences among people should be empirical considered for more insights. The analysis of the consequences of economic inequality to economic growth, i.e. dynamics of social welfare, demonstrated that there are numerous mechanisms of causality with the countervailing effects. The most important mechanism by which inequality speeds-up economic growth is based on the increased saving and invents rates, and the most important mechanism by which it slows-down growth is based on decreasing investments in human capital. Accordingly, there is no unequivocal theoretical conclusion also in this case. Nonetheless, modern growth theory has demonstrated that that the most dangerous economic growth is inequality of the treatment of economic agents, i.e. discrimination and exclusion, as that kind of inequality creates substantial allocative inefficiency.

Social capital, houshold welfare, and poverty in Indonesia

OpenAIRE

Grootaert, Christiaan

1999-01-01

The author empirically estimates how social capital affects household welfare and poverty in Indonesia. His focus: household memberships in local associations, an aspect of social capital especially relevant to daily household decisions that affect welfare and consumption. The data suggest that households with higher social capital spend more per capita. They also have more assets, more savings, and better access to credit. To estimate how social capital contributes to household welfare, the ...

A systematic review of the health, social and financial impacts of welfare rights advice delivered in healthcare settings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Howel Denise

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Socio-economic variations in health, including variations in health according to wealth and income, have been widely reported. A potential method of improving the health of the most deprived groups is to increase their income. State funded welfare programmes of financial benefits and benefits in kind are common in developed countries. However, there is evidence of widespread under claiming of welfare benefits by those eligible for them. One method of exploring the health effects of income supplementation is, therefore, to measure the health effects of welfare benefit maximisation programmes. We conducted a systematic review of the health, social and financial impacts of welfare rights advice delivered in healthcare settings. Methods Published and unpublished literature was accessed through searches of electronic databases, websites and an internet search engine; hand searches of journals; suggestions from experts; and reference lists of relevant publications. Data on the intervention delivered, evaluation performed, and outcome data on health, social and economic measures were abstracted and assessed by pairs of independent reviewers. Results are reported in narrative form. Results 55 studies were included in the review. Only seven studies included a comparison or control group. There was evidence that welfare rights advice delivered in healthcare settings results in financial benefits. There was little evidence that the advice resulted in measurable health or social benefits. This is primarily due to lack of good quality evidence, rather than evidence of an absence of effect. Conclusion There are good theoretical reasons why income supplementation should improve health, but currently little evidence of adequate robustness and quality to indicate that the impact goes beyond increasing income.

Evolution of cooperation driven by social-welfare-based migration

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yan; Ye, Hang; Zhang, Hong

2016-03-01

Individuals' migration behavior may play a significant role in the evolution of cooperation. In reality, individuals' migration behavior may depend on their perceptions of social welfare. To study the relationship between social-welfare-based migration and the evolution of cooperation, we consider an evolutionary prisoner's dilemma game (PDG) in which an individual's migration depends on social welfare but not on the individual's own payoff. By introducing three important social welfare functions (SWFs) that are commonly studied in social science, we find that social-welfare-based migration can promote cooperation under a wide range of parameter values. In addition, these three SWFs have different effects on cooperation, especially through the different spatial patterns formed by migration. Because the relative efficiency of the three SWFs will change if the parameter values are changed, we cannot determine which SWF is optimal for supporting cooperation. We also show that memory capacity, which is needed to evaluate individual welfare, may affect cooperation levels in opposite directions under different SWFs. Our work should be helpful for understanding the evolution of human cooperation and bridging the chasm between studies of social preferences and studies of social cooperation.

What Works in Education and Social Welfare?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krejsler, John B.

2013-01-01

-up professional strategy. It is subsequently reworked and launched into education and social welfare in moves that largely bypass professionals to serve policy-maker and market needs to enable evidence-based choices among public services. From this perspective, the author argues that education and social welfare...

Transformations of the Danish Field of Welfare Work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frederiksen, Jan Thorhauge

2017-01-01

a set of welfare professions, each of which provides a specific subset of welfare benefits, or services. These professionals - agents of the Danish field of welfare work – make up the population of the analysis: teachers, social workers, occupational therapists, social educators, nurses, librarians...

77 FR 33241 - Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Nominations for Vacancies

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-05

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration Advisory Council on Employee Welfare... Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (the Council), which is to consist of 15 members to... to the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans to represent any of the groups...

78 FR 36596 - Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Nominations for Vacancies

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-18

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration Advisory Council on Employee Welfare... Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (the Council), which is to consist of 15 members to... appointment to the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans to represent any of the...

Social Justice and Multiculturalism: Persistent Tensions in the History of US Social Welfare and Social Work

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Reisch

2007-03-01

Full Text Available Social justice has been a central normative component of U.S. social welfare and social work for over a century, although the meaning and implications of the term have often been ambiguous. A major source of this ambiguity lies in the conflict between universalist views of social justice and those which focus on achieving justice for specific groups. This conflict has been masked by several long-standing assumptions about the relationship between social justice and multiculturalism – assumptions which have been challenged by recent developments. The assumption that the pursuit of social justice requires the creation of a more egalitarian society has been challenged by the new political-economic realities of globalization. The assumption that the maintenance of individual rights complements the pursuit of social equality has been challenged by racially-based attacks on social welfare benefits and civil rights. Most significantly, the assumption that a socially just society is one in which different groups share a compatible vision of social justice has been challenged by the realities of multiculturalism. This paper explores the evolution of four themes regarding the relationship between social justice and multiculturalism during the past century and discusses their implications for the contemporary demographic and cultural context of the U.S. These themes are: the relationship of cultural diversity to the nation’s values and goals; the contradiction between coerced cultural assimilation and coerced physical and social segregation; the relationship between individual and group identity and rights; and the linkage between “Americanization” and the equal application of justice.

Family violence, employment status, welfare benefits, and alcohol drinking in the United States: what is the relation?

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez, E; Lasch, K; Chandra, P; Lee, J

2001-01-01

OBJECTIVES—This study examined the contribution of employment status, welfare benefits, alcohol use, and other individual, and contextual factors to physical aggression during marital conflict.
METHODS—Logistic regression models were used to analyse panel data collected in the National Survey of Families and Households in 1987 and 1992. A total of 4780 married or cohabiting persons re-interviewed in 1992 were included in the analysis. Domestic violence was defined as reporting that both partners were physically violent during arguments.
RESULTS—It was found that non-employed respondents are not at greater risk of family violence in comparison with employed respondents, after controlling for alcohol misuse, income, education, age, and other factors; however, employed persons receiving welfare benefits are at significantly higher risk. Alcohol misuse, which remains a predictor of violence even after controlling for other factors, increases the risk of family violence while satisfaction with social support from family and friends decreases it.
CONCLUSION—These results underscore the important effect of alcohol misuse on domestic violence, and the need to monitor the potential impact of welfare reform on domestic violence.


Keywords: family violence; alcohol misuse; employment status; welfare benefits PMID:11160171

Social work and research in advanced welfare states

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

and North-Western Europe more generally, there are other countries where the public spend on welfare is relatively high. The contributors to this book explore and exemplify ways in which social work and research are distinctive for advanced welfare states. This involves exploring their connection......The aim of this book is to exemplify the ways in which social work and research develop in ‘advanced’ welfare states - countries where public spending is relatively high as a proportion of GNP. While such countries have traditionally been associated with Scandinavian countries in particular...... to professional identities, histories and welfare systems, their associations with academic, theoretical and cultural traditions of collaboration between academic and social work practice, and the distinctive links with community, national policy, governmentality and agency, with respect to forms of knowledge...

Social Networks and Welfare in Future Animal Management.

Science.gov (United States)

Koene, Paul; Ipema, Bert

2014-03-17

It may become advantageous to keep human-managed animals in the social network groups to which they have adapted. Data concerning the social networks of farm animal species and their ancestors are scarce but essential to establishing the importance of a natural social network for farmed animal species. Social Network Analysis (SNA) facilitates the characterization of social networking at group, subgroup and individual levels. SNA is currently used for modeling the social behavior and management of wild animals and social welfare of zoo animals. It has been recognized for use with farm animals but has yet to be applied for management purposes. Currently, the main focus is on cattle, because in large groups (poultry), recording of individuals is expensive and the existence of social networks is uncertain due to on-farm restrictions. However, in many cases, a stable social network might be important to individual animal fitness, survival and welfare. For instance, when laying hens are not too densely housed, simple networks may be established. We describe here small social networks in horses, brown bears, laying hens and veal calves to illustrate the importance of measuring social networks among animals managed by humans. Emphasis is placed on the automatic measurement of identity, location, nearest neighbors and nearest neighbor distance for management purposes. It is concluded that social networks are important to the welfare of human-managed animal species and that welfare management based on automatic recordings will become available in the near future.

Welfare benefits of agglomeration and worker heterogenity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Teulings, C.N.; Ossokina, I.V.; de Groot, H.L.F.

2014-01-01

The direct impact of local public goods on welfare is relatively easy to measure from land rents. However, the indirect effects on home and job location, on land use, and on agglomeration benefits are hard to pin down. We develop a spatial general equilibrium model for the valuation of these

77 FR 74515 - Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Charter Renewal

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-14

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration Advisory Council on Employee Welfare... charter for the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans is renewed. The Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans shall advise the Secretary of Labor on technical...

75 FR 80072 - Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Charter Renewal

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-21

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration Advisory Council on Employee Welfare... charter for the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans is renewed. The Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans shall advise the Secretary of Labor on technical...

The welfare state, pensions, privatization: the case of Social Security in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Du Boff, R B

1997-01-01

In all high-income nations, the welfare state is under challenge, with particular concern voiced about the burden of retirement pensions on the public fisc and on younger workers. The strongest drive against social insurance is taking place in the United States, which has less of it than other nations and appears to be in the best position to meet future entitlement claims. In this article, the author examines the liabilities that the U.S. Social Security system is likely to incur over the next 35 years and finds that there is little danger that the system will fall into insolvency. Privatizing Social Security is not necessary to assure the integrity of future pension benefits. Furthermore, the cost-benefit ratio of privatization appears to be unfavorable, as borne out by the mandatory private pension plan in effect in Chile. Some wealthy nations will face greater demographic strains than the United States, but all need to retain the welfare state as a foundation for future changes in the world of work.

The relation of family violence, employment status, welfare benefits, and alcohol drinking in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez, Eunice; Lasch, Kathryn E; Chandra, Pinky; Lee, Jennifer

2001-01-01

Objective To examine the contribution of employment status, welfare benefits, alcohol use, and other individual and contextual factors to physical aggression during marital conflict. Methods Logistic regression models were used to analyze panel data collected in the National Survey of Families and Households in 1987 and 1992. A total of 4,780 married or cohabiting persons reinterviewed in 1992 were included in the analysis. Domestic violence was defined as reporting that both partners were physically violent during arguments. Results Unemployed respondents are not at greater risk of family violence than employed respondents, after alcohol misuse, income, education, age, and other factors are controlled for; however, employed persons receiving welfare benefits are at significantly higher risk. Alcohol misuse, which remains a predictor of violence even after other factors are controlled for, increases the risk of family violence, and satisfaction with social support from family and friends is associated with its decrease. Conclusions Alcohol misuse has an important effect on domestic violence, and the potential impact of welfare reform on domestic violence needs to be monitored. PMID:11342506

76 FR 44047 - Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Nominations for Vacancies

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-22

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration Advisory Council on Employee Welfare... Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (the Council), which is to consist of 15 members to... one or more individuals for appointment to the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension...

75 FR 45166 - Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Nominations for Vacancies

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-02

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration Advisory Council on Employee Welfare... Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (the Council), which is to consist of 15 members to... desiring to recommend one or more individuals for appointment to the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare...

Perceptions of Social Responsibility of Prominent Animal Welfare Groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Widmar, Nicole J Olynk; Morgan, Carissa J; Croney, Candace C

2018-01-01

Nonhuman animal welfare is an increasingly important component of consumer expectations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The extent to which prominent animal welfare or protection organizations may influence people's perceptions of food industry CSR may be related to an organization's perceived social responsibility. Data from an online survey of 300 U.S. residents were used to explore relationships between demographics/lifestyle choices and perceptions of prominent animal welfare organizations (using best-worst scaling methodology). Overall, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was perceived to be the most socially responsible organization analyzed, followed by the Humane Society of the United States and the American Humane Association (AHA). Results suggest that the perceived social responsibility of animal protection organizations in this study was not strongly linked to personally (financially) supporting them, with 2 exceptions: the perceptions of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and AHA. Improved understanding of the perception of animal welfare or protection organizations can inform decision making by organizations interested in furthering animal welfare causes.

Nash social welfare in multiagent resource allocation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ramezani, S.; Endriss, U.; David, E.; Gerding, E.; Sarne, D.; Shehory, O.

2010-01-01

We study different aspects of the multiagent resource allocation problem when the objective is to find an allocation that maximizes Nash social welfare, the product of the utilities of the individual agents. The Nash solution is an important welfare criterion that combines efficiency and fairness

75 FR 68383 - Hearing on Reasonable Contracts or Arrangements for Welfare Benefit Plans Under Section 408(b)(2...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-05

... Arrangements for Welfare Benefit Plans Under Section 408(b)(2)--Welfare Plan Fee Disclosure AGENCY: Employee... health, disability, severance and other employee welfare benefit plans under section 408(b)(2) of the... affect employee welfare benefit plans. At least one commenter addressed specific concerns of pharmacy...

78 FR 50112 - Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Extension of Deadline...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-16

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration Advisory Council on Employee Welfare... appointment to the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans. Section 512 of the Employee... of an Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (the Council), which is to...

Report on the relationship between welfare, education and social entrepreneurship

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Persson, H. Thomas R.; Hafen, Niklas; Rakar, Fredrik

levels. The focus is on establishing to what extent education and welfare influence the development of social entrepreneurship, social innovation and social enterprises. In this context, welfare and education are understood to be amongst the most relevant areas for any government in that it strongly......In this report, we aim to shed light on how far and to what extent the national and regional governments – more specifically the welfare regime and the education system – have come in terms of developing supporting ecosystems for social enterprises, to strengthen efforts at national and regional...

Issues of Formation and Use of Financial Resources of the Social Welfare System (Case Study of the Komi Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valentina Valentinovna Tikhomirova

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Currently, the social welfare system in the Komi Republic and in the Russian Federation on the whole is undergoing gradual reforming, the main goals of which are as follows: improving the quality of life; supporting the poor and vulnerable segments of the population; mitigating possible negative consequences of reforms; improving pension provision; further improvement of targeted social assistance; streamlining social benefits; development of the social services market. In this regard, the study of methodological basis for the formation and use of financial resources of the social welfare system becomes more and more important. The goal of this work is to develop theoretical and methodical approaches to the improvement of financial mechanism for the social welfare system in the region. The paper considers the formation and use of financial resources for social protection of population in the Republic of Komi. The author reveals specifics of formation of budgets of all levels and the powers of federal and regional authorities in the field of mutual responsibility. The paper shows the imbalance of financial resources and obligations at all levels of the budgetary system of the Russian Federation. Scientific novelty of the work consists in the fact that it defines social protection as a financial category that provides redistribution of financial resources emerging in the process of formation of centralized and decentralized financial resources, through a set of forms and types of social protection aimed to ensure its targeted provision. On the basis of the national accounts system, which in terms of methodology focuses on a single international standard, the author develops a structure of forms and types of social protection, which are the basis of its financial mechanism: state social guarantees and minimum social standards; social benefits (social insurance and social assistance benefits; and social services. The paper considers main directions

Effects of carbon tax on social welfare: A case study of China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Zi-yue; Nie, Pu-yan

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Carbon tax on the production link may lead to the rise of social welfare. • Oligopoly model of energy sector expands the optimal model of carbon tax. • The impact of carbon taxes is stable under different social redistribution demand. - Abstract: Almost all countries around the world concern about the emission of greenhouse gas. The most widely used model of carbon tax is based on complete competition model of energy market, which, however, cannot completely reflect the real condition. This article establishes a social optimal welfare model that based on oligopoly competition of energy department. According to the model, the article calculates the substitution elasticity of factors in China’s energy sectors, non-energy department and consumption preference in domestic energy and non-energy commodities. Based on the social optimal welfare model, the effect on social welfare caused by carbon taxes in different links is further evaluated. The results show that a certain amount of carbon tax in the production link raises the social welfare, while in consumption and redistribution links lowers the social welfare. Specifically, the absolute value of marginal social welfare in the redistribution link is larger. Moreover, the values of the three types of carbon taxes vary under different redistribution demands though the variation trends of tax in the same link are similar. As a result, a small amount of carbon tax on the production link contributes to the growth of social welfare.

Impact of Retirements and Pensions on the Social Welfare of the Households from Minas Gerais State

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paulo Ricardo da Costa Reis

2015-04-01

Full Text Available One of the main arguments for the existence of public social security systems relates to their potential use as income distribution and welfare policy tools. In this vein, several studies have sought to evaluate the effects of social security benefits on poverty and inequality. However, the evidence obtained from Brazilian studies regarding the effects of social security remains inconclusive, and studies evaluating the impact of social security on social welfare indices are scarce. The objective of this paper is to measure the impact of retirement and pensions provided by social security programs on the welfare level of households in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The methodological approach is based on propensity score matching, and microdata from the National Household Sample Survey (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios - PNAD, 2009 are used. The results demonstrate that income from retirement and pensions represents an important portion of beneficiary households' income, especially lower-income beneficiary households. The results suggest that social security has a positive effect on the incomes, access to knowledge and living conditions of the households analyzed. The impact of retirement and pensions on households in low-income groups (Classes D and E tends to be more significant relative to the impact on middle class households (Class C.

29 CFR 2509.78-1 - Interpretive bulletin relating to payments by certain employee welfare benefit plans.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... employee welfare benefit plans. 2509.78-1 Section 2509.78-1 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EMPLOYEE BENEFITS SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR GENERAL INTERPRETIVE BULLETINS RELATING TO... payments by certain employee welfare benefit plans. The Department of Labor today announced its...

Imperfect Annuity Markets, Unintended Bequests, and the Optimal Age Structure of Social Security Benefits

OpenAIRE

Martin Feldstein

1989-01-01

The social security program now provides a constant real benefit throughout each retirees lifetime. This paper examines whether total welfare would rise if benefits were lower in early retirement years (when most individuals have some saving with which to finance consumption) and higher in later years (when the uncertainty of survival and the absence of actuarially fair private annuities makes the availability of social security benefits more important.) The analysis shows that there is a pot...

Patterns of Welfare Attitudes in the Australian Population.

Science.gov (United States)

Schofield, Timothy P; Butterworth, Peter

2015-01-01

The study of community attitudes toward welfare and welfare recipients is an area of increasing interest. This is not only because negative attitudes can lead to stigmatization and discrimination, but because of the relevance of social attitudes to policy decisions. We quantify the attitudes toward welfare in the Australian population using attitude data from a nationally representative survey (N = 3243). Although there was broad support for the social welfare system, negative attitudes are held toward those who receive welfare benefits. Using canonical correlation analysis we identify multivariate associations between welfare attitudes and respondent demographic characteristics. A primary attitudinal dimension of welfare positivity was found amongst those with higher levels of education, life instability, and personal exposure to the welfare system. Other patterns of negative welfare attitudes appeared to be motivated by beliefs that the respondent's personal circumstances indicate their deservingness. Moreover, a previously unidentified and unconsidered subset of respondents was identified. This group had positive attitudes toward receiving government benefits despite having no recent experience of welfare. They did, however, possess many of the characteristics that frequently lead to welfare receipt. These results provide insights into not only how attitudinal patterns segment across the population, but are of relevance to policy makers considering how to align welfare reform with community attitudes.

Patterns of Welfare Attitudes in the Australian Population

Science.gov (United States)

Schofield, Timothy P.; Butterworth, Peter

2015-01-01

The study of community attitudes toward welfare and welfare recipients is an area of increasing interest. This is not only because negative attitudes can lead to stigmatization and discrimination, but because of the relevance of social attitudes to policy decisions. We quantify the attitudes toward welfare in the Australian population using attitude data from a nationally representative survey (N = 3243). Although there was broad support for the social welfare system, negative attitudes are held toward those who receive welfare benefits. Using canonical correlation analysis we identify multivariate associations between welfare attitudes and respondent demographic characteristics. A primary attitudinal dimension of welfare positivity was found amongst those with higher levels of education, life instability, and personal exposure to the welfare system. Other patterns of negative welfare attitudes appeared to be motivated by beliefs that the respondent’s personal circumstances indicate their deservingness. Moreover, a previously unidentified and unconsidered subset of respondents was identified. This group had positive attitudes toward receiving government benefits despite having no recent experience of welfare. They did, however, possess many of the characteristics that frequently lead to welfare receipt. These results provide insights into not only how attitudinal patterns segment across the population, but are of relevance to policy makers considering how to align welfare reform with community attitudes. PMID:26554361

"Does e-Commerce Always Increase Social Welfare in the Long Run?"

OpenAIRE

Yuji Nakayama; Kiyohiko G. Nishimura

2002-01-01

We examine the effect of electronic commerce ("e-commerce") on social welfare, in the framework of conventional spatial competition models. We consider the case where both conventional and electronic retailers coexist in equilibrium. We show that e-commerce does not necessarily increase social welfare in the long run. In particular, when electronic retailers have clear cost advantage over conventional retailers, then the advent of e-commerce is shown to reduce social welfare.

13 Assessment of Social Welfare Services of Sufferers of Leprosy in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nekky Umera

focus group discussion, Social welfare, sufferers of. Leprosy. Introduction ... concerns of interdisciplinary professionals in the area of health and social services management, for such professionals work in social welfare services where they can help ... This is causing the state Government and well meaning citizens a lot of.

On Welfare and Terror: Social Welfare Policies and Political-Economic Roots of Terrorism

Science.gov (United States)

Burgoon, Brian

2006-01-01

This article argues that social welfare policies may reduce international and domestic terrorism. Social policies likely affect terrorism in offsetting ways but, on balance, should diminish preferences for terrorism by reducing economic insecurity, inequality, poverty, and religious-political extremism. Thus, countries with more generous welfare…

Solar energy's economic and social benefits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scheer, H.

1995-01-01

There are numerous indications that solar energy is far more than a mere stopgap measure to escape from the present environmental crisis. These include the natural as well as the developed, and still developing, technological potential of solar energy; the vast opportunities offered by abandoning destructive energy sources; and, not least, the new industrial perspectives arising from the conversion of our energy system. In addition to the environmental benefits, solar energy will bring about major economic and social gains. The creation of a solar energy system offers an unexpected and unique chance to release industrial society from the harmful consequences of the Industrial Revolution and to make available its positive accomplishments - particularly the social, democratic and cultural opportunities made possible by freeing mankind from slave labour - to all of mankind. Destruction of the environment is the greatest danger for industrialized societies pursuing economic growth, but it is not the only one. The Western high culture of welfare states is evidently a thing of the past. Created by the pressure of social movements that emerged in the Industrial Revolution, they stabilized capitalism by making it more responsive to the social needs in its strongholds. But both old and new contradictions, as well as the growth of welfare costs, lead to the conclusion that the future of the industrial system is increasingly seen only in terms of jettisoning its social obligations. Political democracy will then once more be in danger. Modern history is unable to provide an example of a stable democracy based on permanent mass misery

The Evolution of Social Welfare and Social Work in Nigeria | Irele ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper focused on the evolution of social welfare and social work in Nigeria. It traced the historical trajectory of social work from the missionary period through the colonial period to the present day. The paper gave a vivid picture of how individuals who were philanthropists contributed to the evolution of social work and ...

Social trust among recipients of voluntary welfare in Norway

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Therese Saltkjel

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The significance of social capital, including social trust, has in recent decades been acknowledged by many scholars across different disciplines as a key resource. This has led to many studies and scientific articles investigating this topic. Few studies, however, have focused upon social trust within marginalised groups. This study is based upon data gathered from one of the larger research projects investigating the vulnerable recipients of voluntary welfare assistance in Norway. The aim of the study is to investigate the level of social trust in a sample of 80 recipients of welfare assistance within two large voluntary welfare organisations in the capital city of Oslo, Norway. In particular, the study will explore whether and to what degree the level of social trust can be explained by conditions experienced while growing up and as an adult. Results indicate that adult life experiences, such as drug abuse and life satisfaction are the most important explanatory variables. However problems experienced while growing-up seems to be indirectly related to social trust. The results of the study highlight the significance of acknowledging processes of marginalisation in socially vulnerable groups, such as drug users and children experiencing problems growing up.

75 FR 64947 - 154th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-20

... Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting; Notice #0;#0;Federal Register... Employee Benefits Security Administration 154th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and... Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans will be held on November 3-4, 2010. The...

Selecting Social Indicators to Forecast Child Welfare Caseload

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raghubar D. Sharma

2008-12-01

identified social indicators that were statistically associated with the risk factors. After measuring the statistical association between social indictors with child welfare caseload, this study develops regression models to select and narrow down a list of social indicators with the highest predictability.

'Child poverty in Denmark: Balancing adult work discipline and child welfare in social work?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørup, Iben; Petersen, Stina Krogh; Jacobsen, Betina

to take up work as well as an increased conditionality which stresses the individuals willingness to participate in activation to work in order to receive benefits. Many of the reforms also increase the threat of sanctions if the individual is not making sufficient effort to look for work or improve his...... this leads to a practice, where the social work and the initiatives aiming to reduce child vulnerability focus on the factors within the child’s immediate environment such as the relation between child and parent, and thirdly it leads to a practice where the often conflicting goals of the active labour......Abstract Active welfare state reforms have been implemented all over Europe. Though the specific design of active welfare state reforms vary between the countries the majority of the reforms include elements of benefit reductions in an attempt to make work pay and increase the individual incentive...

Waqf as a Tool for Rendering Social Welfare Services in the Social Entrepreneurship Context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Md. Mahmudul Alam

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The concept of Islamic entrepreneurship centers on ensuring community well-being as the priority, which is one of the important objectives (Maqasid of the Islamic Shari’ah. Historically, waqf played a significant role in the Islamic economic system, particularly in rendering exemplary welfare services in the areas of healthcare, education, social welfare, environmental, and other community-based programs. However, only a few success stories in recent history have institutionally utilized the properties of waqf under proper management to achieve its substantial objectives. This study uses the literature review as basis to analyze the reasons behind the successful utilization of waqf as an effective tool to ensure social welfare services in the past, as well as how this model can be replicated by considering current contexts. This study will assist Islamic valuecentric entrepreneurs, regulatory authorities, investors, and researchers to gain an overall insight into the potentials of waqf as a tool for rendering commendable social welfare services.

Optimal taxation and welfare benefits with monitoring of job search

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boone, J.; Bovenberg, A.L.

2013-01-01

In order to investigate the interaction between tax policy, welfare benefits, the government technology for monitoring and sanctioning inadequate search, workfare, and externalities from work, we incorporate endogenous job search and involuntary unemployment into a model of optimal nonlinear income

Imported palm oil for biofuels in the EU: Profitability, greenhouse gas emissions and social welfare effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saikkonen, Liisa; Ollikainen, Markku; Lankoski, Jussi

2014-01-01

We examine the social desirability of renewable diesel production from imported palm oil in the EU when greenhouse gas emissions are taken into account. Using a partial market equilibrium model, we also study the sectoral social welfare effects of a biofuel policy consisting of a blend mandate in a small EU country (Finland), when palm oil based diesel is used to meet the mandated quota for biofuels. We develop a market equilibrium model for three cases: i) no biofuel policy, ii) biofuel policy consisting of socially optimal emission-based biofuel tax credit and iii) actual EU biofuel policy. Our results for the EU biofuel market, Southeast Asia and Finland show very little evidence that a large scale use of imported palm oil in diesel production in the EU can be justified by lower greenhouse gas emission costs. Cuts in emission costs may justify extensive production only if low or negative land-use change emissions result from oil palm cultivation and if the estimated per unit social costs of emissions are high. In contrast, the actual biofuel policies in the EU encourage the production of palm oil based diesel. Our results indicate that the sectoral social welfare effects of the actual biofuel policy in Finland may be negative and that if emissions decrease under actual biofuel policy, the emission abatement costs can be high regardless of the land use change emissions. - Highlights: • We study the social desirability of renewable diesel production from palm oil in EU. • We also study sectoral social welfare impacts of actual biofuel policy in Finland. • Life cycle GHG emission costs of diesels are included in the economic analysis. • Extensive use of palm oil diesel in EU is difficult to justify by climate benefits. • The social welfare effects of the actual biofuel policy in Finland can be negative

Land use, worker heterogeneity and welfare benefits of public goods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Teulings, Coen N.; Ossokina, Ioulia V.; de Groot, Henri L.F.

2018-01-01

We show that investments in public goods change the optimal land use in their vicinity, leading to additional welfare benefits. This occurs through two sorting mechanisms. First, availability of public goods leads to higher population densities. Second, population groups sort according to their

The social value of mortality risk reduction: VSL versus the social welfare function approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Adler, Matthew D; Hammitt, James K; Treich, Nicolas

2014-05-01

We examine how different welfarist frameworks evaluate the social value of mortality risk reduction. These frameworks include classical, distributively unweighted cost-benefit analysis--i.e., the "value per statistical life" (VSL) approach-and various social welfare functions (SWFs). The SWFs are either utilitarian or prioritarian, applied to policy choice under risk in either an "ex post" or "ex ante" manner. We examine the conditions on individual utility and on the SWF under which these frameworks display sensitivity to wealth and to baseline risk. Moreover, we discuss whether these frameworks satisfy related properties that have received some attention in the literature, namely equal value of risk reduction, preference for risk equity, and catastrophe aversion. We show that the particular manner in which VSL ranks risk-reduction measures is not necessarily shared by other welfarist frameworks. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Social Welfare Control in Mobile Crowdsensing Using Zero-Determinant Strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Qin; Wang, Shengling; Bie, Rongfang; Cheng, Xiuzhen

2017-05-03

As a promising paradigm, mobile crowdsensing exerts the potential of widespread sensors embedded in mobile devices. The greedy nature of workers brings the problem of low-quality sensing data, which poses threats to the overall performance of a crowdsensing system. Existing works often tackle this problem with additional function components. In this paper, we systematically formulate the problem into a crowdsensing interaction process between a requestor and a worker, which can be modeled by two types of iterated games with different strategy spaces. Considering that the low-quality data submitted by the workers can reduce the requestor's payoff and further decrease the global income, we turn to controlling the social welfare in the games. To that aim, we take advantage of zero-determinant strategy, based on which we propose two social welfare control mechanisms under both game models. Specifically, we consider the requestor as the controller of the games and, with proper parameter settings for the to-be-adopted zero-determinant strategy, social welfare can be optimized to the desired level no matter what strategy the worker adopts. Simulation results demonstrate that the requestor can achieve the maximized social welfare and keep it stable by using our proposed mechanisms.

Welfare Commonsense, Poverty Porn and Doxosophy

OpenAIRE

Tracey Jensen

2014-01-01

This article critically examine how Benefits Street – and the broader genre of poverty porn television – functions to embed new forms of ‘commonsense’ about welfare and worklessness. It argues that such television content and commentary crowds out critical perspectives with what Pierre Bourdieu (1999) called ‘doxa', making the social world appear self-evident and requiring no interpretation, and creating new forms of neoliberal commonsense around welfare and social security. The art...

Welfare impacts of electricity generation sector reform in the Philippines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toba, Natsuko

2007-01-01

This paper reports an empirical investigation into the welfare impacts of the introduction of private sector participation into the Philippines electricity generation sector, by liberalizing the market for independent power producers (IPPs) during the power crisis of 1990-1993. This study uses a social cost and benefit analysis. The main benefits came from IPPs, who contributed to resolving the crisis, and promoted economic and social development. Consumers and investors were net gainers, while the government lost and there was an air pollution cost. The paper concludes that the reform with private sector participation increased social welfare

The color of welfare sanctioning: exploring the individual and contextual roles of race on TANF case closures and benefit reductions.

Science.gov (United States)

Monnat, Shannon M

2010-01-01

This article investigates the individual and contextual roles of race on welfare sanctions: benefit cuts for failing to comply with work or other behavioral requirements under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Using six years of federal administrative data, I advance previous welfare research by providing a nationally representative analysis of participant-, county-, and state-level predictors of welfare sanctioning. Using theories of racial classification, racialized social systems, and racial threat as guiding frameworks, I find that black and Latina women are at a greater risk of being sanctioned than white women. Further, although odds of a sanction are slightly reduced for black women living in counties with greater percentages of blacks, the opposite holds for Latinas, who are at an increased risk of being sanctioned in counties with greater percentages of Latinos.

Solar energy`s economic and social benefits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scheer, H. [Bundeshaus, Bonn (Germany)

1995-08-01

There are numerous indications that solar energy is far more than a mere stopgap measure to escape from the present environmental crisis. These include the natural as well as the developed, and still developing, technological potential of solar energy; the vast opportunities offered by abandoning destructive energy sources; and, not least, the new industrial perspectives arising from the conversion of our energy system. In addition to the environmental benefits, solar energy will bring about major economic and social gains. The creation of a solar energy system offers an unexpected and unique chance to release industrial society from the harmful consequences of the Industrial Revolution and to make available its positive accomplishments - particularly the social, democratic and cultural opportunities made possible by freeing mankind from slave labour - to all of mankind. Destruction of the environment is the greatest danger for industrialized societies pursuing economic growth, but it is not the only one. The Western high culture of welfare states is evidently a thing of the past. Created by the pressure of social movements that emerged in the Industrial Revolution, they stabilized capitalism by making it more responsive to the social needs in its strongholds. But both old and new contradictions, as well as the growth of welfare costs, lead to the conclusion that the future of the industrial system is increasingly seen only in terms of jettisoning its social obligations. Political democracy will then once more be in danger. Modern history is unable to provide an example of a stable democracy based on permanent mass misery

Next Generations of Road Pricing: Social Welfare Enhancing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omid M. Rouhani

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This paper offers a broad overview of road pricing from a social welfare perspective. I first examine two common objectives of road pricing: congestion management and profit making. My goal is to provide a guideline explaining how to promote a social-welfare-enhancing road pricing scheme. To this end, we should: (i consider and improve public transportation systems by providing more environment-friendly transport options; (ii include tolling profits in our welfare analysis (as opposed to what economists suggest since residents are the real owners of roads not users, and since some users are from outside the region and so might not be excluded from analysis; and (iii search for a holistic approach that takes into account system-wide impacts, disutility to users who change their travel behavior (i.e., switch to public transportation, shift their travel, or do not travel at all, and the impacts on land use, employment, and residents.

The Future of Social Work in Child Welfare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacquelyn McCroskey

2005-05-01

Full Text Available Child welfare has been a volatile and dynamic field of social work practice where policy and practice are continually shaped by attitudes, perceptions and expectations. New developments likely to shift the current balance in the field of child welfare over the next quarter century include: focus on results and performance measures, focus on child and family well-being, and increasing attention to evidence based practice.

Strategies of social welfare users: a relational readi ng concerning power relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvana Aparecida Mariano

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This article addresses the analysis of power relations within the operation of social welfare policy, based on a case study conducted in Londrina, Paraná. Our analysis adopts a relational perspective on the confi guration of power among the beneficiaries of the policy and the social workers responsible for implementing state actions to fi ght poverty. Basically what we found were areas of dissonance between conceptions and perceptions of users and social workers, so that an unreadable universe is created for users on social welfare and, thus, possible ways to consolidate the transfer of income are blocked as a right to citizenship. We focus on actions related to the transfer of income because of its relevance to the Brazilian social welfare today.

Company welfare and social work ethics: a space for social work? : A discussion based on cases from Norway and Tanzania.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne Ryen

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This article deals with company welfare and social work ethics. If social work is concerned with welfare and distributional issues, we would assume company welfare to be an issue of great relevance to social workers, so why do we not come across any social workers in our fieldwork? This calls for the simple question “where do social workers work?” or rather “how come social workers do not work in private companies?” We explore into the combination of social work and private companies with special reference to social work ethics to discuss private companies as a job arena for social workers. We argue that in a sector aiming at profit, social workers may trigger off employees enthusiasm, but employer scepticism. However, by avoiding a less stereotyped notion of private companies, company welfare and social work we claim that certain social work ethical principles would be of joint interest to the involved, but more so in certain contexts than in others.The article consists of six sections. After the introduction, we take a closer look at company welfare followed by a section on social work where we focus on ethical principles and work arenas for social workers. In section four we present our data from some private companies in Norway and Tanzania as a point of departure to our discussion in section five on private companies as a potential job arena for social workers. The complexity of company welfare does not call for simple answers. In the conclusions, section six, we therefore argue that the ethical principles of social work make it an interesting and relevant competence in managing company welfare, though not unproblematic in the homeland of profit. However, contextual complexity invites contextual responses.

Social Welfare and the Market Economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Joel I.

1992-01-01

Reports on a study that questions whether private enterprise can maintain quality while reducing costs of providing social welfare services. Reviews three aspects of privatization: (1) competitive markets; (2) rationality; and (3) cost reduction. Concludes by questioning a central claim of economic theory: that free markets and private firms are…

Social Welfare Centers Protect Outpatients with Mood Disorders from Risk of Hospital Admission.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyu-Tae Han

Full Text Available South Korea faces difficulties in the management of mental disorders, and those difficulties are expected to gradually worsen. Therefore, we analyzed the relationship between social welfare centers and hospital admission after outpatient treatment for mood disorders.We used data from the National Health Insurance Service National Sample Cohort 2002-2013, which included all medical claims filed for the 50,160 patients who were newly diagnosed with a mood disorder among the 1,025,340 individuals in a nationally representative sample. We performed a logistic regression analysis using generalized estimating equation (GEE models to examine the relationship between social welfare centers and hospital admission after outpatient treatment for mood disorders (ICD-10: F3.There was a 3.9% admission rate among a total of 99,533 person-years. Outpatients who lived in regions with more social welfare centers were less likely to be admitted to a hospital (per increase of five social welfare centers per 100,000 people; OR: 0.958; 95% CI: 0.919-0.999. Social welfare centers had an especially strong protective effect on patients with relatively mild mood disorders and those who were vulnerable to medical expenditures.Considering the protective role of social welfare centers in managing patients with mood disorders, health-policy makers need to consider strategies for activating mental healthcare.

76 FR 55706 - 158th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-08

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 158th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Teleconference Meeting Pursuant to the.... 1142, the 158th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans...

78 FR 50112 - 168th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-16

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 168th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Teleconference Meeting Pursuant to the.... 1142, the 168th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans...

76 FR 6498 - 155th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-04

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 155th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Teleconference Meeting Pursuant to the.... 1142, the 155th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans...

77 FR 52061 - 163rd Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-28

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 163rd Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Teleconference Meeting Pursuant to the.... 1142, the 163rd open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans...

Double-sided auction mechanism design in electricity based on maximizing social welfare

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zou Xiaoyan

2009-01-01

An efficient electricity double-sided auction mechanism should control market power and enhance the social welfare of the electricity market. Based on this goal, the paper designs a new double-sided auction mechanism. In the new mechanism, the social welfare contribution of each participant plays a pivotal role, because this contribution is the critical factor in market clearing, payment settling, and transaction matching rules. In particular, each winner of the auction can gain transfer payments according to his contribution to social welfare in the electricity market, and this gives the mechanism the ability to control the market power of some participants. At the same time, this mechanism ensures that the market organizer balances his budget. We then conduct a theoretical and empirical analysis based on the Spanish electricity market. Both of the results show that compared to the uniform-pricing mechanism, the new mechanism can reduce market power of participants and enhance the social welfare of the electricity market.

78 FR 24235 - 166th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-24

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 166th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 166th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as...

75 FR 27002 - 151st Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-13

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 151st Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 151st open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans will be held on...

78 FR 5209 - 165th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-24

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 165th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 165th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as...

76 FR 36578 - 156th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-22

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 156th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 156th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; (also known as...

78 FR 44600 - 167th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-24

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 167th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 167th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as...

76 FR 65211 - 159th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-20

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 159th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 159th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as...

75 FR 11199 - 150th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-10

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 150th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 150th open meeting of the full Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans will be...

78 FR 62708 - 169th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-22

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 169th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 169th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as...

77 FR 66186 - 164th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-02

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 164th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 164th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as...

75 FR 57063 - 153rd Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-17

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 153rd Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 153rd open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans will be held on...

77 FR 28406 - 161st Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-14

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 161st Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 161st open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as...

77 FR 11159 - 160th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-24

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 160th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 160th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as...

75 FR 47636 - 152nd Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-06

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 152nd Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 152nd open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans will be held on...

77 FR 59420 - 164th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-27

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 164th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 164th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as...

76 FR 48903 - 157th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-09

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employee Benefits Security Administration 157th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting Pursuant to the authority... 157th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as...

Welfare locale e innovazione sociale: una buona pratica dal terzo settore

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonella Golino

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The local welfare -among other possibilities- effectively enhances the contribution of volunteering and nonprofit. On the local level we can identify the third sector institutions or companies operating on the market with which to make agreements to carry out activities of new welfare and social innovation, i.e. new ideas (products, services and models to meet social needs, improve the quality of human life and well-being, and create new relationships and social inclusion. The paper describes a good practice to social innovation performed by volunteers of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Research Foundation and Care John Paul II of Campobasso. The social innovation initiative in the health field, by developing new forms of co-operation between public actors of the third sector, shows that the actors are able to develop appropriate responses and affordable to different social needs in the area and to mobilize resources for this purpose and private skills, pro- ducing value for society as a whole in a perspective of innovative welfare.

Social capital, migration and the welfare state

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard; Svendsen, Gunnar Lind Haase

2009-01-01

welfare state and based on data from our ongoing SoCap project, we suggest how more bridging social capital can be established between parallel societies and the rest of society. Our ‘institutions matter' model is tentative and needs to be tested rigorously in future empirical research.......  The full potential of migrants from non-western countries has not yet been realized in the modern welfare state. Rather, parallel societies have risen, as often counteracting integration. It is however crucial to integrate migrants from non-western countries more successfully - also simply...... to rescue the ageing populations in Western Europe. Though the modern welfare state seems in strong need of reform within a globalized world, it nevertheless enjoys strong support among voters in its present form. Thus, an empirical puzzle exists. Given the existing institutional set-up of the modern...

Do Family Caps on Welfare Affect Births among Welfare Recipients? Reconciling Efficacy and Effectiveness Estimates of Impact through a Blended Design Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Jagannathan, Radha; Camasso, Michael J.; Killingsworth, Mark R.

2004-01-01

This paper proposes a blended experimental and quasi-experimental research strategy which we believe will help improve the external validity of evaluations of welfare reform and other social policies. We draw upon data from New Jersey's imposition of a family cap, where welfare benefits instead of increasing remained the same for women who…

SWEDEN--RECENT CHANGES IN WELFARE STATE ARRANGEMENTS.

Science.gov (United States)

Burström, Bo

2015-01-01

The Swedish welfare state, once developed to create a new society based on social equality and universal rights, has taken on a partly new direction. Extensive choice reforms have been implemented in social services and an increasing proportion of tax-funded social services, including child day care, primary and secondary schools, health care, and care of the elderly, is provided by private entrepreneurs, although funded by taxes. Private equity firms have gained considerable profits from the welfare services. The changes have taken place over a 20-year period, but at an accelerated pace in the last decade. Sweden previously had very generous sickness and unemployment insurance, in terms of both duration and benefit levels, but is falling behind in terms of generosity, as indicated by increasing levels of relative poverty among those who depend on benefits and transfers. Increasing income inequality over the past 20 years further adds to increasing the gaps between population groups. In some respects, Sweden is becoming similar to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. The article describes some of the changes that have occurred. However, there is still widespread popular support for the publicly provided welfare state services.

Examining social work with children and youth in welfare service organizations observed as hybrids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Montes de Oca, Lis Klovning Hansen

This paper seeks to explore social work as it can be observed in the welfare service organizations of Danish municipalities, specifically within the context of social work concerned with the protection of the child at risk. The paper uses the systems theory of Niklas Luh-mann to elaborate...... within the welfare system of child protection can be said to emerge into a different form than (maybe) other welfare services. The explorative curiosity rises from recognition of the economic systems expansion and dominant semantics within social services, specifically child protection and how social...... workers may and may not refer to this as potential conflict using semantics of conflict. Welfare technologies as for instance the law stipulated “child conversation”, budget control and action plans form the preliminary basis of the decision-making process of a social intervention regarding a child...

Dual Competing Photovoltaic Supply Chains: A Social Welfare Maximization Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Shong-Iee Ivan

2017-01-01

In the past decades, the inappropriate subsidy policies in many nations have caused problems such as serious oversupply, fierce competition and subpar social welfare in the photovoltaic (PV) industry in many nations. There is a clear shortage in the PV industry literature regarding how dual supply chains compete and the key decision issues regarding the competition between dual PV supply chains. It is critical to develop effective subsidy policies for the competing PV supply chains to achieve social welfare maximization. This study has explored the dual PV supply chain competition under the Bertrand competition assumption by three game-theoretical modeling scenarios (or supply chain strategies) considering either the public subsidy or no subsidy from a social welfare maximization perspective. A numerical analysis complemented by two sensitivity analyses provides a better understanding of the pricing and quantity decision dynamics in the dual supply chains under three different supply chain strategies and the corresponding outcomes regarding the total supply chain profits, the social welfare and the required total subsidies. The key findings disclose that if there are public subsidies, the dual PV supply chains have the strongest intention to pursue the decentralized strategy to achieve their maximal returns rather than the centralized strategy that would achieve the maximal social welfare; however, the government would need to pay for the maximal subsidy budget. Thus, the best option for the government would be to encourage the dual PV supply chains to adopt a centralized strategy since this will not only maximize the social welfare but also, at the same time, minimize the public subsidy. With a smart subsidy policy, the PV industry can make the best use of the subsidy budget and grow in a sustainable way to support the highly demanded solar power generation in many countries trying very hard to increase the proportion of their clean energy to combat the global

Dual Competing Photovoltaic Supply Chains: A Social Welfare Maximization Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhisong Chen

2017-11-01

Full Text Available In the past decades, the inappropriate subsidy policies in many nations have caused problems such as serious oversupply, fierce competition and subpar social welfare in the photovoltaic (PV industry in many nations. There is a clear shortage in the PV industry literature regarding how dual supply chains compete and the key decision issues regarding the competition between dual PV supply chains. It is critical to develop effective subsidy policies for the competing PV supply chains to achieve social welfare maximization. This study has explored the dual PV supply chain competition under the Bertrand competition assumption by three game-theoretical modeling scenarios (or supply chain strategies considering either the public subsidy or no subsidy from a social welfare maximization perspective. A numerical analysis complemented by two sensitivity analyses provides a better understanding of the pricing and quantity decision dynamics in the dual supply chains under three different supply chain strategies and the corresponding outcomes regarding the total supply chain profits, the social welfare and the required total subsidies. The key findings disclose that if there are public subsidies, the dual PV supply chains have the strongest intention to pursue the decentralized strategy to achieve their maximal returns rather than the centralized strategy that would achieve the maximal social welfare; however, the government would need to pay for the maximal subsidy budget. Thus, the best option for the government would be to encourage the dual PV supply chains to adopt a centralized strategy since this will not only maximize the social welfare but also, at the same time, minimize the public subsidy. With a smart subsidy policy, the PV industry can make the best use of the subsidy budget and grow in a sustainable way to support the highly demanded solar power generation in many countries trying very hard to increase the proportion of their clean energy to

Dual Competing Photovoltaic Supply Chains: A Social Welfare Maximization Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhisong; Su, Shong-Iee Ivan

2017-11-20

In the past decades, the inappropriate subsidy policies in many nations have caused problems such as serious oversupply, fierce competition and subpar social welfare in the photovoltaic (PV) industry in many nations. There is a clear shortage in the PV industry literature regarding how dual supply chains compete and the key decision issues regarding the competition between dual PV supply chains. It is critical to develop effective subsidy policies for the competing PV supply chains to achieve social welfare maximization. This study has explored the dual PV supply chain competition under the Bertrand competition assumption by three game-theoretical modeling scenarios (or supply chain strategies) considering either the public subsidy or no subsidy from a social welfare maximization perspective. A numerical analysis complemented by two sensitivity analyses provides a better understanding of the pricing and quantity decision dynamics in the dual supply chains under three different supply chain strategies and the corresponding outcomes regarding the total supply chain profits, the social welfare and the required total subsidies. The key findings disclose that if there are public subsidies, the dual PV supply chains have the strongest intention to pursue the decentralized strategy to achieve their maximal returns rather than the centralized strategy that would achieve the maximal social welfare; however, the government would need to pay for the maximal subsidy budget. Thus, the best option for the government would be to encourage the dual PV supply chains to adopt a centralized strategy since this will not only maximize the social welfare but also, at the same time, minimize the public subsidy. With a smart subsidy policy, the PV industry can make the best use of the subsidy budget and grow in a sustainable way to support the highly demanded solar power generation in many countries trying very hard to increase the proportion of their clean energy to combat the global

Hunger games: fluctuations in blood glucose levels influence support for social welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Aarøe, Lene; Petersen, Michael Bang

2013-12-01

Social-welfare policies are a modern instantiation of a phenomenon that has pervaded human evolutionary history: resource sharing. Ancestrally, food was a key shared resource in situations of temporary hunger. If evolved human psychology continues to shape how individuals think about current, evolutionarily novel conditions, this invites the prediction that attitudes regarding welfare politics are influenced by short-term fluctuations in hunger. Using blood glucose levels as a physiological indicator of hunger, we tested this prediction in a study in which participants were randomly assigned to conditions in which they consumed soft drinks containing either carbohydrates or an artificial sweetener. Analyses showed that participants with experimentally induced low blood glucose levels expressed stronger support for social welfare. Using an incentivized measure of actual sharing behavior (the dictator game), we further demonstrated that this increased support for social welfare does not translate into genuinely increased sharing motivations. Rather, we suggest that it is "cheap talk" aimed at increasing the sharing efforts of other individuals.

Benefit Perception About the Understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility in Pprivate Sector in Turkey: Using Web Sites for Announcing of Corporate Social Responsibility Activities

OpenAIRE

Nuray YILMAZ SERT

2012-01-01

As a consept that adds value to both the society and the corporation, understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), contributes to the development of social welfare on the one hand and also forms a basis for sustaining the existence of corporations in a society on the other hand. Consequently as distinct from philanthropy, two-sided benefits including institutional and social taken into account in Corporate Social Responsibility activities. Therefore especially in order to ensure th...

Social Welfare Improvement by TCSC using Real Code Based Genetic Algorithm in Double-Sided Auction Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MASOUM, M. A. S.

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a genetic algorithm (GA to maximize total system social welfare and alleviate congestion by best placement and sizing of TCSC device, in a double-sided auction market. To introduce more accurate modeling, the valve loading effects is incorporated to the conventional quadratic smooth generator cost curves. By adding the valve point effect, the model presents nondifferentiable and nonconvex regions that challenge most gradient-based optimization algorithms. In addition, quadratic consumer benefit functions integrated in the objective function to guarantee that locational marginal prices charged at the demand buses is less than or equal to DisCos benefit, earned by selling that power to retail customers. The proposed approach makes use of the genetic algorithm to optimal schedule GenCos, DisCos and TCSC location and size, while the Newton-Raphson algorithm minimizes the mismatch of the power flow equations. Simulation results on the modified IEEE 14-bus and 30-bus test systems (with/without line flow constraints, before and after the compensation are used to examine the impact of TCSC on the total system social welfare improvement. Several cases are considered to test and validate the consistency of detecting best solutions. Simulation results are compared to solutions obtained by sequential quadratic programming (SQP approaches.

Corporate social responsibility investment and social objectives : An examination on social welfare investment of chinese state owned enterprises

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bo, H.; Li, T.; Toolsema-Veldman, Linda

We apply the theory of corporate social responsibility to analyse social welfare investment undertaken by Chinese State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). We present a simple theoretical model to illustrate how the presence of social objectives in the firm's objective function changes its investment

Welfare state: Milestones of development and the current status

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D A Zakharyan

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article describes the evolution of ideas about the social state as a fair state based on the concept of the social contract. L. von Stein argues that the purpose of the welfare state was not changing the class structure of society and the elimination of the contradictions between the classes, but rather balancing and minimizing conflicts with the help of property transformations allowing a person to change one’s class affiliation. The main condition for the existence of the welfare state is its policies compliance with the interests of citizens, which provides political stability and social security. The central idea of the welfare constitutional state is that the rights of citizens are guaranteed by the state. The functions of the state and its social responsibilities were transforming over time mainly due to the erosion of state, private and corporate responsibility for providing social services. In most cases, the social programs are developed by the state, but they can also be provided by commercial organizations in the “consumer society”, in which all things and services have a material value and benefit. The welfare state is based on the principle of social justice in the distribution of wealth among the population, thus, every democratic state seeks to become a welfare state, which implies a high level of confidence in the government.

Georgian Welfare State: Preliminary Study Based on Esping-Andersen’s Typology

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Magda Asatiani

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims to examine the welfare state of Georgia according to the Esping-Andersen’s typology and to justify the theory of “(instable welfare states”. This article analyses different aspects of wellbeing (pension and healthcare systems, labour-market policy and family benefits in Georgia during the period of 1991-2013. The research shows the diversity of policies in different fields of social care. The results revealed that Georgian health and labour-market policies can be classified as liberal ones, while the pension system – as a social-democratic one, and finally the family benefits policy – as a conservative one. Thus, the theory of (instable welfare state can be justified in this case and Georgian state overall can be qualified as a country with a hybrid and instable social policy. However, further research is needed for the final confirmation (or rejection of this theory, once the current policy reforms, started back in 2013, would be fully implemented.

Caseworkers’ discretions of eligibility to social insurance in Denmark and Sweden – signs of Neoliberalism in Scandinavian welfare states?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Marie Østergaard; Stensöta, Helena

It has been argued that the Scandinavian welfare states have been resilient to trends of globalization and fiscal crises, and that the global pressure of neoliberalism has led to a partial retrenchment rather than a restructuring during last decades. This conclusion is, however, drawn without...... closer attention to the problem of implementation and the fact that many welfare state programs receive their ultimate content through street level contact between citizens and street-level bureaucrats. In this article, we address the question of whether there is an impact of neoliberal trends...... in Scandinavian social policies when paying attention to the everyday work of street level bureaucrats or whether the universal welfare regime ’protects’ against a neoliberal impact. Comparing conclusions on SLBs’ discretionary styles in sickness-benefits casework from two separate studies situated...

Use of Social Welfare Programs and the Disintegration of the Black Nuclear Family.

Science.gov (United States)

Jewell, K. Sue

1984-01-01

Social welfare programs contribute to Black women's decisions to terminate their marriages by modifying existing beliefs and values, giving rise to a perception of welfare as a more viable alternative to marital relationships. But welfare is insufficient to enable the maintenance of Black women's preseparation standard of living. (RDN)

Policing Norwegian Welfare: Disciplining and Differentiating within the Bottom Rungs

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Erika K. Gubrium

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Policing is a disciplining means for using welfare services to govern welfare recipients towards a desired behaviour or goal. We apply Foucault’s (1977 definition of institutional discipline as a means for exploring how the distinctions made by state and local welfare authorities in Norway when policing recipients may take shape according to normative perceptions of ethnicity and deservingness. More particularly, we explore the regulating understandings and activities linked to the inclusion and exclusion of eligibility to welfare benefits and services and the form of the services offered. Our focus lies at the point of entry from the lowest tier of Norwegian welfare benefits (social assistance into two semi-parallel and higher tiers promising more (higher benefits, better services. The tiers are represented by programmes that share aims, yet differ in reach: the 2004 Introduction Programme and the 2007 Qualification Programme. The Introduction Programme is an activation programme targeted at immigrants and refugees newly arrived to Norway. Its aim is to strengthen opportunities to participate in society and labour market, as well as to promote economic independence. The Qualification Programme is an activation programme that was explicitly modelled after the Introduction Programme, yet whose target group reaches more broadly to include long-term recipients of social assistance and those whose work ability is severely lowered. While both programmes have been premised on the need to transform participants from a status of passive welfare benefit recipients to active participants in qualifying measures and society, the target groups vary and it is this contrast that is our point of focus. We contrast the two policies at two ‘moments’ in the policy cycle: (1 policy framing (public and policymaker understandings/assumptions concerning the target group, the location of accountability for the marginal position of the policy recipient and the

Denmark: Welfare Society, Social Justice and the Role of Career Guidance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Rie

11 in 10 years. This presentation considers what social justice means for educational and vocational guidance in Denmark. It covers the development in the Danish career guidance system for young people and show how the service has become more targeted towards marginalised youth. Finally different......Denmark: Welfare Society, Social Justice and the Role of Career Guidance Dr. Rie Thomsen, Aarhus University in Copenhagen, Denmark Denmark is a welfare state in Scandinavia and amongst the most equal countries in the world but it has dropped from being the most equal country in the world to number...... targeting strategies and modes of delivery are discussed in relation to social justice....

Social Welfare in Algorithmic Mechanism Design Without Money

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Filos-Ratsikas, Aris

Social choice theory is concerned with collective decision making under different, possibly contrasting opinions and has been part of the core of society since ancient times. The goal is to implement some socially desired objective while at the same time accounting for the fact that people will act...... strategically, in order to manipulate the outcomes in their favor. In this thesis, we consider the well-known objective of social welfare, i.e. the sum of individual utilities as the social objective and following the agenda of algorithmic mechanism design, we study how well our objectives can be approximated...

Beating Social Democracy on Its Own Turf

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arndt, Christoph

2014-01-01

-right parties to flourish in contexts where welfare issues have a natural salience as in the case of universal welfare states. In contrast, Scandinavian universal welfare states ought to benefit social democracy when it comes to issue voting on welfare issues. It is argued in this article that centre......-right parties can beat social democrats by credibly converging to its social democratic opponent on issues of universal welfare. Issue ownership voting to the benefit of centre-right parties will then be strongest among voters perceiving the centre-right to have converged to social democracy and perceiving...... the centre-right as issue-owner. Using Danish National Election Studies, 1998–2007, the article shows that the Danish Liberal Party outperformed the Social Democrats on traditional welfare issues among those voters perceiving the Liberals to be ideologically close to the social democrats. The findings help...

Türkiye’de Sosyal Yardım Uygulamaları(Social Welfare Practices In Turkey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eyüp ZENGİN

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Social welfare contains goods and cash aids made by the state to meet the needs of the poor people. Social security system programmes have a major role in preventing poverty and injustice in income distribution in a society as well as in ensuring social peace. Parallel to the changes and developments in Turkey and in the world, needs of the poor have also varied. Applied social aid programmes are considered as one of the last measures to fill the gaps of social security systems. To fulfil these different needs many measures were taken, various legal regulations were acted and many new organizations were established. The subject of this study is to explore historical developments of the state’s social welfare practices at national and local level and their current situation. Injustices in income distribution are considered among the possible factors of deteriorating social peace. Social welfare, at this point, serves as a functional safety measure.

Social policies and activation in the Scandinavian welfare model: the case of Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Torben M.

countries been able to reconcile social objectives with a high employment level? It is argued that the Scandinavian welfare model has a strong employment focus both because it is an important element in social policy based on social inclusion, but also because a collective welfare arrangement is only...... financially viable if (private) employment is sufficiently high. To ensure this, the social safety net includes a number of employment conditionalities (active labour market policies/workfare) to balance income protection with an employment focus. These policies are discussed using Denmark as an example...

The Nordic Welfare Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Neergaard, Helle; Thrane, Claus

 The aim of this paper is to elucidate the impact of welfare policies on women's entrepreneurship because the benefits of these policies do not reflect in the numbers of female entrepreneurs. These are consistently similar to those in other countries that do not have a similar welfare model. Hence...... this article seeks to investigate the reasons underlying this apparent anomaly so that future policies in Scandinavia nd Europe may be tailored to suit the needs of female entrepreneurs. We are addressing this through the analytical lens of a gender regime model which shows that hierarchical gender patterns...... have proven remarkably resilient and that social context matters. The results of the analysis shows that there is a schism between welfare models that facilitate employment and those that facilitate   entrepreneurship and that in order to overcome the obstacles female entrepreneurs 'babystrap'....

Küreselleşme Kıskacındaki Refah Devletinde Sosyal Refah Harcamaları = Social Welfare Spending in the Welfare State During the Latest Globalization Upsurge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alparslan Uğur

2008-09-01

Full Text Available In many countries, employment was expanded, social rights were improved and the idea of welfare state was firmly established during the 1945 - 1975 period, so called “the golden years of the welfare state”. After the 1973 in conjunction with the first and second oil shocks, the economic, political and social pillars of the welfare state have started to evolve rapidly.Recently there have been continuous debates on the boundaries of the welfare state. What should be the state’s role? Does welfare state face fiscal crisis? Are there any socio - economic limits of the improvement of welfare state and financing need of redistribution level? In this study, we evaluate above - mentioned issues within the context of the latest rise on the globalization.

Welfare reform and access to family-supportive benefits in the workplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Piotrkowski, C S; Kessler-Sklar, S

1996-10-01

Welfare reform has focused on the deficits of poor mothers, while ignoring inadequacies in the jobs and workplaces they will enter. This study of 2,375 pregnant women in the labor force examines the impact of job and workplace characteristics on access to workplace benefits that are important to families, while controlling statistically for women's education, marital status, and ethnicity.

Institutional Transition from Welfare Enterprise to Social Enterprise: the Localization of Legislation and Policy in Chinese Context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang Xiaomeng

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Welfare enterprises, which are intended to create jobs for disabled people, are the core component of China's welfare system. As the economic environment and regulations change, China's welfare enterprises, which cannot take effective measures from within and emerge strong in market competition, are stuck in a bottleneck where further development is difficult. Welfare enterprises have hit the ceiling in their development for lacking sustainable sources of capital and capabilities of capital operation, inefficient management model and uncompetitive products and services. To reverse the trend of decline and grow into strong market players, the transformation from welfare enterprise to social enterprise, embracing the features of enterprise and social objectives, as an alternative is of crucial importance. As a new hybrid economic form, social enterprise combines the efficiency of businesses and the public-good nature of welfare enterprises, representing win-win cooperation among the government, society, and business sector. Such development is an institutional transformation which boosts competitiveness and tackles tough issues welfare enterprises are facing. Shifting from welfare enterprises to social enterprises means an institutional transition, during the process of which international experience in legislation shall be learned and localized. This paper analyzes the development history of welfare enterprises by taking a comprehensive look at the salient points of existing laws, policies promulgated throughout history, implementation and performance, major problems etc. so as to explore the institutional transition from welfare enterprises to social enterprises, revealing possible legal and policy problems and making suggestions.

Promoting the developmental social welfare approach in Zimbabwe ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study was prompted by the on - going discourse on the appropriateness of existing social welfare delivery mechanisms in the Third World which, over time, have tended to be informed by the modernization approach. The prevailing view, particularly among academics and practitioners in Africa, is essentially that the ...

Accounting for risk aversion, income distribution, and social welfare in cost-benefit analysis for flood risk management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kind, Jarl; Botzen, W.J.W.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/297620584; Aerts, Jeroen

2017-01-01

Most cost-benefit analysis (CBA) textbooks and guidelines recognize the objective of CBAs to improve social welfare—a function of well-being of all individuals, conceptualized by utility. However, today's common practice to value flood risk management benefits as the reduction of the expected annual

Religiosity and social welfare: competing influences of cultural conservatism and prosocial value orientation.

Science.gov (United States)

Malka, Ariel; Soto, Christopher J; Cohen, Adam B; Miller, Dale T

2011-08-01

This research examines the hypothesis that religiosity has two competing psychological influences on the social welfare attitudes of contemporary Americans. On the one hand, religiosity promotes a culturally based conservative identity, which in turn promotes opposition to federal social welfare provision. On the other hand, religiosity promotes a prosocial value orientation, which in turn promotes support of federal social welfare provision. Across two national samples (Ns = 1,513 and 320) and one sample of business employees (N = 710), reliable support for this competing pathways model was obtained. We argue that research testing influences of nonpolitical individual differences on political preferences should consider the possibility of competing influences that are rooted in a combination of personality processes and contextual-discursive surroundings. © 2011 The Authors. Journal Compilation © 2011, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Rural households’ social capital and welfare: A case study of Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lloyd James Segun Baiyegunhi

2014-03-01

Full Text Available In a household or nations production system, social capital has been recognized as an input having major implications for project design as well as policy development. Using a structured questionnaire, household level data was obtained from a representative sample of 300 rural households in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal. This study employed the conventional household economic behaviour model under constrained utility maximisation to examine the effect of social capital on the welfare of household, testing the hypothesis that the possession of social capital improves household welfare. The result shows that social capital endowments have a statistically significant positive effect on household welfare, in addition to the some household’s demographic and socio-economic characteristics. The study concluded that, access to social capital among other factors, is very crucial for improved rural household welfare and poverty reduction. It is therefore important for government to have knowledge of existing social groups and networks as this will improve the effectiveness of the present strategies aimed at reducing poverty.

Norwegian public health policy: revitalization of the social democratic welfare state?

Science.gov (United States)

Fosse, Elisabeth

2009-01-01

Norway is part of the so-called social democratic welfare state model, which is characterized by its emphasis on solidarity and redistribution among social groups. The concepts of upstream and downstream policy measures may be useful to characterize different approaches to public health policies: upstream measures would be structural measures, in line with the social democratic welfare state model, while downstream measures would be more targeted at individuals or groups at some sort of risk. The aim of this article is to analyze national policies in Norway and how these may be characterized in terms of upstream and downstream factors. Health promotion and public health policies have been high on the Norwegian political agenda for two decades. However, the national policy emphasis has shifted between strategies aimed at individuals and structural strategies--that is, between downstream and upstream measures. Until 2003, policies included mainly downstream measures, but since then a policy shift has taken place and current policy includes an emphasis on upstream measures. This policy was strengthened after a left-wing coalition came into government in 2005. It may be argued that the present policy represents a revitalization of universal and structural measures, in line with the social democratic welfare state model.

The impact of cognitive testing on the welfare of group housed primates.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jamie Whitehouse

Full Text Available Providing cognitive challenges to zoo-housed animals may provide enriching effects and subsequently enhance their welfare. Primates may benefit most from such challenges as they often face complex problems in their natural environment and can be observed to seek problem solving opportunities in captivity. However, the extent to which welfare benefits can be achieved through programmes developed primarily for cognitive research is unknown. We tested the impact of voluntary participation cognitive testing on the welfare of a socially housed group of crested macaques (Macaca nigra at the Macaque Study Centre (Marwell Zoo. First, we compared the rate of self-directed and social behaviours on testing and non-testing days, and between conditions within testing days. Minimal differences in behaviour were found when comparing testing and non-testing days, suggesting that there was no negative impact on welfare as a result of cognitive testing. Lipsmacking behaviours were found to increase and aggressive interaction was found to decrease in the group as a result of testing. Second, social network analysis was used to assess the effect of testing on associations and interactions between individuals. The social networks showed that testing subjects increased their association with others during testing days. One interpretation of this finding could be that providing socially housed primates with an opportunity for individuals to separate from the group for short periods could help mimic natural patterns of sub-group formation and reunion in captivity. The findings suggest, therefore, that the welfare of captive primates can be improved through the use of cognitive testing in zoo environments.

Managing corporate identities of non-profit organisations in the social welfare sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lida Holtzhausen

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Present-day South Africa is characterised by many societal and developmental issues, such as HIV awareness and prevention, child-headed households, environmental protection, poverty alleviation, violence and victim aid. However, it is widely acknowledged that government alone cannot address these issues effectively. The role of non-profit organisations (NPOs in addressing social and development issues is increasingly emphasised. NPOs work at grass-roots level and they can therefore, on the whole, identify societal vulnerabilities and risks earlier than the government sector. However, due to the economic recession, NPOs operate in a competitive environment where an increasing number of NPOs rely on a small number of donors and other resources. NPOs should therefore differentiate themselves from the competition in order to obtain public legitimacy and funding. Corporate identity management is important for NPOs to fulfil their role in social welfare and thus contribute to disaster risk reduction. The exploratory nature of this study dictates a qualitative research approach. Semi-structured interviews with management of five NPOs in the social welfare sector were conducted in order to provide an answer to the study’s research question: ‘To what extent do NPOs in the social welfare sector practise corporate identity management, in order to prevent and address social welfare risks?’ The research found that NPOs do not realise the full potential of managing their corporate identities. NPOs therefore do not take advantage of a strong and distinct corporate identity which would allow them to ensure their ability to assess, address, reduce and/or alleviate vulnerabilities and disaster risks.

The electoral feedback effects of welfare reform in mature European welfare states

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arndt, Christoph

2012-01-01

The electoral hazard of welfare state reforms in mature welfare states has been a widely acknowledged feedback effect in the literature. However, the literature does typically no distinct between party families when it comes to the electoral consequences of welfare state reforms and treats...... electorates as unity. This paper analysis the feedback effects of social policy retrenchment under Third Way social democracy since 1994. The paper argues that Third Way reforms resulted in lasting electoral setback for social democracy since these reforms went against the social policy preferences of social....... The restructuring of mature Western welfare states thus accounts for changing patterns of political behaviour as a consequence of policy feedback....

Trust, Social Capital and the Scandinavian Welfare State

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Gunnar Lind Haase; Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard

personality is characterized both by cooperation in everyday life and the numerous ‘hard-riders’ who make extraordinary contributions. Applying Bourdieuconomics, the authors focus on contemporary case studies to explain how social capital and trust are used to counteract free-riding and enable the flight...... of the Scandinavian welfare state ‘bumblebee’....

Globalizing Social Welfare and Labor Markets in East and Southeast Asia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Johannes Dragsbæk

2007-01-01

experienced social pressures for restricting the workings of globalization: The first is the fear of job losses through the mechanisms of outsourcing and imports of cheapers industrial products. The second is the anxiety of ethnic and cultural dilution due to the emergence of new patters of labor migration...... and workers negotiate for the promotion of national development and the creation of a civil society which might minimize the adverse effects of globalization! This paper explores the impact of neo-liberal globalization on labor markets and social welfare in East and Southeast Asia. It draws upon recent...... debates in the framework of comparative political economy over the impact of neo-liberal globalization on labor market regulation and social welfare adjustment. The focus is on the radical change of work arrangements with an accompanying loss of the social relevance of the work place and of labour...

Inter-Basin Water Transfer Green Supply Chain Equilibrium and Coordination under Social Welfare Maximization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhisong Chen

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The inter-basin water transfer (IBWT projects have quasi-public-welfare characteristics, whose operations should take into account the water green level (WGL and social welfare maximization (SWM. This paper explores the interactions between multiple stakeholders of an IBWT green supply chain through the game-theoretic and coordination research approaches considering the government’s subsidy to the WGL improvement under the SWM. The study and its findings complement the IBWT literature in the area of the green supply chain and social welfare maximization modeling. The analytical modeling results with and without considering the SWM are compared. A numerical analysis for a hypothetical IBWT green supply chain is conducted to draw strategic insights from this study. The research results indicate that (1 If the SWM is not considered, coordination strategy could effectively improve the operations performances of the IBWT supply chain and its members, the consumers’ surplus, and the social welfare when compared with the equilibrium strategy; (2 If the SWM is considered, the IBWT green supply chain and its members have a strong intention to adopt the equilibrium strategy to gain more profits, while the government has a strong intention to encourage the IBWT green supply chain and its members to adopt the coordination strategy to maximize social welfare with a smaller public subsidy; (3 The government’s subsidy policy should be designed and provided to encourage the IBWT green supply chain and its members to improve WGL and pursue the SWM, and a subsidy threshold policy can be designed to maximize social welfare with a lower subsidy budget: only when the IBWT green supply chain and its members adopt the coordination strategy can they get a subsidy from the government.

Activating Welfare States

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kvist, Jon

for children and the elderly, which in turn allows in particular women to (re-)enter the labour market, de-commodification of labour through easy accessible and relative generous cash benefits providing a more flexible labour market, and re-commodification of labour through conditioning of benefits and active......This paper investigates how welfare states may actively contribute to promote employment opportunities, i.e. participation in the labour market through various operations and policies. The principal operations concern in particular the de-familiarisation of caring tasks through social services...... labour market policies giving long-term unemployed and people with low skills better opportunities to participate in the labour market, whether the ordinary or in special activities....

Work or welfare after cancer? Explorations of identity and stigma.

Science.gov (United States)

Moffatt, Suzanne; Noble, Emma

2015-11-01

With increasing numbers of people living with cancer, a greater focus is required on the social consequences of the disease. This article explores the connections between cancer and employment and the constraints imposed by ill health and wider structural conditions. Narrative data from 23 people of working age with cancer in north-east England collected longitudinally over 16 months highlight the impact of financial strain caused by temporary or permanent interruption to employment, and the positive benefits of an upstream welfare rights intervention in enabling participants to claim benefit entitlements and boost incomes. Returning to work, for those who were able, helped repair the disruption caused by the illness. For those unable to work, reliance on welfare benefits, while necessary, conferred a stigmatised identity that compounded the disruption wrought by cancer. While stigma occurs at the individual level, the structural dimensions of stigma need to be acknowledged in order to analyse the forces that cause, maintain and perpetuate the stigma associated with claiming welfare while ill. We conclude that current UK policies and welfare reforms to reduce sickness-related welfare claims will lead to greater hardship during periods of ill health and increase inequalities. © 2015 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness.

Is Christian Religious Conservatism Compatible with the Liberal Social Welfare State?

Science.gov (United States)

Belcher, John R.; Fandetti, Donald; Cole, Danny

2004-01-01

This article examines the rise of Christian religious conservatism and explores whether the theological views of the conservative Christian movement are compatible with the liberal social welfare state. The authors conclude that the driving force behind social change should remain with the state, even though faith-based initiatives can provide…

Blurring Boundaries: From the Danish Welfare State to the European Social Model?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Neergaard, Ulla; Nielsen, Ruth

Abstract: This paper builds on the results obtained in the so-called Blurring Boundaries project which was undertaken at the Law Department, Copenhagen Business School, in the period from 2007 to 2009. It looks at the sustainability of the Danish welfare state in an EU law context and on the inte......Abstract: This paper builds on the results obtained in the so-called Blurring Boundaries project which was undertaken at the Law Department, Copenhagen Business School, in the period from 2007 to 2009. It looks at the sustainability of the Danish welfare state in an EU law context...... and on the integration of welfare functions into EU law both from an internal market law and a constitutional law perspective. The main problem areas covered by the Blurring Boundaries project were studied in sub-projects on: 1) Internal market law and welfare services, 2) Fundamental rights and non-discrimination law...... aspects, and 3) Services of general interest. In the Blurring Boundaries project, three aspects of the European Social Model have been particularly highlighted: the constitutionalisation of the European Social Model, its multi-level legal character, and the clash between market access justice at EU level...

Social Welfare Policy in an Information Age: New Vision or More of the Same?

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John G. McNutt

2005-05-01

Full Text Available As we move into the 21st Century, the social policy enterprise stands as the nexus between technological, political and social forces that will undermine the base that contemporary programs and policies depend upon. Assumptions about work and the workforce, the nature of governance and the role of technology will radically change. If our social welfare system is to remain relevant, changes will be needed. This paper explores these changing systems and examines how they will influence the current system. It will also speculate on the types of changes that will be necessary if social welfare is to remain relevant to the society of the future.

MICROCREDIT, MICROENTERPRISES AND SOCIAL WELFARE OF THE RURAL POOR IN NORTH-EASTERN TRINIDAD: AN EVALUATION OF

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Talia Esnard-Flavius

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The study examined the relationship between microcredit, microenterprises, and the social welfare of the rural poor in north-eastern Trinidad. Guided by the main propositions of social capital theory, the researchers held 45 semi-structured interviews with active participants/clients within a case study research design. The data showed that access to microcredit through Helping Others Prosper Economically (HOPE positively affected their microenterprises and social welfare, though marginally. Findings also revealed that fragmented social relations within the network, conflict, distrust, and the loose structure of the program limited the impact of their access to microcredit on social welfare as well as the financial potential of the lending organisation, that is, HOPE. It is the contention of this paper, therefore, that such questionable social relations dynamics 'hijack' the promise of collective social networks as exercised through goodwill and resource building. Implications of this study and directions for future research are discussed.

Conflito social e welfare state: Estado e desenvolvimento social no Brasil Social conflict and welfare state: state and social development in Brazil

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Fábio Guedes Gomes

2006-04-01

Full Text Available Este artigo argumenta que no Brasil a luta de classes não alcançou dimensões profundas que pudesse engendrar a constituição do welfare state. Ao contrário, o Estado, sobretudo sua forma mais moderna, capitalista, que emergiu a partir da década de 1930, sempre se antecipou aos movimentos sociais que representassem ameaças de rupturas. De forma repressiva, o Estado brasileiro desde o Império dissipou os conflitos com o objetivo de manter uma certa harmonia em favor do processo de expansão e reprodução capitalista e a integração dos espaços regionais. O artigo, portanto, é uma tentativa, prematura, de entender o processo de constituição dos sistemas de seguridade social, analisando as experiências de alguns países e suas respectivas características, com isso confrontando alguns estudos e realizando comparações com a dinâmica da luta de classes no Brasil e a função do Estado nesse processo.This article defends the theory that the class struggle in Brazil has not been able to engender the formation of a welfare state. On the contrary, the nation which emerged in the 1930s - above all in its more modern capitalistic form - has always prevented social movements that could pose any threat of a rupture. Since when it was a monarchy, Brazil has dealt with its conflicts in a repressive fashion, with the goal of maintaining a certain harmony in the interest of the expansion and the propagation of capitalism as well as regional integration. This text, therefore, is an attempt, albeit premature, to understand the process involving the formation of the social security system in Brazil, by analyzing the experiences of a number of countries and their respective characteristics, thus examining a few studies and making comparisons with the class struggle dynamic in Brazil and the role of the State in this process.

Social welfare as small-scale help: evolutionary psychology and the deservingness heuristic.

Science.gov (United States)

Petersen, Michael Bang

2012-01-01

Public opinion concerning social welfare is largely driven by perceptions of recipient deservingness. Extant research has argued that this heuristic is learned from a variety of cultural, institutional, and ideological sources. The present article provides evidence supporting a different view: that the deservingness heuristic is rooted in psychological categories that evolved over the course of human evolution to regulate small-scale exchanges of help. To test predictions made on the basis of this view, a method designed to measure social categorization is embedded in nationally representative surveys conducted in different countries. Across the national- and individual-level differences that extant research has used to explain the heuristic, people categorize welfare recipients on the basis of whether they are lazy or unlucky. This mode of categorization furthermore induces people to think about large-scale welfare politics as its presumed ancestral equivalent: small-scale help giving. The general implications for research on heuristics are discussed.

Developing a Collaborative Agenda for Humanities and Social Scientific Research on Laboratory Animal Science and Welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Gail F; Greenhough, Beth J; Hobson-West, Pru; Kirk, Robert G W; Applebee, Ken; Bellingan, Laura C; Berdoy, Manuel; Buller, Henry; Cassaday, Helen J; Davies, Keith; Diefenbacher, Daniela; Druglitrø, Tone; Escobar, Maria Paula; Friese, Carrie; Herrmann, Kathrin; Hinterberger, Amy; Jarrett, Wendy J; Jayne, Kimberley; Johnson, Adam M; Johnson, Elizabeth R; Konold, Timm; Leach, Matthew C; Leonelli, Sabina; Lewis, David I; Lilley, Elliot J; Longridge, Emma R; McLeod, Carmen M; Miele, Mara; Nelson, Nicole C; Ormandy, Elisabeth H; Pallett, Helen; Poort, Lonneke; Pound, Pandora; Ramsden, Edmund; Roe, Emma; Scalway, Helen; Schrader, Astrid; Scotton, Chris J; Scudamore, Cheryl L; Smith, Jane A; Whitfield, Lucy; Wolfensohn, Sarah

2016-01-01

Improving laboratory animal science and welfare requires both new scientific research and insights from research in the humanities and social sciences. Whilst scientific research provides evidence to replace, reduce and refine procedures involving laboratory animals (the '3Rs'), work in the humanities and social sciences can help understand the social, economic and cultural processes that enhance or impede humane ways of knowing and working with laboratory animals. However, communication across these disciplinary perspectives is currently limited, and they design research programmes, generate results, engage users, and seek to influence policy in different ways. To facilitate dialogue and future research at this interface, we convened an interdisciplinary group of 45 life scientists, social scientists, humanities scholars, non-governmental organisations and policy-makers to generate a collaborative research agenda. This drew on methods employed by other agenda-setting exercises in science policy, using a collaborative and deliberative approach for the identification of research priorities. Participants were recruited from across the community, invited to submit research questions and vote on their priorities. They then met at an interactive workshop in the UK, discussed all 136 questions submitted, and collectively defined the 30 most important issues for the group. The output is a collaborative future agenda for research in the humanities and social sciences on laboratory animal science and welfare. The questions indicate a demand for new research in the humanities and social sciences to inform emerging discussions and priorities on the governance and practice of laboratory animal research, including on issues around: international harmonisation, openness and public engagement, 'cultures of care', harm-benefit analysis and the future of the 3Rs. The process outlined below underlines the value of interdisciplinary exchange for improving communication across

Developing a Collaborative Agenda for Humanities and Social Scientific Research on Laboratory Animal Science and Welfare

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Gail F.; Greenhough, Beth J; Hobson-West, Pru; Kirk, Robert G. W.; Applebee, Ken; Bellingan, Laura C.; Berdoy, Manuel; Buller, Henry; Cassaday, Helen J.; Davies, Keith; Diefenbacher, Daniela; Druglitrø, Tone; Escobar, Maria Paula; Friese, Carrie; Herrmann, Kathrin; Hinterberger, Amy; Jarrett, Wendy J.; Jayne, Kimberley; Johnson, Adam M.; Johnson, Elizabeth R.; Konold, Timm; Leach, Matthew C.; Leonelli, Sabina; Lewis, David I.; Lilley, Elliot J.; Longridge, Emma R.; McLeod, Carmen M.; Miele, Mara; Nelson, Nicole C.; Ormandy, Elisabeth H.; Pallett, Helen; Poort, Lonneke; Pound, Pandora; Ramsden, Edmund; Roe, Emma; Scalway, Helen; Schrader, Astrid; Scotton, Chris J.; Scudamore, Cheryl L.; Smith, Jane A.; Whitfield, Lucy; Wolfensohn, Sarah

2016-01-01

Improving laboratory animal science and welfare requires both new scientific research and insights from research in the humanities and social sciences. Whilst scientific research provides evidence to replace, reduce and refine procedures involving laboratory animals (the ‘3Rs’), work in the humanities and social sciences can help understand the social, economic and cultural processes that enhance or impede humane ways of knowing and working with laboratory animals. However, communication across these disciplinary perspectives is currently limited, and they design research programmes, generate results, engage users, and seek to influence policy in different ways. To facilitate dialogue and future research at this interface, we convened an interdisciplinary group of 45 life scientists, social scientists, humanities scholars, non-governmental organisations and policy-makers to generate a collaborative research agenda. This drew on methods employed by other agenda-setting exercises in science policy, using a collaborative and deliberative approach for the identification of research priorities. Participants were recruited from across the community, invited to submit research questions and vote on their priorities. They then met at an interactive workshop in the UK, discussed all 136 questions submitted, and collectively defined the 30 most important issues for the group. The output is a collaborative future agenda for research in the humanities and social sciences on laboratory animal science and welfare. The questions indicate a demand for new research in the humanities and social sciences to inform emerging discussions and priorities on the governance and practice of laboratory animal research, including on issues around: international harmonisation, openness and public engagement, ‘cultures of care’, harm-benefit analysis and the future of the 3Rs. The process outlined below underlines the value of interdisciplinary exchange for improving communication across

Developing a Collaborative Agenda for Humanities and Social Scientific Research on Laboratory Animal Science and Welfare.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gail F Davies

Full Text Available Improving laboratory animal science and welfare requires both new scientific research and insights from research in the humanities and social sciences. Whilst scientific research provides evidence to replace, reduce and refine procedures involving laboratory animals (the '3Rs', work in the humanities and social sciences can help understand the social, economic and cultural processes that enhance or impede humane ways of knowing and working with laboratory animals. However, communication across these disciplinary perspectives is currently limited, and they design research programmes, generate results, engage users, and seek to influence policy in different ways. To facilitate dialogue and future research at this interface, we convened an interdisciplinary group of 45 life scientists, social scientists, humanities scholars, non-governmental organisations and policy-makers to generate a collaborative research agenda. This drew on methods employed by other agenda-setting exercises in science policy, using a collaborative and deliberative approach for the identification of research priorities. Participants were recruited from across the community, invited to submit research questions and vote on their priorities. They then met at an interactive workshop in the UK, discussed all 136 questions submitted, and collectively defined the 30 most important issues for the group. The output is a collaborative future agenda for research in the humanities and social sciences on laboratory animal science and welfare. The questions indicate a demand for new research in the humanities and social sciences to inform emerging discussions and priorities on the governance and practice of laboratory animal research, including on issues around: international harmonisation, openness and public engagement, 'cultures of care', harm-benefit analysis and the future of the 3Rs. The process outlined below underlines the value of interdisciplinary exchange for improving

The Intersectionality of Religion and Social Welfare: Historical Development of Richmond’s Nonprofit Health and Human Services

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F. Ellen Netting

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Studying the intersectionality of religion and social welfare in Richmond, Virginia requires going back to the beginning of the Virginia colony. In the crucible of the colony, the religious and social welfare functions of a parish community were one and the same. However, after the Revolutionary War it was just a matter of time before the entire system was disassembled. The process of disentanglement of church and state created an identity crisis in Virginia. In the late 1700s, the emergence of charitable efforts began with leading men of Richmond who tried to address the temporary needs of travelers, followed by groups of women who discovered new roles they could play through charitable works. The new “system” became a potpourri of societies, congregations, associations, and county units attempting to provide for the social welfare of the populous. The intersectionality of religion and social welfare continued as a diverse landscape of small and large organizations and congregations performing the social welfare functions in Richmond and throughout the Commonwealth emerged. Today, to attempt to separate the church from the state in this conglomerate of agencies is neither possible nor desirable. However, understanding its’ historical complexity is essential if one is to engage in contemporary practice within Richmond’s health and human service system.

Social Polarisation and the Danish Welfare State

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Anders Bøggild; Rasmussen, Tove Valborg

look at Aarhus in the light of these theories and studies of other cities. We present some preliminary results of a study based on public registered data covering income, capital, occupation, social services, types of dwellings, localisation etc. in the municipality of Aarhus. On the one hand we paint...... a preliminary picture of Aarhus looking at the distribution of poverty and wealth showing some indicators towards inequality. Furthermore we discuss central theories, concepts and measured indicators......Globalisation and the information society tend - according to leading theories - to increase social polarisation and create dual cities. Studies have shown that the tendencies are more complicated in several of the European cities and the welfare state seems to have an impact on the development. We...

The Social Workers Challenges on Community Welfare in Ungogo Community, Nigeria

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Kehinde Adekunle Aliyu

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The role of social workers in a community cannot be overemphasised by any mean, for the life span of any community depends on the quality of the social workers. The aim of this work is to affirm the roles of social workers in helping the community welfare.  Qualitative research design was adopted for the work. Data collected with the Interview Schedule for Officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps and Interview Guide for selected group of people. This was administered to 30 respondents, which comprises both male and female in the Ungogo community. The purpose of the study was to examine the roles of social workers, in line with improved standards of living, sustained economic development and expansion of trade and economic relations in the community; enhanced levels of international competitiveness in the areas of community welfare, organization for increased productivity of people in the community. It common knowledge every individual strife to be the best when receive the necessary or adequate encouragement. To these extents, such a person bears some responsibilities even if passively so as a member. The implication of this work is to contribute to social change by informing social worker on their challenges and responsibilities ahead of them in the community.

Animal welfare at the group level: more than the sum of individual welfare?

Science.gov (United States)

Ohl, F; Putman, R J

2014-03-01

Currently assessment and management of animal welfare are based on the supposition that welfare status is something experienced identically by each individual animal when exposed to the same conditions. However, many authors argue that individual welfare cannot be seen as an 'objective' state, but is based on the animal's own self-perception; such perception might vary significantly between individuals which appear to be exposed to exactly the same challenges. We argue that this has two implications: (1) actual perceived welfare status of individuals in a population may vary over a wide range even under identical environmental conditions; (2) animals that appear to an external observer to be in better or poorer welfare condition may all in fact perceive their own individual status as the same. This would imply that optimum welfare of a social group might be achieved in situations where individual group members differ markedly in apparent welfare status and perceive their own welfare as being optimal under differing circumstances. Welfare phenotypes may also vary along a continuum between self-regarding and other-regarding behaviour; a variety of situations exist where (social) individuals appear to invest in the welfare of other individuals instead of maximising their own welfare; in such a case it is necessary to re-evaluate individual welfare within the context of a social group and recognise that there may be consequences for the welfare of individuals, of decisions made at the group level or by other group members.

The Diverse Impacts of the Neo-liberal Social Policies on Children’s Welfare and Social Work with Young People: The Finnish Perspective

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2007-05-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the impacts of globalization, neo-liberal social policies and the Finnish economic recession of the 1990s on children's and young people's welfare. It summarises some of the impacts of Finnish social policies on the everyday lives of families with children and highlights some of the features of the recent and current debates surrounding youth delinquency and the societal reactions to young generations. All this contributes to a contradictory and conflicting societal context which challenges experts in the field of child welfare social work experts to operate - as expected - at the right moment, legally and effectively. Instead of being overly-defensive for the ‘good old’ ways of practicing social work with children, the authors invite social work scholars and practitioners to reconceptualise both the concept of children's citizenship and its position both in child welfare theory and practice in the context of children's global rights.

Rents in a welfare state

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paldam, Martin

2015-01-01

This chapter describes rents in Denmark, a developed welfare state in which the private sector is sharply delimitated and kept efficient by secure property rights and markets including free trade. In the public sector, rents in the form of excess costs that provide benefits are difficult to measure......-governmental organizations have been coopted to serve large welfare expenditure programs that benefit the welfare coalition....

‘Liking and Sharing’ the stigmatization of poverty and social welfare: Representations of poverty and welfare through Internet memes on social media

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Kathy Dobson

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Internet memes play an important role in the reproduction, reinforcement and circulation of social stereotypes, including about those who live in poverty. Due to the vast reach and increasing popularity of various social media platforms, these memes can reach a potentially enormous audience; when an image goes ‘viral,’ its claims are made more powerful every time it is shared or reposted. In this paper we investigate the relationship between Internet memes and stereotypes about poverty by examining a set of memes that make claims about one particular aspect of poverty in North America – receipt of social assistance in the form of welfare cheques, medical coverage and food.

The Effect of Steps to Promote Higher Levels of Farm Animal Welfare across the EU. Societal versus Animal Scientists’ Perceptions of Animal Welfare

Science.gov (United States)

Averós, Xavier; Aparicio, Miguel A.; Ferrari, Paolo; Guy, Jonathan H.; Hubbard, Carmen; Schmid, Otto; Ilieski, Vlatko; Spoolder, Hans A. M.

2013-01-01

Simple Summary We studied different EU production standards and initiatives to determine whether there is still room or not for further animal welfare improvement, and which should be the best way to achieve it. Many of the adopted measures in these standards and initiatives are scientifically supported, but other aspects that are equally important for animal welfare are not included in any of them. Animal welfare improvement should consider, for each country, those aspects actually benefiting animals, but also the social expectations within each country. Economic constraints might explain the gap between what society demands, and what farm animals actually need. Abstract Information about animal welfare standards and initiatives from eight European countries was collected, grouped, and compared to EU welfare standards to detect those aspects beyond minimum welfare levels demanded by EU welfare legislation. Literature was reviewed to determine the scientific relevance of standards and initiatives, and those aspects going beyond minimum EU standards. Standards and initiatives were assessed to determine their strengths and weaknesses regarding animal welfare. Attitudes of stakeholders in the improvement of animal welfare were determined through a Policy Delphi exercise. Social perception of animal welfare, economic implications of upraising welfare levels, and differences between countries were considered. Literature review revealed that on-farm space allowance, climate control, and environmental enrichment are relevant for all animal categories. Experts’ assessment revealed that on-farm prevention of thermal stress, air quality, and races and passageways’ design were not sufficiently included. Stakeholders considered that housing conditions are particularly relevant regarding animal welfare, and that animal-based and farm-level indicators are fundamental to monitor the progress of animal welfare. The most notable differences between what society offers and what

Development of state social support benefits in the Czech Republic from 1995 to 2014 and their impact on low-income households economic status

OpenAIRE

Lukeš, Jáchym

2015-01-01

This thesis examines the influence of state social benefits on income and natality of low-income families in Czech Republic. The years in which significant changes in government welfare benefits occured, based on the legislative changes, are examined in the paper. These years are, with use of model families, analyzed in terms of the ratio of potential income from state social security and subsistence minimum of families. The paper shows that this income can be the main income for the families...

Social Welfare Trends in Western Societies: privatisation and the challenge to Social Work

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Gilbert, Neil

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The paper analyses several key features of the changing landscape of modern welfare states, the major the social forces driving this change, and how change is pertinent to the future of social work practice. The social forces driving change include structural factors such as the demographic transition and globalisation of the economy, as well as sociopolitical variables that involve an understanding of the unanticipated effects of social policies and the increased value attributed to the private sector. The central characteristics of change include a shift in policies away from the protection of labor and toward the promotion of work and the increasing use of the private sector for the production and delivery of social services. The privatisation of social welfare and its implications for social work practice are examined in the light of the challenges in negotiating service contracts.Este artículo analiza varios aspectos claves de la evolución del panorama de los estados de bienestar modernos, las principales fuerzas sociales que impulsan este cambio, y cómo el cambio es pertinente para el futuro de la práctica del Trabajo Social. Las fuerzas sociales que impulsan el cambio son factores estructurales tales como la transición demográfica y la globalización de la economía, así como variables socio-políticas que implican una comprensión de los efectos no previstos de las políticas sociales y el aumento del valor atribuido al sector privado. Las características centrales del cambio incluyen una modificación de las políticas, que se desplazan desde la protección del trabajo hacia la promoción del trabajo, y el uso cada vez mayor del sector privado en la producción y prestación de servicios sociales. La privatización de la seguridad social y sus implicaciones para la práctica del trabajo social se examinan a la luz de los retos en la negociación de la contratación de servicios.

Motivational and Ideological Underpinnings of Welfare Preferences in Eastern and Western Europe

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Hadarics, Márton

2016-01-01

In our study we investigated the motivational and ideological correlates of the approval of welfare services in postsocialist Central Eastern and Western Europe. In the centre of our inquiry stood how the motivations of selflessness and conventionality, along with distributional justice principles, are related to our welfare preferences beyond our rational self-interest, furthermore, how these associations depend on social-cultural circumstances. We have found that the motivational background of egalitarian economic and welfare attitudes are substantially different in the two regions. While beside of the rationalisation of self-interest, it seems to be related to selflessness-driven solidarity in Western Europe, pro-welfare and egalitarian distributional views are primarily motivated by conventionality-driven norm adherence in postsocialist countries in the form of the mechanism of postsocialist economic system nostalgia. Our results highlight the benefits of a context-specific ’motivated social cognition’ approach to ideological and political attitudes. PMID:27247699

Political participation in European welfare states: Does social investment matter?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marx, Paul; Nguyen, Christoph

2018-01-01

The role of the welfare state has expanded beyond passive assistance and decommodificaton. In many countries, social investment policies now actively encourage (re)integration into the labour market. While the effectiveness of these policies is debated, we know even less about their broader social...... and political effects. In this contribution, we explore the impact of social investment policies on one key aspect of social life: political participation. Combining insights from social psychology with institutional analysis, we investigate the impact of three social investment policies (early childhood...... education, secondary education, active labour market policies) on two disadvantaged groups: young individuals from low-skill backgrounds; and single parents. Combining the European Social Survey with data on social investment, we find that these risk groups have reduced political efficacy and political...

Assessing the Organizational Social Context (OSC) of child welfare systems: implications for research and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Glisson, Charles; Green, Philip; Williams, Nathaniel J

2012-09-01

The study: (1) provides the first assessment of the a priori measurement model and psychometric properties of the Organizational Social Context (OSC) measurement system in a US nationwide probability sample of child welfare systems; (2) illustrates the use of the OSC in constructing norm-based organizational culture and climate profiles for child welfare systems; and (3) estimates the association of child welfare system-level organizational culture and climate profiles with individual caseworker-level job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The study applies confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and hierarchical linear models (HLM) analysis to a US nationwide sample of 1,740 caseworkers from 81 child welfare systems participating in the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing (NSCAW II). The participating child welfare systems were selected using a national probability procedure reflecting the number of children served by child welfare systems nationwide. The a priori OSC measurement model is confirmed in this nationwide sample of child welfare systems. In addition, caseworker responses to the OSC scales generate acceptable to high scale reliabilities, moderate to high within-system agreement, and significant between-system differences. Caseworkers in the child welfare systems with the best organizational culture and climate profiles report higher levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Organizational climates characterized by high engagement and functionality, and organizational cultures characterized by low rigidity are associated with the most positive work attitudes. The OSC is the first valid and reliable measure of organizational culture and climate with US national norms for child welfare systems. The OSC provides a useful measure of Organizational Social Context for child welfare service improvement and implementation research efforts which include a focus on child welfare system culture and climate. Copyright © 2012

The Survival of the Nordic Welfare State and Social Trust

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brandt, Urs Steiner; Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard

2010-01-01

Why does free riding not escalate in the universal Nordic welfare state? How is it possible to maintain such a cooperative equilibrium where most people tend to cooperate? Our model suggests that the "missing link" is the accumulated stock of cooperation norms in terms of social trust. Arguably...

Preparing Social Work Students for Rural Child Welfare Practice: Emerging Curriculum Competencies

Science.gov (United States)

Riebschleger, Joanne; Norris, Debra; Pierce, Barbara; Pond, Debora L.; Cummings, Cristy

2015-01-01

Multiple issues that are unique to child welfare social work practice in rural areas markedly affect workforce recruitment and retention, yet little attention is given to the proficiencies needed to equip emerging social workers for this growing area of the field. Curriculum content is needed that provides students with the opportunity to master…

TOWARDS THE RECONCEPTUALISATION OF SOCIAL WELFARE IN SOUTH AFRICA: AN ANALYSIS OF RECENT POLICY TRENDS

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Weyers, Mike

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Nearly 20 years have elapsed since the heady days of South Africa’s first democratic elections and the publication of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP, the document that was intended to chart the country’s future development (ANC, 1994:1. It was soon followed by the White Paper for Social Welfare, which would help “realise the relevant objectives” of the RDP through the use of developmental social welfare (MWPD, 1997:5,68. Developmental social work would constitute the profession’s specific contribution to the developmental approach and, ultimately, to practice (Patel, 2005:206-210.

Default options and social welfare : Opt in versus opt out

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouckaert, J.M.C.; Degryse, H.A.

2013-01-01

We offer a social-welfare comparison of the two most prominent default options – opt in and opt out – using a two-period model of localized competition. We demonstrate that when consumers stick to the default option, the prevailing default policy shapes firms' ability to collect and use customer

Fiscally Unsustainable Social Welfare, Untenable Housing Solutions and the Mortgage Default Ratio in South Africa

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Vuyisani Vuyisani Moss

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This article reflects on social welfare system and governance of housingmarkets from an end-user perspective. The article critically analyses the wayin which social welfare has correlated to unsustainable development and createdself entitlement behaviours and attitudes in the South African low incomehousing market.  The phenomenon wasdemonstrable by empirical research whose findings confirmed an existence of anassociation between a fully subsidized social housing model (as underpinned bySouth Africa’s social welfare and propensity to default on mortgages.  The study found that the risk of default byhomeowners in the low income housing market in South Africa is influenced bygovernment’s housing grant model. In other words, the research established thatthe principle of servicing a mortgaged starter property (that is almost similarto a government free house by both structure and design is not universallyaccepted by homeowners of these mortgaged houses.  The unintended consequences are that thesystem has created indefinite expectations that potentially could; (i erodethe country’s balance sheet; (ii add to non-payment behaviour; (iii pressurizethe economic and credit systems; (iv propagate entitlement attitudes andmindsets; (v create social instability and (v widened the country’s balanceof payment deficits.

Aquatic habitat measurement and valuation: imputing social benefits to instream flow levels

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, Aaron J.; Johnson, Richard L.

1991-01-01

Instream flow conflicts have been analysed from the perspectives offered by policy oriented applied (physical) science, theories of conflict resolution and negotiation strategy, and psychological analyses of the behavior patterns of the bargaining parties. Economics also offers some useful insights in analysing conflict resolution within the context of these water allocation problems. We attempt to analyse the economics of the bargaining process in conjunction with a discussion of the water allocation process. In particular, we examine in detail the relation between certain habitat estimation techniques, and the socially optimal allocation of non-market resources. The results developed here describe the welfare implications implicit in the contemporary general equilibrium analysis of a competitive market economy. We also review certain currently available techniques for assigning dollar values to the social benefits of instream flow. The limitations of non-market valuation techniques with respect to estimating the benefits provided by instream flows and the aquatic habitat contingent on these flows should not deter resource managers from using economic analysis as a basic tool for settling instream flow conflicts.

Two-Sided Matching Agents for Electronic Employment Market Design: Social Welfare Implications

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gates, William

2002-01-01

... employment market designs. Using a quasi-price measure for comparison and examining social welfare as a basis for assessing market-design alternatives, we provide novel insight into the balance required between technologically...

The Child Welfare Cartel

Science.gov (United States)

Stoesz, David

2016-01-01

The probity of the Children's Bureau's National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) is examined with respect to the status of child welfare as well as the performance of social work education. By requiring that funding go only to accredited schools of social work, which is not authorized by relevant provisions of the Social Security Act,…

Comparing and contrasting poverty reduction performance of social welfare programs across jurisdictions in Canada using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA): an exploratory study of the era of devolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Habibov, Nazim N; Fan, Lida

2010-11-01

In the mid-1990s, the responsibilities to design, implement, and evaluate social welfare programs were transferred from federal to local jurisdictions in many countries of North America and Europe through devolution processes. Devolution has caused the need for a technique to measure and compare the performances of social welfare programs across multiple jurisdictions. This paper utilizes Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for a comparison of poverty reduction performances of jurisdictional social welfare programs across Canadian provinces. From the theoretical perspective, findings of this paper demonstrates that DEA is a promising method to evaluate, compare, and benchmark poverty reduction performance across multiple jurisdictions using multiple inputs and outputs. This paper demonstrates that DEA generates easy to comprehend composite rankings of provincial performances, identifies appropriate benchmarks for each inefficient province, and estimates sources and amounts of improvement needed to make the provinces efficient. From a practical perspective the empirical results presented in this paper indicate that Newfoundland, Prince Edwards Island, and Alberta achieve better efficiency in poverty reduction than other provinces. Policy makers and social administrators of the ineffective provinces across Canada may find benefit in selecting one of the effective provinces as a benchmark for improving their own performance based on similar size and structure of population, size of the budget for social programs, and traditions with administering particular types of social programs. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Continuous Cash Benefit (BCP) for disabled individuals: access barriers and intersectoral gaps.

Science.gov (United States)

Vaitsman, Jeni; Lobato, Lenaura de Vasconcelos Costa

2017-11-01

The 1988 Constitution approved the Continuous Cash Benefit (BCP) directed to elders and disabled persons with a household per capita income of 25% of the minimum wage, and around 4 million people received this benefit in 2015. The design of BPC for disabled persons involves organizations of social security, social welfare and health. This paper discusses how some intersectoral coordination mechanisms gaps between these areas produce access barriers to potential beneficiaries. Results stem from a qualitative study performed with physicians, administrative staff and social workers from the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) and of the Social Welfare Reference Center (CRAS) in three municipalities of different Brazilian regions. Intersectoral coordination and cooperation are more structured at the Federal level. At the local level, they rely on informal and horizontal initiatives, which produce immediate but discontinuous solutions. The role of the CRAS remains contingent on the implementation. The need to establish institutionalized mechanisms for coordination and cooperation between social welfare, health and social insurance to improve the implementation and reduce barriers to access to the BCP is apparent.

Islamic Charities and Social Activism: Welfare, Dakwah and Politics in Indonesia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Latief, H.

2012-01-01

This study examines how the notions of benevolent acts, welfare issues and social justice are conceived by Indonesian Muslims, and investigates the multiplicity of roles played by Islamic charitable associations. Such associations, which have multiplied rapidly in the past two decades, were

Motivational and Ideological Underpinnings of Welfare Preferences in Eastern and Western Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Márton Hadarics

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In our study we investigated the motivational and ideological correlates of the approval of welfare services in postsocialist Central Eastern and Western Europe. In the centre of our inquiry stood how the motivations of selflessness and conventionality, along with distributional justice principles, are related to our welfare preferences beyond our rational self-interest, furthermore, how these associations depend on social-cultural circumstances. We have found that the motivational background of egalitarian economic and welfare attitudes are substantially different in the two regions. While beside of the rationalisation of self-interest, it seems to be related to selflessness-driven solidarity in Western Europe, pro-welfare and egalitarian distributional views are primarily motivated by conventionality-driven norm adherence in postsocialist countries in the form of the mechanism of postsocialist economic system nostalgia. Our results highlight the benefits of a context-specific ’motivated social cognition’ approach to ideological and political attitudes.

To be new in Child Welfare Agency – A study of Social Worker’s perspectives on challenges, coping strategies and support systems

OpenAIRE

Moncada, Isabel Amelia Alvarez

2015-01-01

European Master in Social Work with Families and Children Social work education in Sweden has been characterized to provide general information about social work practice. With a new degree, social workers are able to find suitable jobs offer in many areas related to welfare services. With the increasing of work demands of Child Welfare agencies, newly qualified social workers are hired to provide services to families and children. Over the last years, Child Welfare agencies had been criti...

Social Welfare in One-Sided Matching Mechanisms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christodoulou, George; Filos-Ratsikas, Aris; Frederiksen, Søren Kristoffer Stiil

2016-01-01

We study the Price of Anarchy of mechanisms for the fundamental problem of social welfare maximization in one-sided matching settings, when agents have general cardinal preferences over a finite set of items. We consider both the complete and incomplete information settings and show that the two...... most well-studied mechanisms in literature, Probabilistic Serial and Random Priority have a Price of Anarchy of $O(\\sqrt{n})$. We complement our results with a lower bound of $\\Omega(\\sqrt{n})$ on the Price of Anarchy of \\emph{all} mechanisms. As a result, we conclude that these mechanisms are optimal....

Introduction: The Failure and Future of the Welfare State in Post-socialism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abel Polese

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Debates on the post-socialist welfare state evolved in two main directions. While some scholars have maintained that they would eventually converge with Western European patterns, some others have pointed at the need of a more ‘particularist’ approach, seeking to demonstrate that post-socialist states might follow a different and non-traditional path, individually or as a region in terms of welfare provision. Our current work is an attempt to contribute to the debate on the direction of post-socialist welfare state adaptation by engaging with corruption and welfare state/public sector failure in post-socialist spaces. In particular, emphasis is put on the tactics and strategies used by public workers and citizens to cope with incomplete and inadequate public social welfare provision. Rooted in different disciplinary schools, and making use of diverse methodological and theoretical approaches, the papers of this special issue provide further evidence to rechart the relationship between the public welfare sector, citizens and the current economic transition, a commonality that allows us to point at alternatives to the capitalist model that for some time has been seen as the only option. In line with our previous works, in this special issue we explore the possibility that informality and formality are complementary or that informality may ‘replace’ formal processes and structures. In other words, where the welfare state does not penetrate, welfare might be spread also through informal channels and it might redefine the very dynamics underpinning of a society.

Welfare, social justice, and equality in educational settings in the Nordic countries

OpenAIRE

Lappalainen, Sirpa; Odenbring, Ylva; Steen-Olsen, Tove Herborg

2013-01-01

© Universitetsforlaget 2013. This is the authors' accepted and refereed manuscript to the article. The final publication is available at https://www.idunn.no/np/2013/04/welfare_social_justice_and_equality_in_educational_settin

Review of the social and environmental factors affecting the behavior and welfare of turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo).

Science.gov (United States)

Marchewka, J; Watanabe, T T N; Ferrante, V; Estevez, I

2013-06-01

In modern rearing systems, turkey producers often face economic losses due to increased aggression, feather pecking, cannibalism, leg disorders, or injuries among birds, which are also significant welfare issues. The main underlying causes appear to relate to rapid growth, flock size, density, poor environmental complexity, or lighting, which may be deficient in providing the birds with an adequate physical or social environment. To date, there is little information regarding the effect of these factors on turkey welfare. This knowledge is, however, essential to ensure the welfare of turkeys and to improve their quality of life, but may also be beneficial to industry, allowing better bird performance, improved carcass quality, and reduced mortality and condemnations. This paper reviews the available scientific literature related to the behavior of turkeys as influenced by the physical and social environment that may be relevant to advances toward turkey production systems that take welfare into consideration. We addressed the effects that factors such as density, group size, space availability, maturation, lightning, feeding, and transport may have over parameters that may be relevant to ensure welfare of turkeys. Available scientific studies were based in experimental environments and identified individual factors corresponding to particular welfare problems. Most of the studies aimed at finding optimal levels of rearing conditions that allow avoiding or decreasing most severe welfare issues. This paper discusses the importance of these factors for development of production environments that would be better suited from a welfare and economic point of view.

Social demand for multiple benefits provided by Aleppo pine forest management in Catalonia, Spain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Varela, Elsa; Jacobsen, Jette Bredahl; Mavsar, Robert

2017-01-01

This paper estimates the social demand for key benefits provided by Aleppo pine forests in Catalonia that can be enhanced by management. These so-called externalities are the side effects of forest management on citizens’ welfare and can be either positive or negative. The externalities addressed...... are: biodiversity (measured as the number of tree species), accessibility for practicing recreational activities, CO2 sequestration and annual burned area by wildfires. By the use of a choice experiment, an economic valuation method, we estimate in a joint manner people’s preferences...

How can economists help to improve animal welfare?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Tove; Lawrence, A.; Lund, Mogens

2012-01-01

To-date, the dominant approach to improving farm animal welfare has consisted of a combination of voluntary improvements undertaken by farmers and the tightening of legal requirements. However, history suggests that there is a limit to the improvements capable of being secured by this approach...... priorities as to which aspects of animal welfare should be promoted. Here, economic approaches can be used to capture and synthesise the perspectives of all the stakeholders, including the animals, in a transparent and systematic way. The second way is by helping to ensure that incentives are set up...... in the right way. Where the benefits and costs of improving animal welfare are initially distributed unevenly across stakeholders so that a socially desirable situation will not develop automatically, or be implemented, suitable economic principles may help to create incentives which correct this situation...

Limits of the Brazilian social welfare policy in view of social demands of users with acute leukemia: reflections of Social Work

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renata Fonseca Silva

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes the limits of Social Welfare in view of the social demands of users with acute leukemia. Treatment of this disease is characterized by its high complexity, exposing the patient to a series of clinical requirements. Such treatment condition produces greater demands when users are inserted in a context permeated by social issues. Thus, centrality of social policies is found as an essential resource for ensuring effective treatment of these users. However, considering the focus and fragmentation of social policies, a retraction of social rights is observed.

Claims procedures for employee benefit plans--Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Department of Labor. Request for information.

Science.gov (United States)

1997-09-08

This document requests information from the public concerning the advisability of amending the existing regulation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) that establishes minimum requirements for employee benefit plan claims procedures. The term "claims procedure" refers to the process that employee benefit plans must provide for participants and beneficiaries who seek to obtain pension or welfare plan benefits, including requests for medical treatment or services, consideration of claims, and review of denials of claims by plans. The primary purpose of this notice is to obtain information to assist the Department of Labor (the Department) in evaluating (1) the extent to which the current claims procedure regulation assures that group health plan participants and beneficiaries are provided with effective and timely means to file and resolve claims for health care benefits, and (1) whether and in what way the existing minimum requirements should be amended with respect to group health plans covered by ERISA. The furnished information also will assist the Department in determining whether the regulation should be amended with respect to pension plans covered by ERISA and in developing legislative proposals to address any identified deficiencies relating to the claims procedures that cannot be addressed by amending the current regulation.

Stereotypes and welfare attitudes: a panel survey of how ‘poor Carina’ and ‘lazy Robert’ affected attitudes towards social assistance in Denmark

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Troels Fage Hedegaard

2014-08-01

Full Text Available What is the impact of a predominantly negative debate about social assistance on public and individual support for the social benefit? Over the course of a year the public debate about social assistance flared up twice in Denmark. The debates drew on classic stereotypes of the social assistance recipients lacking both the financial incentives and the will to work. According to theories of the impact of media on welfare attitudes, this had the potential to undermine public support. A two-wave panel survey, however, showed only a small drop in public support for spending on social assistance, in a comparison of attitudes before and after the debates. The small overall impact on public opinion, however, hid a polarization of attitudes on the individual level. This shows that there was not a uniform reaction to welfare debates, but that people tend to seek out a version of reality that is consistent with their values and self-interest. The article thus shows that people when faced with public debates on welfare policies will seek to confirm their personal biases and this limits the possibility for overall changes in public support. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}

Social Welfare Activism in Jordan

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Marie Juul

Many Jordanians perceive formal politics in Jordan as illegitimate, corrupt and authoritarian. Thus, when searching for agents of change and reform, we have to look beyond the formal political system. In this regard, recent years have seen an increasing interest in civil society. However, this in...... the organisations' positions on a number of concepts often associated with "democratisation", namely women's rights, participation and pluralism, paying particular attention to the role of Islam......., this interest tends to focus on secular organisations and institutions, overlooking religious ones, although these make up a large part of Jordanian civil society. Particularly interesting are the country's many Muslim social welfare organisations, engaged in activities such as education, health care...... and financial assistance to the poor. This brief asks whether these organisations can be considered potential agents of democratic change or rather as preservers of the status quo. Moreover, do they employ Islam as a means of control or empowerment? Attempting to answer these questions, the brief discusses...

Happiness and Social Exclusion of Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan - A Social Sustainability Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jiun-Hao

2015-01-01

Introduction Happiness and social inclusion are important indicators of social sustainability, as recommended in the Sustainable Development Goals; however, little is known about the social sustainable development of ethnic minorities. To fill this knowledge gap, special attention is paid to understanding the issues of social exclusion and happiness in relation to the indigenous peoples in Taiwan. Methods Data used were drawn from a nationwide representativeness survey of the Taiwanese Indigenous People in 2007; it included 2,200 respondents. This study employed binary logistic regression to examine the effects of different domains of social exclusion on the likelihood of perceiving happiness; other exogenous factors, were controlled. Results The results show that among the respondents, mountain indigenous peoples, females, the elderly and those who are healthier, wealthier, highly educated, possessing western beliefs, and are more likely to be happy, compared to their counterparts. As expected, the results reveal that the likelihood of being happy is higher for those who have received medical benefits, as well as those persons without housing problems or financial difficulties, compared to their excluded counterparts. However, no significant association is found between happiness and some social exclusion domains, such as child and youth benefits, and unemployment benefits. Conclusions The disengagement of the indigenous peoples in mainstream society, with respect to the accessibility of welfare provisions, is a crucial element in regard to social exclusion and happiness. Several policy implications for the social sustainability of indigenous peoples can be inferred from these findings. For example, providing a mobile clinical tour, on-site health counseling, or homecare service can contribute to the removal of institutional and geographic barriers to medical welfare provisions for the mountain indigenes. Moreover, the government may devote more welfare resources

Happiness and social exclusion of indigenous peoples in Taiwan--a social sustainability perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jiun-Hao

2015-01-01

Happiness and social inclusion are important indicators of social sustainability, as recommended in the Sustainable Development Goals; however, little is known about the social sustainable development of ethnic minorities. To fill this knowledge gap, special attention is paid to understanding the issues of social exclusion and happiness in relation to the indigenous peoples in Taiwan. Data used were drawn from a nationwide representativeness survey of the Taiwanese Indigenous People in 2007; it included 2,200 respondents. This study employed binary logistic regression to examine the effects of different domains of social exclusion on the likelihood of perceiving happiness; other exogenous factors, were controlled. The results show that among the respondents, mountain indigenous peoples, females, the elderly and those who are healthier, wealthier, highly educated, possessing western beliefs, and are more likely to be happy, compared to their counterparts. As expected, the results reveal that the likelihood of being happy is higher for those who have received medical benefits, as well as those persons without housing problems or financial difficulties, compared to their excluded counterparts. However, no significant association is found between happiness and some social exclusion domains, such as child and youth benefits, and unemployment benefits. The disengagement of the indigenous peoples in mainstream society, with respect to the accessibility of welfare provisions, is a crucial element in regard to social exclusion and happiness. Several policy implications for the social sustainability of indigenous peoples can be inferred from these findings. For example, providing a mobile clinical tour, on-site health counseling, or homecare service can contribute to the removal of institutional and geographic barriers to medical welfare provisions for the mountain indigenes. Moreover, the government may devote more welfare resources to assist indigenous families and tribal

Neo-Marxian social class inequalities in the mental well-being of employed men and women: the role of European welfare regimes.

Science.gov (United States)

De Moortel, Deborah; Palència, Laia; Artazcoz, Lucía; Borrell, Carme; Vanroelen, Christophe

2015-03-01

The relation between "neo-Marxian" social class (NMSC) and health in the working population has received considerable attention in public health research. However, less is known about the distribution of mental well-being according to NMSC in a European context. The objectives of this study are (i) to analyse the association of mental well-being and NMSC among employees in Europe (using a welfare regime typology), (ii) to investigate whether the relation between NMSC and mental well-being is the same in women compared to men within each welfare regime, and (iii) to examine within each welfare regime the role of the gender division of labour and job quality as potential mediating factors in explaining this association. Data from the European Social Survey Round 5 (2010) were analysed. Mental well-being was assessed by the WHO Well-being Index. Social class was measured through E.O. Wright's social class scheme. Models separated by sex were generated using Poisson regression with a robust error variance. The associations were presented as prevalence ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Women reported NMSC differences in mental well-being in State corporatist/family support and Southern welfare regimes. Men reported NMSC differences in mental well-being in all but the Basic security/market-oriented welfare regimes. Gender inequalities were more marked and widespread in Basic security/market-oriented welfare regimes. In all welfare regimes job quality (partly) explained NMSC inequalities in mental well-being for men, the role of the gender division of labour was unclear. This study showed that the relationship between NMSC and mental well-being among employees differs by gender and welfare regimes. It confirms the importance of NMSC and welfare regimes to explain gender and social class inequalities in mental well-being. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Agency Culture and Climate in Child Welfare: Do Perceptions Vary by Exposure to the Child Welfare System?

Science.gov (United States)

Spielfogel, Jill E; Leathers, Sonya J; Christian, Errick

2016-01-01

Organizational culture and climate play a critical role in worker retention and outcomes, yet little is known about whether perceptions of culture and climate vary depending on the demands of particular roles. In this study, 113 staff from a child welfare agency completed Organizational Social Context profiles. Staff were divided into three groups according to their proximity to child welfare tasks to assess whether involvement in higher stress child welfare tasks is related to perceptions of the social context. Findings suggest possible differences across groups, with those involved in core child welfare tasks appearing to perceive higher resistance to new ways of providing services and those with the least involvement in traditional child welfare perceiving a more positive social context overall.

Why Did Austrian Business Oppose Welfare Cuts? How the Organization of Interests Shapes Business Attitudes Toward Social Partnership

OpenAIRE

Paster, T.

2014-01-01

In recent decades, business interests became protagonists of welfare retrenchment in many countries. In contrast, Austria’s national business organization, the WKÖ (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich), defended welfare programs and social partnership against government initiatives to dismantle them. Drawing on interviews and media reports, this article analyzes the reasons for this deviation, focusing on reforms in two fields: (a) public pensions and (b) social insurance administration. The article...

The quality of life of single mothers making the transition from welfare to work.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Kay; Davis, Elise; Smyth, Paul; McKenzie, Hayley

2009-09-01

This study examined the quality of life of single mothers making the mandatory transition from welfare to work. The Australian government purported that the benefits of making this transition would include higher incomes, better social participation, and improved wellbeing. It is currently unknown, however, how single mothers currently engaged in welfare to work programs evaluate their quality of life. Quality of life scores for 334 single mothers engaged in welfare to work in Australia were compared with normative data. Participants reported significantly lower quality of life scores than the general population for all quality of life domains, highlighting the need to carefully examine welfare to work policies to ensure they promote participants' quality of life.

Final rules relating to use of electronic communication and recordkeeping technologies by employee pension and welfare benefit plans. Notice of final rulemaking.

Science.gov (United States)

2002-04-09

This document contains final rules under Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), concerning the disclosure of certain employee benefit plan information through electronic media, and the maintenance and retention of employee benefit plan records in electronic form. The rules establish a safe harbor pursuant to which all pension and welfare benefit plans covered by Title I of ERISA may use electronic media to satisfy disclosure obligations under Title I of ERISA. The rules also provide standards concerning the use of electronic media in the maintenance and retention of records required by sections 107 and 209 of ERISA. The rules affect employee pension and welfare benefit plans, including group health plans, plan sponsors, administrators and fiduciaries, and plan participants and beneficiaries.

Danish and Norwegian hospital social workers’ cross-institutional work amidst inter-sectoral restructuring of health and social welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Søbjerg Nielsen, Ulla; Harsløf, Ivan; Feiring, Marte

2017-01-01

, they report increasing difficulties in ‘making their way through’ the state-municipal bureaucracy. However, by drawing on the formal health knowledge derived from medical settings and the symbolic capital it bestows on them, they often manage to negotiate the work-and-welfare services, thereby transforming......-makers have instituted economic incentives to both individuals and the health and welfare organisations who handle them. Through an institutional logics approach, this paper explores how hospital social workers in these countries are experiencing these changes. The ‘social’ part of post-treatment care...

Social Security and Medicare Benefits

Data.gov (United States)

Social Security Administration — Cash benefits and rehabilitation benefits paid in each year from the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, and Disability Insurance Trust Funds, and benefits paid from...

Scandinavian Model of Welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abrahamson, Peter

2010-01-01

Within the so-called welfare modeling business Scandinavia stands out as a space with a particular welfare regime. It is a peculiar combination of market, state, and civil societal interventions into people's social life, that define this welfare regime. The particular welfare mix emphasizes univ...... of conditions with respect to political culture and ethnic homogeneity. The East Asian welfare regime resembles that of Southern Europe, characterized as it is by a high degree of informality regarding care for children, fragile elderly and the handicapped....

Effect of Electronic Monitoring on Social Welfare Dependence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Lars Højsgaard; Andersen, Signe Hald

2014-01-01

Research Summary We studied the effect on unemployment social welfare dependence of serving a sentence under elec-tronic monitoring rather than in prison, using Danish registry data and two policy shifts that extended the use of electronic monitoring in Denmark. We found electronic monitoring...... to experiences from other contexts. The experiences from Denmark are clear: Electronic monitoring is less harmful than imprisonment to the life course out-comes of offenders. Since electronic monitoring could also very well be less costly for the corrections administrations than imprisonment, efforts to extend...... the use of electronic monitoring in the United States could be accelerated....

Effect of welfare and economic performance on good governance outcomes in Pakistan

OpenAIRE

MAMMON, Dawood; RABBANI, Huma

2017-01-01

Abstract. The paper undertakes a detailed analysis of economic progress and welfare measures in determining good governance outcomes in Pakistan. There is evidence that inequality stifles the capacity of political, economic and social governance by creating an elite class that protect their economic and political interests and undertake legislation primarily to the benefit of ruling elites. Furthermore our results also suggest that economic development empower the economically and socially ex...

Rescaling Welfare Policies in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haddad Thorgaard, Camilla; Vinter, Henrik

The report is a contribution to the research project ”Rescaling of Social Welfare Policies: a comparative study on the path towards multilevel governance in Europe”, which is coordinated by the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research. The report is a background paper for the projec...

Benefit Reentitlement Conditions in Unemployment Insurance Schemes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Torben M.; Christoffersen, Mark Strøm; Svarer, Michael

and employment requirements are substitute instruments in affecting job search incentives and thus gross unemployment. We analyse the optimal design of the unemployment insurance system (benefit levels, duration and employment requirements) under a utilitarian social welfare function. Simulations show...

Women, Families and Social Welfare in Spain from the 18th Century to the Present

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Gracia Cárcamo

2010-11-01

Full Text Available This is a contribution to the debate on the development of Social Welfare in Southern Europe. Emphasis is placed on factors such as educational formation of women for their task of responsibility for welfare and care within the families; this made possible improvements in Public Health. We note the relevance of women in the charitable activities of the public sphere grew paradoxically through reactionary movements. Emphasis is placed on the importance of women in Social Welfare during the Catholic Revival as receivers of charity (in Christian trade unions, in catholic mutual aid societies…, as intermediaries for poor families (facing priests, nuns and charitable ladies, as assistants (teachers in religious schools and nurses in hospitals and as leaders (Catholic ladies. There was an increase during the Francoist dictatorship in the participation of women in the reception, intermediation and offer of charity (in groups closer to fascism and in Catholic organisations.

The Child Welfare Cartel, "Redux"

Science.gov (United States)

Stoesz, David

2016-01-01

In response to "The Child Welfare Cartel," defenders of the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) make three errors: First, restricting federal funds to schools of social work is "not" authorized by the statute cited in the creation of NCWWI. Second, social work is "not" the only discipline engaged in…

Effect of Leadership Styles, Social Capital, and Social Entrepreneurship on Organizational Effectiveness of Social Welfare Organization in Malaysia: Data Screening and Preliminary Analysis

OpenAIRE

Won, Ng Chun; Wan, Chong Yen; Sharif, Mohmad Yazam

2017-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the process of screening, editing and preparation of initial data before any further multivariate analysis of the study concerning effect of leadership styles, social capital and social entrepreneurship on organizational effectiveness of social welfare organization in Malaysia. It is vital to conduct data screening to identify any potential violation of the basic assumptions related to the application of multivariate techniques. Moreover, initial data e...

Air quality and human welfare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sundseth K.

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Human welfare is generally referring to allocation of resources to fit the well being of humans. If high standard of well-being is to be maintained, the concerns for a healthy environment must be balanced against requirements of economic growth. In a natural capital system, human welfare is best served by improving the quality and flow of desired services delivered rather than merely increasing the total money flow. An ecosystem based management of living and natural resource use will steer this progress to the best of human welfare while the efficiency of ecosystem based management depends strongly on the availability of integrated assessment tools that will combine environmental models and monitoring data with ecological economic valuation methods. In applied welfare economics, the methodological approach to assess resource allocations towards societal optimality and thereby establish criteria for government intervention is often linked to tools as Cost-ffectiveness Analysis (CEA, Cost-Benefit Assessment (CBA or Multi-criteria Analysis (MCA. By illustrating an assessment on costs and benefits of the implementation of Hg emission reduction measures in the coal sector, it becomes obvious that for a full analysis of societal costs and benefits, several aspects of Hg pollution, sources, impacts and co-benefits need to be considered.

Social Justice for Crossover Youth: The Intersection of the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kolivoski, Karen M; Goodkind, Sara; Shook, Jeffrey J

2017-10-01

Social workers are critical to promoting racial and social justice. "Crossover youth," a term used to describe youths who have contact with both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, are an especially vulnerable but often overlooked population with whom social workers engage. A disproportionate number of crossover youth are African American. Empirical research on crossover youth is growing, but such scholarship rarely engages with a human rights and social justice perspective. African American children and youths have a distinct place within the history and current context of the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. These systems have historically excluded them or treated them differently; now, African American youths are overrepresented in each of them, and evidence suggests they are more likely to cross over. The purpose of this article is to describe the historical and current context of crossover youth, with a particular focus on African American youths, to provide the foundation for a discussion of what social workers can do to promote racial and social justice for crossover youth, including specific implications for practice and policy, as well as broader implications for human and civil rights. © 2017 National Association of Social Workers.

The Social Service between Values and Welfare Policies (Il Servizio Sociale tra Valori e Politiche di Welfare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesca D'Atri

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Main values of social work guide and select the everyday work of professional social worker, within institutional and non-institutional contexts, for people and with people facing different conditions of fragility and poverty, acting more innovative intervention strategies that respond to the real needs of the individual, the family system and, in general terms, the local community. In such a perspective, SIA (Support for Active Inclusion is a measure of poverty alleviation which provides for economic benefits to families in poor economic situations. To enjoy this benefit, the applicant's family will have to attend a personalized social and employing activation project, through a pact between services and families, aimed to overcoming poverty and gradually regaining autonomy. Sunto I valori che sono alla base del servizio sociale guidano e orientano il lavoro dell’assistente sociale che quotidianamente opera, all’interno di contesti sia istituzionali che non istituzionali, con le persone e per le persone per il superamento delle situazioni di fragilità e povertà, mettendo in atto strategie d’intervento sempre più innovative e rispondenti ai reali bisogni dell’individuo, del sistema familiare e, in termini più generali, della comunità locale. In quest’ottica il SIA (sostegno per l’inclusione attiva è una misura di contrasto alla povertà che prevede l’erogazione di un beneficio economico alle famiglie in condizioni economiche disagiate. Per godere di questo beneficio, il nucleo familiare del richiedente dovrà aderire ad un progetto personalizzato di attivazione sociale e lavorativa, tramite un patto tra servizi e famiglie, teso al superamento della condizione di povertà e alla  riconquista graduale dell’autonomia. Parole chiave: Valori, Servizio Sociale, Povertà, Famiglia, Progetto

Green net national product for the sustainability and social welfare

OpenAIRE

Mohajan, Haradhan

2010-01-01

This paper discusses the theory of green national accounting and, emphasizes on social welfare and sustainable accounting. Weitzman provides a foundation for net national product as the stationary equivalent of a wealth maximizing path when there is a constant interest rate and no exogenous technological progress. An attempt has been taken here to make the relationship with different incomes and green net national product, under no exogenous technological progress and a constant utility disco...

Partnership in mental health and child welfare: social work responses to children living with parental mental illness.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheehan, Rosemary

2004-01-01

Mental illness is an issue for a number of families reported to child protection agencies. Parents with mental health problems are more vulnerable, as are their children, to having parenting and child welfare concerns. A recent study undertaken in the Melbourne Children's Court (Victoria, Australia) found that the children of parents with mental health problems comprised just under thirty percent of all new child protection applications brought to the Court and referred to alternative dispute resolution, during the first half of 1998. This paper reports on the study findings, which are drawn from a descriptive survey of 228 Pre-Hearing Conferences. A data collection schedule was completed for each case, gathering information about the child welfare concerns, the parents' problems, including mental health problems, and the contribution by mental health professionals to resolving child welfare concerns. The study found that the lack of involvement by mental health social workers in the child protection system meant the Children's Court was given little appreciation of either a child's emotional or a parent's mental health functioning. The lack of effective cooperation between the adult mental health and child protection services also meant decisions made about these children were made without full information about the needs and the likely outcomes for these children and their parents. This lack of interagency cooperation between mental health social work and child welfare also emerged in the findings of the Icarus project, a cross-national project, led by Brunel University, in England. This project compared the views and responses of mental health and child welfare social workers to the dependent children of mentally ill parents, when there were child protection concerns. It is proposed that adult mental health social workers involve themselves in the assessment of, and interventions in, child welfare cases when appropriate, and share essential information about

Welfare Professions in Transition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annette Kamp

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Welfare professions constitute one of the backbones in the development of the Nordic welfare states. Working in the public sector was for decades associated with high status; public sector employees were trusted employees. Through their work, they had important responsibilities for the welfare state and its citizens. To provide job security—through employment as officials—was a part of ensuring the stability of the state (Åkerstrøm, 2001, and we saw the establishment of what could be called a public ethos, a special morality aimed at serving the needs of the citizens and the state (Hoggett, 2005. The term welfare professions is widely used, referring to public sector employees in the field of, for example, health, education, care, and social work. So this term covers professionals who work directly in contact with patients, citizens, clients, students, etc. (Brante, 1990; Järvinen & Mik-Meyer, 2012. Along with the development and modernization of the welfare state, a number of new welfare professions, such as pedagogues, social works, physiotherapists, social care assistants, and auxiliary nurses have joined the existing ones like nurses, teachers, psychologists, and physicians. At the same time, however, the public sector has undergone dramatic changes as part of a neoliberal transformation of the welfare state. With the New Public Management (NPM wave from 1980s and onwards efforts to restructure public institutions and introduce market-like relationships between them, to outsource and privatize public services and to transform citizens to customers in a market have prevailed (Busch, 2005; Christensen & Lægreid, 2007; Greve, 2008. Within this reform strategy, welfare professionals are perceived as part of the problem that NPM is created to solve, namely an uncontrollable and wildly growing bureaucracy (Clarke & Newman, 1997 (...

The benefits of motivational interviewing and coaching for improving the practice of comprehensive family assessments in child welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, Elizabeth H; Lawrence, C Nicole; Weatherholt, Tara N; Nagy, Paul

2012-01-01

The engagement of families in child welfare services is critical for successful outcomes related to safety, permanency, and child and family well-being. Motivational interviewing (MI), an effective approach to working with individuals struggling with alcohol and drug addiction, has great appeal for use with families involved with the child welfare system. Consequently, many social service agencies are beginning to integrate MI into their training curriculum. However, research has shown that training in MI alone is not enough; ongoing coaching is crucial in order to transfer learned MI skills into practice.The current study employs qualitative interview data from case-workers in order to examine the implementation of MI and long-term coaching within the child welfare system. Findings showed that MI can be implemented successfully within the child welfare system, and that caseworkers believed MI, supported by ongoing coaching, to be a valuable tool in engaging families in the assessment process.

The Potential to Forgo Social Welfare Gains through Over reliance on Cost Effectiveness/Cost Utility Analyses in the Evidence Base for Public Health

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cohen, D.R.; Patel, N.

2010-01-01

Economic evaluations of clinical treatments most commonly take the form of cost effectiveness or cost utility analyses. This is appropriate since the main sometimes the only benefit of such interventions is increased health. The majority of economic evaluations in public health, however, have also been assessed using these techniques when arguably cost benefit analyses would in many cases have been more appropriate, given its ability to take account of non health benefits as well. An examination of the non health benefits from a sample of studies featured in a recent review of economic evaluations in public health illustrates how over focusing on cost effectiveness/cost utility analyses may lead to forgoing potential social welfare gains from programmes in public health. Prior to evaluation, programmes should be considered in terms of the potential importance of non health benefits and where these are considerable would be better evaluated by more inclusive economic evaluation techniques.

[Researches on health and welfare promotion based on an approach of social medicine].

Science.gov (United States)

Kagamimori, Sadanobu

2004-07-01

This article was derived from my memorial talk given when receiving the prize of the Japanese Society for Hygiene at their academic congress. The reader could review my research on health and welfare promotion made by introducing new conceptual health policy based on the approach of social medicine. Through my experience in different research work, the importance of social factors in the etiology of health during childhood, adulthood and old age was discussed. In addition, it was revealed that social factors not only influence the population's health status but also constitute the context within which organized efforts can be made to promote health. For the elderly, the annual health check, stroke patient registration, and insurance for care and spousal bereavement; for adults, the Karoshi and occupational health; and for children, air pollution-atopy predisposition and lifestyles were highlighted as social medicine-related issues. The research on mostly longitudinal population studies showed that health status, including the life expectancy and the prevalence of disability and chronic disorders, are related to one's marital status, social support, psychosocial working conditions and environmental factors as well as to lifestyles such as physical activity and hours of work and sleep at entry. More attention should be directed to independent factors' effects on health, separate from those of adverse health habits and bio-medical situations, under the health and welfare promotion strategy.

The impact on health of employment and welfare transitions for those receiving out-of-work disability benefits in the UK.

Science.gov (United States)

Curnock, Esther; Leyland, Alastair H; Popham, Frank

2016-08-01

Employment status has a dynamic relationship with health and disability. There has been a striking increase in the working age population receiving out-of-work disability benefits in many countries, including the UK. In response, recent UK welfare reforms have tightened eligibility criteria and introduced new conditions for benefit receipt linked to participation in return-to-work activities. Positive and negative impacts have been suggested but there is a lack of high quality evidence of the health impact when those receiving disability benefits move towards labour market participation. Using four waves of the UK's Understanding Society panel survey (2009-2013) three different types of employment and welfare transition were analysed in order to identify their impact on health. A difference-in-difference approach was used to compare change between treatment and control groups in mental and physical health using the SF-12. To strengthen causal inference, sensitivity checks for common trends used pre-baseline data and propensity score matching. Transitions from disability benefits to employment (n = 124) were associated on average with an improvement in the SF12 mental health score of 5.94 points (95% CI = 3.52-8.36), and an improvement in the physical health score of 2.83 points (95% CI = 0.85-4.81) compared with those remaining on disability benefits (n = 1545). Transitions to unemployed status (n = 153) were associated with a significant improvement in mental health (3.14, 95% CI = 1.17-5.11) but not physical health. No health differences were detected for those who moved on to the new out-of-work disability benefit. It remains rare for disability benefit recipients to return to the labour market, but our results indicate that for those that do, such transitions may improve health, particularly mental health. Understanding the mechanisms behind this relationship will be important for informing policies to ensure both work and welfare are 'good for

The Danish welfare state

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Jørgen Elm; Bengtsson, Tea Torbenfeldt; Frederiksen, Morten

The Danish Welfare State analyzes a broad range of areas, such as globalization, labor marked, family life, health and social exclusion, the book demonstrates that life in a modern welfare state is changing rapidly, creating both challenges and possibilities for future management....

Perceptions of Administrative and Supervisory Support in Public Child Welfare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tonya M. Westbrook

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Using the Child Welfare Organizational Culture Inventory (CWOCI in a public child welfare agency, perceptions of administrative and supervisory support held by employees with social work degrees (BSW and MSW were compared to perceptions of administrative and supervisory support held by employees without social work degrees. Child welfare employees with social work degrees reported lower administrative and supervisory support than employees without social work degrees. Implications for social work educators, public child welfare administrators and supervisors, and future research are presented.

Factors in the Decision to Leave: Retaining Social Workers with MSWs in Public Child Welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Samantrai, Krishna

1992-01-01

Surveyed 7 social workers with master's in social work (MSW) degrees who had left public child welfare and 20 who decided to stay. Found two factors that distinguished groups: inflexibility in job assignment and poor relationship with immediate supervisor. Academic preparation for this type of practice was not decisive factor. (Author/NB)

Measures of Consumer Satisfaction in Social Welfare and Behavioral Health: A Systematic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Fraser, Mark W.; Wu, Shiyou

2016-01-01

This article reviews the origins, conceptual bases, psychometric properties, and limitations of consumer satisfaction measures in social welfare and behavioral health. Based on a systematic review of research reports published between 2003 and 2013, we identify 58 consumer satisfaction measures. On average, these measures have acceptable…

Generating spatially optimized habitat in a trade-off between social optimality and budget efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Drechsler, Martin

2017-02-01

Auctions have been proposed as alternatives to payments for environmental services when spatial interactions and costs are better known to landowners than to the conservation agency (asymmetric information). Recently, an auction scheme was proposed that delivers optimal conservation in the sense that social welfare is maximized. I examined the social welfare and the budget efficiency delivered by this scheme, where social welfare represents the difference between the monetized ecological benefit and the conservation cost incurred to the landowners and budget efficiency is defined as maximizing the ecological benefit for a given conservation budget. For the analysis, I considered a stylized landscape with land patches that can be used for agriculture or conservation. The ecological benefit was measured by an objective function that increases with increasing number and spatial aggregation of conserved land patches. I compared the social welfare and the budget efficiency of the auction scheme with an agglomeration payment, a policy scheme that considers spatial interactions and that was proposed recently. The auction delivered a higher level of social welfare than the agglomeration payment. However, the agglomeration payment was more efficient budgetarily than the auction, so the comparative performances of the 2 schemes depended on the chosen policy criterion-social welfare or budget efficiency. Both policy criteria are relevant for conservation. Which one should be chosen depends on the problem at hand, for example, whether social preferences should be taken into account in the decision of how much money to invest in conservation or whether the available conservation budget is strictly limited. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Is ‘making work pay’ effective for the ‘unemployable’? The impact of benefit sanctions on social assistance recipients in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Diop-Christensen, Anna

2015-01-01

. This study evaluates how this policy influenced their transitions to employment and other benefit schemes by applying a competing risk duration model on Danish administrative data. The results show that the new rules not only had the anticipated impact on the women concerned, but the policy also had......In spring 2006, the Danish government introduced a policy that required married long-term social assistance recipients to work 300 hours in non-subsidised employment during a 2-year period in order to remain eligible for benefits. The intention was to ‘make work pay’ for unemployed immigrant women...... an unforeseen effect on the work effort of social welfare workers. Many moved their clients to other benefit schemes instead of applying the sanctions. This was particularly the case for the weakest among the unemployed and in municipalities, which were headed by left-wing mayors or that received extra funds...

Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism or Four?

OpenAIRE

Mitchell, Deborah; Castles, Francis

1991-01-01

This paper is developed in response to Gosta Esping-Andersen's study, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (1990), in which he categorizes welfare capitalism as Liberal, Conservative, and Social Democratic. The authors argue that there also exists radical welfare capitalism which describes Australia's welfare state.

Does Deregulation of Quality Standards in Telecomunications Improve Social Welfare? A Methodological Note Does Deregulation of Quality Standards in Telecomunications Improve Social Welfare? A Methodological Note

OpenAIRE

Felipe Morandé

1990-01-01

Does Deregulation of Quality Standards in Telecomunications Improve Social Welfare? A Methodological Note One of the main reasons behind the bit difference observed in the per capita number of telephones between develope and developing countries is the high capital cost -a scarce resource in LDC's- of expanding telecommunications infrastructure. A reasonable question to raise in this context is the extent to which that high capital cost of investment could be diminished if international quali...

Housing Welfare Policies in Scandinavia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Lotte

2013-01-01

It is commonplace to refer to the Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland as a distinctive and homogenous welfare regime. As far as social housing is concerned, however, the institutional heritage of the respective countries significantly frames the ways in which social...... housing is understood, regulated and subsidized, and, in turn, how housing regimes respond to the general challenges to the national welfare states. The paper presents a historical institutionalist approach to understanding the diversity of regime responses in the modern era characterized by increasing...... marketization, welfare criticism and internationalization. The aim is to provide outside readers a theoretically guided empirical insight into Scandinavian social housing policy. The paper first lines up the core of the inbuilt argument of historical institutionalism in housing policy. Secondly, it briefly...

IMPLEMENTATION OF ENERGY LAW OF HYBRID POWER STATION FOR SOCIAL WELFARE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dyah Ayu Widowati

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This study was aimed to investigate the Implementation of Energy Law of Hybrid Power Station for Social Welfare in Pantai Baru. The problem formulations are the management and utilization of hybrid power station in Pantai Baru and implementation of energy law of hybrid power station for social welfare in the fields of economy and information in Pantai Baru. Based on data analysis it is concluded that the management of hybrid power station in Pantai Baru is performed collaboratively between government and the society. The existence of hybrid power station in pantai baru has positive impacts in economy and information. Penelitian ini meneliti Pelaksanaan Hukum Energi Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Hibrid untuk Kesejahteraan Rakyat di Bidang Ekonomi dan Informasi di Pantai Baru. Masalah yang diteliti adalah bentuk pengelolaan dan pemanfaatan pembangkit listrik tenaga hibrid di Pantai Baru dan pelaksanaan hukum energi pembangkit listrik tenaga hibrid untuk kesejahteraan rakyat di bidang ekonomi dan informasi di Pantai Baru. Berdasarkan analisis data dapat disimpulkan bahwa pengelolaan pembangkit listrik tenaga hibrid yang ada di pantai baru dilakukan secara kolaboratif, antara pemerintah dengan masyarakat. Kehadiran pembangkit listrik tenaga hibrid yang ada di pantai baru telah memberikan dampak positif di bidang ekonomi dan informasi.

The Necessity of a New Welfare Culture in the Context of Financial Crisis in Greece

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dimitrios Kotroyannos

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The South European countries have been extensively affected by the financial crisis which is followed by austerity measures and public expenditure restraint, especially for social policies. It is well-known that in the countries that the International Monetary Fund (IMF has become the financial supervisor, because of the extensive economic problems that they encounter, the implementing fiscal adjustment measures concentrate on the reduction of the expenditure and as a result, at the retrenchment of the services provided by the welfare state. Since the onset of the financial crisis, data show that the most affected socioeconomic groups are the middle and especially the vulnerable. It is true that the reduction of the spending for social benefits and services has not yet been associated with an increase in the effectiveness of the social services and as a consequence, the impact on the society is severe. This paper aims at examining the alternatives, from a welfare culture perspective, which can offer viable solutions to the process of reforming the welfare state policies in order to become sustainable while promoting the notion of social solidarity and responsibility.

Retrenched Welfare Regimes Still Lessen Social Class Inequalities in Health: A Longitudinal Analysis of the 2003-2010 EU-SILC in 23 European Countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Muntaner, C; Davis, O; McIsaack, K; Kokkinen, L; Shankardass, K; O'Campo, P

2017-07-01

This article builds on recent work that has explored how welfare regimes moderate social class inequalities in health. It extends research to date by using longitudinal data from the EU-SILC (2003-2010) and examines how the relationship between social class and self-reported health and chronic conditions varies across 23 countries, which are split into five welfare regimes (Nordic, Anglo-Saxon, Eastern, Southern, and Continental). Our analysis finds that health across all classes was only worse in Eastern Europe (compared with the Nordic countries). In contrast, we find evidence that the social class gradient in both measures of health was significantly wider in the Anglo-Saxon and Southern regimes. We suggest that this evidence supports the notion that welfare regimes continue to explain differences in health according to social class location. We therefore argue that although downward pressures from globalization and neoliberalism have blurred welfare regime typologies, the Nordic model may continue to have an important mediating effect on class-based inequalities in health.

Collapsing Worlds and Varieties of welfare capitalism: In search of a new political economy of welfare

OpenAIRE

Waltraud Schelkle

2012-01-01

The study of welfare capitalism is concerned with a founding question of political economy, namely how capitalism and democracy can be combined. Ever since the publication of Esping-Andersen’s Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism in 1990, the answer was sought in identifying ideal types of welfare states that support a class compromise. The Varieties of (Welfare) Capitalism literature is increasingly used as a complementary theory of production systems although its rationale for social policies...

Transforming public welfare institutions through social innovation and action research in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, John; Bilfeldt, Annette

2017-01-01

The article will present how action research may contribute to social innovation and empowerment in public welfare and cultural institutions (nursing homes and libraries) in a manner that supports the interests of marginalised citizens and local communities, and creates opportunities for positive...... change. First, we introduce the concepts of empowerment, action research and social innovation along with the roots of these concepts in critical social theory. Secondly, two case studies are presented to analyse two different methodological variants of action research in two different contexts...... space” for reflection and creation of concrete suggestions of social innovation in elder care. The second case is about the transformation of a public library into a community centre. In this case, the aim was to break down barriers between citizens and public institutions in a deprived, multicultural...

Post-Communist Welfare Pathways

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cerami, Alfio; Vanhuysse, Pieter

. The authors' impressive analysis of causal factors, including political elites' strategic use of social policy, makes the book an original and important contribution to the comparative welfare state literature.'- Professor Linda J. Cook, Brown University“ 'This edited volume is extraordinarily good...... factors such as micro-causal mechanisms, ideas, discourses, path departures, power politics, and elite strategies. This book includes contributions from leading international Experts such as Claus Offe, Robert Kaufman, Stefan Haggard, Tomasz Inglot, and Mitchell Orenstein, to examine welfare in specific...... countries and across social policy domains. By providing a broad overview based on a theoretical foundation and drawing on recent empirical evidence, Post-Communist Welfare Pathways offers a comprehensive, state-of-the-art account of the progress that has been made since 1989, and the main challenges...

How to manage flexible nuclear power plants in a deregulated electricity market from the point of view of social welfare?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lykidi, Maria; Gourdel, Pascal

2015-01-01

Flexible nuclear power plants can adjust their electricity production to the predicted evolution of demand. Under certain conditions, flexible operation is necessary to ensure the stability of the electricity system. However, despite the potential advantages of nuclear energy including the flexibility of nuclear reactors, the social acceptance of nuclear has reduced after the Fukushima accident, leading some countries to reduce or even phase out nuclear (e.g. Germany). So, a question that arises is how flexible nuclear power plants have to be operated in order to maximize social welfare. The French nuclear fleet gives an illustration of flexible management while social acceptance of nuclear is questioned; this was reflected in the new French Energy Transition law. Theoretically and numerically, we found that the production behavior that maximizes social welfare is characterized by a constant thermal production and a totally flexible nuclear production given sufficient nuclear capacity. - Highlights: • We determine the management of flexible nuclear plants to maximize social welfare. • We model the nuclear fuel stock as a “reservoir” of energy. • Social optimum is given by a totally flexible management of the nuclear production. • The level of thermal production of the optimal solution is always constant. • We need to invest in nuclear energy to ensure social optimum within our model

Welfarism versus 'free enterprise': considerations of power and justice in the Philippine healthcare system.

Science.gov (United States)

Sy, Peter A

2003-10-01

The just distribution of benefits and burdens of healthcare, at least in the contemporary Philippine context, is an issue that gravitates towards two opposing doctrines of welfarism and 'free enterprise.' Supported largely by popular opinion, welfarism maintains that social welfare and healthcare are primarily the responsibility of the government. Free enterprise (FE) doctrine, on the other hand, maintains that social welfare is basically a market function and that healthcare should be a private industry that operates under competitive conditions with minimal government control. I will examine the ethical implications of these two doctrines as they inform healthcare programmes by business and government, namely: (a) the Devolution of Health Services and (b) the Philippine Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). I will argue that these doctrines and the health programmes they inform are deficient in following respects: (1) equitable access to healthcare, (2) individual needs for premium healthcare, (3) optimal utilisation of health resources, and (4) the equitable assignment of burdens that healthcare entails. These respects, as considerations of justice, are consistent with an operational definition of 'power' proposed here as 'access to and control of resources.'

Walking Behavior of Zoo Elephants: Associations between GPS-Measured Daily Walking Distances and Environmental Factors, Social Factors, and Welfare Indicators.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew R Holdgate

Full Text Available Research with humans and other animals suggests that walking benefits physical health. Perhaps because these links have been demonstrated in other species, it has been suggested that walking is important to elephant welfare, and that zoo elephant exhibits should be designed to allow for more walking. Our study is the first to address this suggestion empirically by measuring the mean daily walking distance of elephants in North American zoos, determining the factors that are associated with variations in walking distance, and testing for associations between walking and welfare indicators. We used anklets equipped with GPS data loggers to measure outdoor daily walking distance in 56 adult female African (n = 33 and Asian (n = 23 elephants housed in 30 North American zoos. We collected 259 days of data and determined associations between distance walked and social, housing, management, and demographic factors. Elephants walked an average of 5.3 km/day with no significant difference between species. In our multivariable model, more diverse feeding regimens were correlated with increased walking, and elephants who were fed on a temporally unpredictable feeding schedule walked 1.29 km/day more than elephants fed on a predictable schedule. Distance walked was also positively correlated with an increase in the number of social groupings and negatively correlated with age. We found a small but significant negative correlation between distance walked and nighttime Space Experience, but no other associations between walking distances and exhibit size were found. Finally, distance walked was not related to health or behavioral outcomes including foot health, joint health, body condition, and the performance of stereotypic behavior, suggesting that more research is necessary to determine explicitly how differences in walking may impact elephant welfare.

Walking Behavior of Zoo Elephants: Associations between GPS-Measured Daily Walking Distances and Environmental Factors, Social Factors, and Welfare Indicators.

Science.gov (United States)

Holdgate, Matthew R; Meehan, Cheryl L; Hogan, Jennifer N; Miller, Lance J; Soltis, Joseph; Andrews, Jeff; Shepherdson, David J

2016-01-01

Research with humans and other animals suggests that walking benefits physical health. Perhaps because these links have been demonstrated in other species, it has been suggested that walking is important to elephant welfare, and that zoo elephant exhibits should be designed to allow for more walking. Our study is the first to address this suggestion empirically by measuring the mean daily walking distance of elephants in North American zoos, determining the factors that are associated with variations in walking distance, and testing for associations between walking and welfare indicators. We used anklets equipped with GPS data loggers to measure outdoor daily walking distance in 56 adult female African (n = 33) and Asian (n = 23) elephants housed in 30 North American zoos. We collected 259 days of data and determined associations between distance walked and social, housing, management, and demographic factors. Elephants walked an average of 5.3 km/day with no significant difference between species. In our multivariable model, more diverse feeding regimens were correlated with increased walking, and elephants who were fed on a temporally unpredictable feeding schedule walked 1.29 km/day more than elephants fed on a predictable schedule. Distance walked was also positively correlated with an increase in the number of social groupings and negatively correlated with age. We found a small but significant negative correlation between distance walked and nighttime Space Experience, but no other associations between walking distances and exhibit size were found. Finally, distance walked was not related to health or behavioral outcomes including foot health, joint health, body condition, and the performance of stereotypic behavior, suggesting that more research is necessary to determine explicitly how differences in walking may impact elephant welfare.

Stakeholder relationships and social welfare: a behavioral theory of contributions to joint value creation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bridoux, F.; Stoelhorst, J.W.

Firms play a crucial role in furthering social welfare through their ability to foster stakeholders’ contributions to joint value creation, i.e., value creation that involves a public-good dilemma due to high task and outcome interdependence - leading to what economists have labeled the ‘team

Going for increased recycling. A social cost-benefit analysis; Inzetten op meer recycling. Een maatschappelijke kosten-batenanalyse

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Warringa, G.E.A.; De Bruyn, M.; Bijleveld, M.M.

2013-05-15

While the environmental benefits of scenarios geared to increased recycling have been convincingly demonstrated by previous studies, the question arises whether such scenarios bring economic benefits, too. This study therefore assesses the main economic effects of increased recycling in the Netherlands, providing data that can be used to advance policy development in this area. To address the main issue we performed a social cost-benefit analysis (SCBA), a welfare-theory-based tool that can be used to chart the full range of economic impacts ('welfare impacts') of a project or policy intervention. In doing so, a broad definition of welfare is adopted, encompassing not only financial and economic consequences, but also environmental and employment impacts and so on. Using SimaPro, all the environmental interventions inventoried (including energy consumption, transport and recycling process emissions) were assessed for each individual material flow, with impacts being expressed as far as possible in monetary terms to enable comparison. The main social costs of increased recycling are the higher costs for local authorities associated with separate waste collection. There is also reduced revenue for waste incinerators, because more waste will need to be imported from abroad. Finally, there are the policy costs of incentives for increased recycling and extra efforts to induce citizens to separate their waste. The latter costs were not quantified. Over and against these costs are positive welfare impacts. The main benefits are environmental, expressed monetarily in the present study in terms of avoided damage costs for society as a whole and avoided measures for securing government reduction targets. In addition, the separated waste has a value, reflected in lower processing costs. Increased recycling also creates new jobs, while recycling firms generate more profit than waste incinerators. Finally, there are the benefits accruing from greater innovation and

Welfare State Transformations and Inequality in OECD Countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2016-01-01

Editors: Melike Wulfgramm, Tonia Bieber & Stephan Leibfried This book analyzes how recent welfare state transformations across advanced democracies have shaped social and economic disparities. The authors observe a trend from a compensatory paradigm towards supply oriented social policy, and inve......Editors: Melike Wulfgramm, Tonia Bieber & Stephan Leibfried This book analyzes how recent welfare state transformations across advanced democracies have shaped social and economic disparities. The authors observe a trend from a compensatory paradigm towards supply oriented social policy...... supply orientation in most social policy fields has further contributed to social inequality. The authors work from sociological and political science perspectives, examining all of the main branches of the welfare state, from health, education and tax policy, to labour market, pension and migration...

European feelings of deprivation amidst the financial crisis : Effects of welfare state effort and informal social relations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reeskens, T.; van Oorschot, W.J.H.

As European governments have embraced the credo of austerity, the perennial discussion whether welfare states erode the quality of social networks has taken on a more prominent position on political and social science research agendas. While non-believers of this so-called ‘crowding out’ thesis

76 FR 76235 - Ex Parte Cease and Desist and Summary Seizure Orders-Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-06

... definition, paragraph (b)(1) provides that a ``multiple employer welfare arrangement'' is an employee welfare... providing welfare plan benefits, including health benefits to the employees of two or more employers... provisions are limited to employee welfare benefit plans, other than governmental plans, church plans, and...

Solidarity in Swedish welfare--standing the test of time?

Science.gov (United States)

Bergmark, A

2000-01-01

Swedish welfare has for decades served as a role model for universalistic welfare. When the economic recession hit Swedish economy in the beginning of the 1990s, a period of more than 50 years of continuous expansion and reforms in the welfare sector came to an end. Summing up the past decade, we can see that the economic downturn enforced rationing measures in most parts of the welfare state, although most of this took place in the beginning of the decade. Today, most of the retrenchment has stopped and in some areas we can see tendencies of restoration--but more so in financial benefits than in the caring sectors. In the article this process is discussed as a process of reallocation where general principles of solidarity become manifest. Various levels of decision making are discussed within the context of socio-political action. Current transitions in Swedish health care are described with respect to coverage rates, content, marketization and distribution. Basic principles of distribution are highlighted in order to analyse the meaning of social solidarity in a concrete allocative setting. The significance of popular opinion--it's shifts and determinants--is also considered. The article concludes with a discussion of how the (once salient) features of universalism in welfare and health care provision have been affected by the developments in the past decade in Sweden.

Social development in cities and the impact of the Nordic welfare regime

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Anders Bøggild; Rasmussen, Tove Valborg; Rasinkangas, Jarkko

The ongoing globalisation and urbanisation in most Western societies points at the cities and urban regions as especially interesting in order to discover new trends in the societal development and the welfare regimes ability to deal with these trends. In the literature about social polarisation...... it is mostly the so called global cities - and further capital cities - which are in focus of the analysis {{81 Sassen,Saskia 2001; 366 Sassen, Saskia 2000; 85 Castells,Manuel 1991; 86 Mollenkopf,John Hull 1991; 57 Marcuse,Peter 2000; 94 Hamnett,Chris 2003; 409 Andersen,Hans Thor 2005; 410 Wessel, Terje; 411...... Vaattovaara, Mari and Matti Kortteinen 2003}}. Following central thesis of trends in the distributional and spatial development in cities and discussions about the role of the welfare regime, we shall compare two middle sized cities in two Nordic countries: Aarhus, Denmark (approx 300.000 inhabitants...

Professional Responsibility and the Welfare System in Spain at the Turn of the 19th Century

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

León Sanz, Pilar

2006-11-01

Full Text Available This essay analyzes the attitudes of physicians prior to the establishment of a social welfare system in Spain, based on professional sources from 1890-1910. Firstly we revised the Systems of Collectivised Assistance during the Transition from the 19th to the 20th Century; then, the article discusses the corporativist reaction of Physicians to the different Welfare Systems. We observe that the criticism of insurance companies was unanimous. Nonetheless, there was a diversity of opinions regarding mutual societies and the associations of mutual assistance. The professional arguments used against the associations, mutuals and insurance companies were formulated around, in addition to the professional instability of the times, the changes in civil and criminal responsibility of the physician as a result of new legal regulations. We found physicians in favour of establishing a welfare system that was not exclusively public and which, in addition to benefiting the needy, would benefit the interests of the profession as well.

The politics of social policy: welfare expansion in Brazil, China, India and South Africa in comparative perspective

OpenAIRE

Tillin, Louise; Duckett, Jane

2017-01-01

This introductory essay reviews the scholarship on the politics of social policy, and shows the contribution of the special issue to explaining expanded welfare commitments in Brazil, China, India and South Africa in the twenty first century. Much literature on welfare expansion in lower- and middle income contexts views it primarily as a policy corrective to the economic dislocations produced by global economic integration. This special issue focuses on the political factors that are critica...

Manufacturing Decisions and Government Subsidies for Electric Vehicles in China: A Maximal Social Welfare Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoxue Zheng

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In order to address challenges in the sustainable development of transportation, economy, and environment, governments of China and conventional automobile manufacturers are extremely concerned about the development of the electric vehicle (EV manufacturing industry and market. However, owing to the limitations of EVs and the government economic policies on decreasing subsidies in China, many manufacturers are worried about entering the EV market. Given the low consumer preference for EVs, using a leader-follower Stackelberg game model, we investigate the impact of government a subsidy on the optimal production and pricing decisions of an auto manufacturer who could produce both EVs and conventional vehicles. We characterize whether/under what conditions the manufacturer’s decision to offer EV products under government subsidy, whilst increasing its profits (a win-win situation. On the policy side, we delineate how government a subsidy can be set to realize the inherent economic, environmental, and social benefits of EV production (the triple win of EV production. We further investigate the impact of EV manufacturing- and society-related factors on the balance among manufacturer profits, environmental impact and social welfare. This study also finds that the adoption of EVs is not bound to be beneficial for the environment.

Gendering European welfare states and citizenship

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Siim, Birte; Borchorst, Anette

2017-01-01

on gender, class, ethnicity or race, and nationality. One issue is what has been the effect of the European emphasis on women’s wage work and gender equality policies for women in different European countries? Another issue concerns how multiple discrimination is tackled and institutionalized in European......The chapter revisits the feminist scholarship on gendering of European welfare states and European citizenship, and reflects on the effects of globalization, Europeanization and migration. It first presents feminist perspectives on the liberal, the conservative and the social democratic welfare...... welfare states. A third issue is to what extent the Nordic welfare states still represent an attractive alternative model of social and gender equality to neo-liberalism. The final part discusses feminist approaches to reframe gender equality and gender justice from the transnational European contexts....

Demand side management in a day-ahead wholesale market: A comparison of industrial & social welfare approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, Bo; Farid, Amro M.; Youcef-Toumi, Kamal

2015-01-01

Highlights: • We compare two demand side management in a day-ahead electricity wholesale market. • We develop and reconcile social welfare & industrial DSM mathematical models. • We show the industrial netload has an additional forecast quantity of baseline. • We analytically and numerically show the model equivalence with accurate baseline. • We numerically demonstrate the baseline errors lead to higher and costlier dispatch. - Abstract: The intermittent nature of renewable energy has been discussed in the context of the operational challenges that it brings to electrical grid reliability. Demand side management (DSM) with its ability to allow customers to adjust electricity consumption in response to market signals has often been recognized as an efficient way to mitigate the variable effects of renewable energy as well as to increase system efficiency and reduce system costs. However, the academic & industrial literature have taken divergent approaches to DSM implementation. While the popular approach among academia adopts a social welfare maximization formulation, the industrial practice compensates customers according to their load reduction from a predefined electricity consumption baseline that would have occurred without DSM. This paper rigorously compares these two different approaches in a day-ahead wholesale market context analytically and in a test case using the same system configuration and mathematical formalism. The comparison of the two models showed that a proper reconciliation of the two models might make them mitigate the stochastic netload in fundamentally the same way, but only under very specific conditions which are rarely met in practice. While the social welfare model uses a stochastic net load composed of two terms, the industrial DSM model uses a stochastic net load composed of three terms including the additional baseline term. DSM participants are likely to manipulate the baseline in order to receive greater financial

Power and welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mik-Meyer, Nanna; Villadsen, Kasper

readily evident that power is at stake when institutions educate, counsel or ‘empower’ citizens. This book offers a framework for understanding and analyzing these complex and implicit forms of power at play in the encounters between citizens and welfare institutions. Taking as its starting point the idea......In the welfare provision of today, power takes both the shape of juridical sanctions and of attractive offers for self-development. When state institutions punish criminals, remove children at risk, or enforce sanctions upon welfare recipients the question of power is immediately urgent. It is less...... that power takes many different shapes, and that different approaches to power may be necessary in the diverse contexts where citizens encounter welfare professionals, the book demonstrates how significant social theorists, spanning from Goffman to Foucault, can be used for inquiries into these encounters...

Power and Welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mik-Meyer, Nanna; Villadsen, Kaspar

readily evident that power is at stake when institutions educate, counsel or 'empower' citizens. This book offers a framework for understanding and analyzing these complex and implicit forms of power at play in the encounters between citizens and welfare institutions. Taking as its starting point the idea......In the welfare provision of today, power takes both the shape of juridical sanctions and of attractive offers for self-development. When state institutions punish criminals, remove children at risk, or enforce sanctions upon welfare recipients the question of power is immediately urgent. It is less...... that power takes many different shapes, and that different approaches to power may be necessary in the diverse contexts where citizens encounter welfare professionals, the book demonstrates how significant social theorists, spanning from Goffman to Foucault, can be used for inquiries into these encounters...

Global impact of a climate treaty if the Human Development Index replaces GDP as a welfare proxy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Bergh, Jeroen; Botzen, W.J.W.

2018-01-01

This study explores the implications of shifting the narrative of climate policy evaluation from one of costs/benefits or economic growth to a message of improving social welfare. Focusing on the costs of mitigation and the associated impacts on gross domestic product (GDP) may translate into a

The Role of Business in the Development of the Welfare State and Labor Markets in Germany

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paster, Thomas

This book assesses the role of employers in the development of welfare state and labour market institutions. Building on an in-depth analysis of Germany, a market economy known to often provide economic benefits to firms, this book explores one of the most contested issues in the comparative...... and historical literature on the welfare state. In a departure from existing employer-centered explanations, the author applies new empirical data to contend that the variation in acceptance of social reform depends more on changes in the types of political challenges faced by employers, than on changes...

Psychological, social and welfare interventions for psychological health and well-being of torture survivors.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Nimisha; Kellezi, Blerina; Williams, Amanda C de C

2014-11-11

torture against any active or inactive comparison condition. We included all major sources of grey literature in our search and used standard methodological procedures as expected by The Cochrane Collaboration for collecting data, evaluating risk of bias and using GRADE (Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) methods to assess the quality of evidence. Nine RCTs were included in this review. All were of psychological interventions; none provided social or welfare interventions. The nine trials provided data for 507 adults; none involved children or adolescents. Eight of the nine studies described individual treatment, and one discussed group treatment. Six trials were conducted in Europe, and three in different African countries. Most people were refugees in their thirties and forties; most met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the outset. Four trials used narrative exposure therapy (NET), one cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and the other four used mixed methods for trauma symptoms, one of which included reconciliation methods. Five interventions were compared with active controls, such as psychoeducation; four used treatment as usual or waiting list/no treatment; we analysed all control conditions together. Duration of therapy varied from one hour to longer than 20 hours with a median of around 12 to 15 hours. All trials reported effects on distress and on PTSD, and two reported on quality of life. Five studies followed up participants for at least six months.No immediate benefits of psychological therapy were noted in comparison with controls in terms of our primary outcome of distress (usually depression), nor for PTSD symptoms, PTSD caseness, or quality of life. At six-month follow-up, three NET and one CBT study (86 participants) showed moderate effect sizes for intervention over control in reduction of distress (standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.07 to -0.19) and of PTSD

Intergenerational transfers and the social discount rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howarth, R.B.; Norgaard, R.B.

1992-08-01

This paper investigates the relationship between intergenerational asset transfers and the choice of the discount rate for use in cost-benefit analysis in a model of a competitive overlapping generations economy constrained by a socially managed exhaustible resource. Provided that there are no distortions in capital markets and that all agents hold perfect foresight, cost-benefit techniques will result in a Pareto efficient resource allocation if the discount rate is set equal to the market rate of interest. But since the path of the interest rate depends on the level of intergenerational transfers, cost-benefit techniques do not ensure a socially desirable distribution of welfare between generations; a social optimum will result only if intergenerational transfers are properly chosen and enforced. Decentralized private altruism may result in intergenerational transfers that both present and future individuals would agree are too small if members of the present generation attach positive weight to the general welfare of future generations, not simply their personal descendants. In a world where intergenerational transfers are non-optimal, second-best policy-making may imply a constrained optimum that is inefficient. Together, these findings suggest that cost-benefit analysis is at best a partial criterion to policy formulation that should be used only in conjunction with ethical principles that define the proper distribution of welfare between present and future generations

The discourse of elite vs. people in a social welfare society

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Villadsen, Lisa Storm

Denmark is known as a social welfare society with a very high degree of social trust and an even higher ranking in happiness ratings. Nevertheless the classic populist topos of ‘elite’ versus ‘people’ has entered public Danish discourse in recent years. This paper explores how and where the notion...... of ‘the elite’ has emerged and attempts to establish its meaning and the rhetorical work its used to perform. In particular, I examine a recently published book by a Social Democractic member of the Danish Parliament bearing a title that translates to: “The Tyranni of the Educated – How the Creative Class...... Creates Inequality and Undermines the World’s Best Society”. I then discuss examples of public discourse that seeks to challenge the notion of the elite and its negative connotations and discuss their prospects of succeeding in this endeavor in a summarizing theoretization of rhetoric’s potential...

Development and application of a cost-benefit framework for energy reliability. Using probabilistic methods in network planning and regulation to enhance social welfare. The N-1 rule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nooij, Michiel de; Baarsma, Barbara; Bloemhof, Gabriel; Dijk, Harold; Slootweg, Han

2010-01-01

Although electricity is crucial to many activities in developed societies, guaranteeing a maximum reliability of supply to end-users is extremely costly. This situation gives rise to a trade-off between the costs and benefits of reliability. The Dutch government has responded to this trade-off by changing the rule stipulating that electricity networks must be able to maintain supply even if one component fails (known as the N-1 rule), even in maintenance situations. This rule was changed by adding the phrase 'unless the costs exceed the benefits.' We have developed a cost-benefit framework for the implementation and application of this new rule. The framework requires input on failure probability, the cost of supply interruptions to end-users and the cost of investments. A case study of the Dutch grid shows that the method is indeed practicable and that it is highly unlikely that N-1 during maintenance will enhance welfare in the Netherlands. Therefore, including the limitation 'unless the costs exceed the benefits' in the rule has been a sensible policy for the Netherlands, and would also be a sensible policy for other countries. (author)

Welfare standards in hospital mergers.

Science.gov (United States)

Katona, Katalin; Canoy, Marcel

2013-08-01

There is a broad literature on the consequences of applying different welfare standards in merger control. Total welfare is usually defined as the sum of consumer and provider surplus, i.e., potential external effects are not considered. The general result is then that consumer welfare is a more restrictive standard than total welfare, which is advantageous in certain situations. This relationship between the two standards is not necessarily true when the merger has significant external effects. We model mergers on hospital markets and allow for not-profit-maximizing behavior of providers and mandatory health insurance. Mandatory health insurance detaches the financial and consumption side of health care markets, and the concept consumer in merger control becomes non-evident. Patients not visiting the merging hospitals still are affected by price changes through their insurance premiums. External financial effects emerge on not directly affected consumers. We show that applying a restricted interpretation of consumer (neglecting externality) in health care merger control can reverse the relation between the two standards; consumer welfare standard can be weaker than total welfare. Consequently, applying the wrong standard can lead to both clearing socially undesirable and to blocking socially desirable mergers. The possible negative consequences of applying a simple consumer welfare standard in merger control can be even stronger when hospitals maximize quality and put less weight on financial considerations. We also investigate the implications of these results for the practice of merger control.

29 CFR 2520.104-20 - Limited exemption for certain small welfare plans.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... authority of section 104(a)(3) of the Act, the administrator of any employee welfare benefit plan which... from employee benefit plans for research and analysis (section 513). (d) Examples. (1) A welfare plan... 29 Labor 9 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Limited exemption for certain small welfare plans. 2520.104...

[High and low use of insurance benefits. A comparison of 2 Norwegian municipalities--Båtsfjord in Finnmark and Vik in Sogn and Fjordane].

Science.gov (United States)

Grünfeld, B; Noreik, K

1991-04-10

Health insurance benefits and social welfare support has been investigated in two municipalities in Norway, Båtsfjord in the northernmost part of the country and Vik, in the county of Sogn and Fjordane in the western region. Båtsfjord is mainly a fishing community and 30% of the inhabitants aged 16-66 were receiving health insurance benefits, as compared to 8% in Vik, where the main sources of income are agriculture, industry and tourism. More than half of the insurance benefits contributions were permanent pensions. In addition 12% of the population in Båtsfjord and 1% in Vik received social welfare benefits. Most of the recipients of these benefits were younger than 35 years. The authors discuss the main reasons for these differences in public economic support among residents of the two municipalities. Factors such as level of education, conditions on the labour market and attitudes among the population and health personnel concerning public economic assistance through the health insurance system seem to be conducive to the steadily higher consumption of public welfare benefits.

Immigrants' attitudes towards welfare redistribution : An exploration of role of government preferences among immigrants and natives across 18 European welfare states

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reeskens, T.; van Oorschot, W.

2015-01-01

An oft-heard concern about the sustainability of the welfare state is that generous social welfare provisions serve as an important pull factor in immigrants’ consideration of their preferred country of destination. With their accumulated social risks, immigrants are averagely more likely to claim

Final model of multicriterionevaluation of animal welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bonde, Marianne; Botreau, R; Bracke, MBM

One major objective of Welfare Quality® is to propose harmonized methods for the overall assessment of animal welfare on farm and at slaughter that are science based and meet societal concerns. Welfare is a multidimensional concept and its assessment requires measures of different aspects. Welfar......, acceptable welfare and not classified. This evaluation model is tuned according to the views of experts from animal and social sciences, and stakeholders....... Quality® proposes a formal evaluation model whereby the data on animals or their environment are transformed into value scores that reflect compliance with 12 subcriteria and 4 criteria of good welfare. Each animal unit is then allocated to one of four categories: excellent welfare, enhanced welfare...

'I'm So Stressed!': A Longitudinal Model of Stress, Burnout and Engagement among Social Workers in Child Welfare Settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Travis, Dnika J; Lizano, Erica Leeanne; Mor Barak, Michàlle E

2016-06-01

The well-documented day-to-day and long-term experiences of job stress and burnout among employees in child welfare organisations increasingly raise concerns among leaders, policy makers and scholars. Testing a theory-driven longitudinal model, this study seeks to advance understanding of the differential impact of job stressors (work-family conflict, role conflict and role ambiguity) and burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation) on employee disengagement (work withdrawal and exit-seeking behaviours). Data were collected at three six-month intervals from an availability sample of 362 front line social workers or social work supervisors who work in a large urban public child welfare organisation in the USA. The study's results yielded a good model fit (RMSEA = 0.06, CFI = 0.96, NFI = 0.94). Work-family conflict, role ambiguity and role conflict were found to impact work withdrawal and exit-seeking behaviours indirectly through burnout. The outcome variable, exit-seeking behaviours, was positively impacted by depersonalisation and work withdrawal at a statistically significant level. Overall, findings, at least in the US context, highlight the importance of further examining the development of job burnout among social workers and social work supervisors working in child welfare settings, as well as the utility of long-term administrative strategies to mitigate risks of burnout development and support engagement.

Social policy and entitlements : a proposal for reform

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nentjes, Andries; Meijer, G; Heijman, WJM; VanOphem, JAC; Verstegen, BHJ

2006-01-01

Welfare states citizens have entitlements to a variety of social services provided for free or a price far below cost, such as education, health care, social security and housing. Every citizen benefits, but in their present organisation the social services also have major deficiencies: lack of

New Social Risks and Welfare State Reforms in Norway and Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barth, Erling

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The NorSpaR project aims to analyse the main public policy initiatives by which Norway and Spain cope with the new social and economic challenges derived from the so-called New Social Risks (NSR. Although both countries present significant differences in their institutional settings (such as Spanish EU membership, or its belonging to diverse welfare regimes types (Norway is generally included in the Nordic regime, while Spain is part of the Mediterranean one, both countries share a common interest in addressing the aforementioned challenges while maintaining social cohesion. In the last decade, governments in both countries have tried to respond to those challenges by reforming their labour markets, adapting their unemployment schemes, as well as their gender, family and long-term care policies. The analysis covered in this project includes three areas of public policy addressing NSR. First, dependency is one of the most daunting challenges for post-industrial societies experiencing population ageing and with an increasing number of frail people in need of care. This situation is forcing governments to rethink their long-term care policies. Second, family and gender public programs need to respond to the growing difficulties of families in reconciling professional and family life. Third, in the transition to a post-industrial order, and in a context of mass unemployment, social protection systems have a renewed prominence. Along with the so-called passive policies offering financial support to the unemployed, active labour market policies are geared to put people back into work. In our analysis we try to find answers to the following questions: What are the challenges that each of these policies have been trying to address in recent years? How have these policies evolved? What kinds of reforms have been implemented, and which ones have been neglected? Have the policy goals and targets of welfare programs been modified in any significant way

Social inequalities in 'sickness'

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wel, Kjetil A. van der; Dahl, Espen; Thielen, Karsten

2011-01-01

The aim of this paper is to examine educational inequalities in the risk of non-employment among people with illnesses and how they vary between European countries with different welfare state characteristics. In doing so, the paper adds to the growing literature on welfare states and social...... from Eurostat and OECD that include spending on active labour market policies, benefit generosity, income inequality, and employment protection. Using multilevel techniques we find that comprehensive welfare states have lower absolute and relative social inequalities in sickness, as well as more...... inequalities in health by studying the often overlooked ‘sickness’-dimension of health, namely employment behaviour among people with illnesses. We use European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data from 2005 covering 26 European countries linked to country characteristics derived...

Costs and benefits of direct-to-consumer advertising: the case of depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Block, Adam E

2007-01-01

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) is legal in the US and New Zealand, but illegal in the rest of the world. Little or no research exists on the social welfare implications of DTCA. To quantify the total costs and benefits associated with both appropriate and inappropriate care due to DTCA, for the case of depression. A cost-benefit model was developed using parameter estimates from available survey, epidemiological and experimental data. The model estimates the total benefits and costs (year 2002 values) of new appropriate and inappropriate care stimulated by DTCA for depression. Uncertainty in model parameters is addressed with sensitivity analyses. This study provides evidence that 94% of new antidepressant use due to DTCA is from non-depressed individuals. However, the average health benefit to each new depressed user is 63-fold greater than the cost per treatment, creating a positive overall social welfare effect; a net benefit of >72 million US dollars. This analysis suggests that DTCA may lead to antidepressant treatment in 15-fold as many non-depressed people as depressed people. However, the costs of treating non-depressed people may be vastly outweighed by the much larger benefit accruing to treated depressed individuals. The cost-benefit ratio can be improved through better targeting of advertisements and higher quality treatment of depression.

European welfare regimes: Political orientations versus poverty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josifidis Kosta

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This inquiry analyzes how political orientations shape welfare states and labour market institutions when seeking to reduce poverty. In order to identify effects of these two key variables, we conduct a panel regression analysis that includes two poverty measures: poverty rates before and after social spending. This inquiry considers 14 EU countries, and in the period from 1995 to 2008, which are grouped according to welfare state regimes. We consider Social Democratic, Corporatist, Mediterranean and Liberal welfare state regimes. Panel regression results indicate that political orientation engenders no significant statistically measurable effects on poverty rates before social spending. Effects register, however, as significant when considering poverty rates after social spending. With respect to the first set of results, we advance two key explanations. First, we note a longer period of time is necessary in order to observe actual effects of political orientation on market generated poverty. Second, political parties with their respective programs do not register as influential enough to solve social problems related to income distribution when taken alone. Influences register as indirect and are expressed through changes in employment rates and social spending. The second set of results support the hypothesis that a selected political regime does indeed contribute to poverty reduction. In sum, political orientation and political regime does indeed affect poverty through welfare state institutions, as well as through labour market institutions.

The Danish Welfare Commission

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gjerding, Allan Næs

2006-01-01

on public services, and install economic incentives for the behaviour of private households. The paper then digs into the proposals of the commission that are broadly grouped into five policy target areas con-cerning (1) the ageing of the population, (2) the incentives for labour market participation, (3......The paper deals with the main report of the Danish Welfare Commission and the one-hundred-and-nine proposals on the structure of the future Danish welfare state that the com-mission has put forward. Following upon a brief review of the discussion on the work of the Danish Welfare Commission......) competitiveness in the global economy, (4) behavioural regulation of the use of public bene-fits and services, and (5) management within tight budgets of an increasing demand on health and care. Finally, the concluding section sums up the discussion and elaborates on the debate on the Welfare Commission’s work...

Household Inequality, Welfare, and the Setting of Trade Policy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J.F. François (Joseph); H. Rojas-Romagosa

2004-01-01

textabstractWe analyze general equilibrium relationships between trade policy and the household distribution of income, decomposing social welfare into real income level and variance components through Gini and Atkinson indexes. We embed these inequality-adjusted social welfare functions in a

Business Cycle Dependent Unemployment Benefits with Wealth Heterogeneity and Precautionary Savings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristoffersen, Mark Strøm

In the wake of the financial and economic crisis the discussion about social insurance and optimal stabilization policies has re-blossomed. This paper adds to the literature by studying the effects of a business cycle dependent level of unemployment benefits in a model with labor market matching......, wealth heterogeneity, precautionary savings, and aggregate fluctuations in productivity. The results are ambiguous: both procyclical and countercyclical unemployment benefits can increase welfare relative to business cycle invariant benefits. Procyclical benefits are beneficial due to countercyclicality...

Street-Level Strategies of Child Welfare Social Workers in Flanders: The Use of Electronic Client Records in Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

De Witte, Jasper; Declercq, Anja; Hermans, Koen

2016-07-01

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) in child welfare services has increased significantly during the last decades, and so have the possibilities to process health data. Parton (2009) states that this evolution has led to a shift in the nature of social work itself: from 'the social' to 'the informational'. It is claimed that social workers primarily are becoming information processors concerned with the gathering, sharing and monitoring of information, instead of being focused on the relational dimensions of their work. However, social workers have considerable discretion concerning the way they use ICT. In this paper, we investigate (i) the street-level strategies social workers develop regarding ICT and (ii) how these relate to a narrative social work approach. To illustrate this, an evaluation of Charlotte was conducted, a client registration system that is used by social workers in child welfare services in Flanders, Belgium. Based on fifteen interviews, we find that social workers develop various strategies regarding Charlotte to preserve a relational and narrative work approach. These strategies not only result in a gap between ICT policy and the execution of that policy in practice, but also decrease the extent to which accountability can be realised via registration data.

29 CFR 2520.104-24 - Exemption for welfare plans for certain selected employees.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 9 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Exemption for welfare plans for certain selected employees.... (b) Exemption. Under the authority of section 104(a)(3) of the Act, each employee welfare benefit... employee welfare benefit plans: (1) Which are maintained by an employer primarily for the purpose of...

Welfare improving barter in imperfect competition

OpenAIRE

CRESTI, Barbara

2002-01-01

This paper offers a rationale for the development of the barter industry in industrialized economies. It argues that, in a context of imperfect competition, barter represents a profitable and efficient system of exchange. Thanks to barter, even if already at the optimum, a monopolist can still reduce the production costs and thus increase profits. Moreover, by adopting a barter strategy, he also improves social welfare, as he raises total output and decreases market price. Social welfare impr...

Economic incentives and individuals choice between welfare programmes and work in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Martin

We estimate the effect of welfare benefits and wages on individuals' choice between working or collecting one of three welfare programmes. We compare the magnitude of transitions between various welfare programmes with transitions between, say, work and disability benefit. We use simulation methods...... to estimate random parameters. Estimation results show significant effects of economic incentives and significant variations of estimated parameters. Experiments with the estimated model show that transitions within welfare programmes are important relative to transitions between such programmes and work....

The economics of animal welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, T J; Jackson, E L

2017-04-01

This paper examines four examples of animal welfare issues, demonstrating the interactions between welfare and economic principles. Welfare issues associated with purebred companion animals are examined in terms of predicted inherited diseases, highlighting the power of supply and demand in perpetuating traits in pets that compromise their well-being. The livestock industry is presented from the point of view of pig production and the impact that a major disease (pleurisy) has on production and the animals' welfare. The authors investigate the conflicting and complementary demands of animal welfare and economic gains during the transport and slaughter of livestock and poultry. Finally, wildlife species are considered in terms of their prevalence as pests, and the different types of economic analysis that have been conducted to understand the losses caused by these organisms. Also included in this example are decisions made about cost effectiveness and opportunity costs, and regulatory and financial barriers to the development of humane control agents. In conclusion, animal welfare is illustrated as a central factor in the benefits that humans enjoy from the role played by animals in society. There are, however, tradeoffs between optimal animal welfare and meeting the needs of modern human society.

Does self-regulation of advertisement length improve consumer welfare?

OpenAIRE

Matsubae, Taisuke; Matsushima, Noriaki

2012-01-01

In Japan, TV platforms regulate themselves as to the length of the advertisements they air. Using modified Hotelling models, we investigate whether such self-regulation improves consumer and social welfare or not. When all consumers choose a single TV program (the utility functions of consumers satisfy the standard 'full-coverage' condition), self-regulation always reduces consumer welfare. It improves social welfare only if the advertisement revenue of each platform is not small and the cost...

Assessing the Organizational Social Context (OSC) of Child Welfare Systems: Implications for Research and Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Glisson, Charles; Green, Philip; Williams, Nathaniel J.

2012-01-01

Objective: The study: (1) provides the first assessment of the a "priori" measurement model and psychometric properties of the Organizational Social Context (OSC) measurement system in a US nationwide probability sample of child welfare systems; (2) illustrates the use of the OSC in constructing norm-based organizational culture and climate…

Assessment of welfare in pigs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luisa Antonella Volpelli

2010-01-01

Full Text Available According to the definition given by Appleby (1996, animal welfare represents the state of well-being brought about by meeting the physical, environmental, nutritional, behavioural and social needs of the animal or groups of animals under the care, supervision or influence of people. Suitable husbandry techniques and disease control (in which man is directly involved may satisfy an animal’s physical, environmental and nutritive needs. However, it cannot be stated that people’s supervision or influence always guarantee the satisfaction of behavioural and social needs. Thus, special attention must be paid to these factors in intensive husbandry. This paper calls attention to the main factors characterizing pig welfare on the basis of productive, physiological, pathological and behavioural indicators; to the behavioural needs, which are characterised by several peculiar traits (it is noteworthy that, since the beginning, all categories of reared pigs have been involved in welfare legislation; to all categories of pigs that often show the effects of negative stimuli on their behaviour (limitations, variations; to the main critical points on the farm likely to cause welfare impairment or stress including buildings, inner facilities, space allowance, microclimate, lighting systems, environmental stressors, feeding management, mutilations, weaning, social factors, and stockmanship; and to environmental stressors including dust, odours (especially ammonia and noises. This paper takes into account sources, effects and possible solutions for noises; the positive effect of fibrous feeding; environmental enrichment and other possible techniques for improving social status and for preventing/reducing stereotypic behaviour and abnormal reactions (e.g. tail biting. The scientific/objective evaluation of welfare for intensively reared pigs may be carried out by means of direct observation of the animals themselves (animal-based or encompassing performance

Studying fish social behavior and cognition: implications for fish welfare and conservation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rui F Oliveira

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Within vertebrates teleost fish are the most diverse and plastic taxa in terms of social behavior. With over 29,000 species described so far, one can find all different types of social organization, mating systems and parental care types. Moreover, it is relatively common to find variation of these characters within closely related species, which makes them suitable for comparative studies on the evolution of social behavior (e.g. variation in mating systems and parental care type in African cichlids. Fish are also champions of social plasticity, as can be illustrated by the flexible patterns of sexual expression, as in the case of protrandrous and protogynous sex-change, simultaneous hermaphroditism and intra-sexual variation in the form of discrete alternative male phenotypes. Complex cognitive abilities used in social interactions have also evolved in fish, such as individual recognition, transitive inference and social learning. Therefore, teleosts offer unique opportunities to study both the evolution and the function of social behavior and cognition. In this talk I will summarize the work that our lab has been doing to establish zebrafish as a model organism for the study of social behavior and cognition and I will illustrate how knowledge on this are can be applied to fish welfare and to conservation issues.

Cost benefit analysis vs. referenda

OpenAIRE

Martin J. Osborne; Matthew A. Turner

2007-01-01

We consider a planner who chooses between two possible public policies and ask whether a referendum or a cost benefit analysis leads to higher welfare. We find that a referendum leads to higher welfare than a cost benefit analyses in "common value" environments. Cost benefit analysis is better in "private value" environments.

A just distribution of burdens? : Attitudes toward the social distribution of taxes in 26 welfare states

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roosma, F.; van Oorschot, W.J.H.; Gelissen, J.P.T.M.

2016-01-01

Whether people believe that tax burdens are fairly distributed is an important condition for welfare state legitimacy. This article examines how people evaluate this distribution of tax burdens in their country by using latent cluster analysis. We use 2006 International Social Survey Program data

Islam, civil society and social work; Muslim voluntary welfare associations in Jordan between patronage and empowerment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Harmsen, E.

2007-01-01

This dissertation analyzes the religious discourse and the social work practices of Muslim voluntary welfare associations in Jordan on the basis of civil society theory. The need to react to western political, economic as well as cultural hegemony gave rise to relatively dogmatic and fundamentalist

Social Protection Schemes in Pakistan: assessment of existing programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu ShuHong

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Social protection is regarded as a basic human right guaranteed in several International Covenants and Treaties. The Constitution of Pakistan exclusively stipulates the provision of social security for all citizens of the country. The aim of the study is to explore and evaluate the social protection schemes with regards to its coverage, scope and outreach. The country has number of social security schemes that are being carried out by provincial and federal governments for the welfare of workers like old age benefits, disablement, health and medical facilities. However, these schemes have failed to extend their benefits to home based, part-time, temporary or contract and agricultural workers. This paper attempts to highlight the shortcomings of existing social protection programs that are obstructing their benefit distribution and limiting their outreach. It underlines the challenges faced by the implementing agencies. This paper also suggests some improvements in the structural design of social security mechanism with special focus on the scope, coverage, outreach and effective delivery mechanism. Since, the proper allocation of resources and effective implementation of these schemes can ensure the assistance and welfare of the targeted population.

The Nordic Welfare Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Neergaard, Helle; Thrane, Claus

2011-01-01

to include maternity/paternity leave, benefits, childcare and leave to take care of sick children. The aim of this paper is to increase awareness and elucidate the impact of welfare policies on women’s entrepreneurship because it may impact on women’s entrepreneurial behaviour. The paper investigates...... that the initiation of public childcare would facilitate increased entrepreneurship among women. Our study shows that this is not necessarily so, that women utilize ‘babystrapping’ strategies, and that there is a schism between welfare models that facilitate employment and those that facilitate entrepreneurship....

Do generation firms in restructured electricity markets have incentives to support social-welfare-improving transmission investments?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sauma, Enzo E.; Oren, Shmuel S.

2009-01-01

This paper examines the incentives that generation firms have in restructured electricity markets for supporting long-term transmission investments. In particular, we study whether generation firms, which arguably play a dominant role in the restructured electricity markets, have the incentives to fund or support incremental social-welfare-improving transmission investments. We examine this question in a two-node network and explore how such incentives are affected by the ownership of financial transmission rights (FTRs) by generation firms. In the analyzed two-node network, we show both (1) that the net exporter generation firm has the correct incentives to increase the transmission capacity incrementally up to a certain level and (2) that, although a policy that allocates FTRs to the net exporter generation firm can be desirable from a social point of view, such a policy would dilute the net-importer-generation-firm's incentives to support transmission expansion. Moreover, if all FTRs were allocated or auctioned off to the net exporter generation firm, then it is possible to increase both consumer surplus and social welfare while keeping the net exporter generation firm revenue neutral. (author)

Welfare Effects of Higher Energy and Food Prices in Botswana: A ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Using a social accounting matrix (SAM) multiplier framework, the paper examines the welfare effects of higher ... Key Words: Social Accounting Matrix; Multiplier analysis; Welfare; Botswana ..... After all, the principal ... Financial Services. 0.90.

Effect of life-skills Training on Social Anxiety Symptoms and Stress Coping Methods in Teens in Families Support with Welfare Organization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Hassanvand Amouzadeh

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of life-skills training on social anxiety symptoms and stress coping methods in teens with social anxiety that are supported by welfare department. The research method was semi-empirical with two group's pretest-posttest design. The subjects of this study were socially anxious teens in families supported by welfare organization in Darreh shahr town. So, after first administration of Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN, 30 persons with highest scores were selected and randomly assigned in to an experimental group (15 persons and a control group (15 persons. The experimental group received “life-skills” training through thirteen two hour sessions twice a week. During this period no intervention was given to the control group. The instrument for this study, social phobia inventory Conver and etal (2000 (SPIN and parker & ender questionnaire of coping with stress (1991 were administered at the pretest and post-test stage to all participations. The result of multiple covariance analysis indicated that “life-skills” training significantly decreased the amount of social anxiety, emotion-based coping and evasion-based coping and so significant increase in the scores of problem-based coping in the experimental group as compared the control group (p=0.0001. The result of the study revealed that “life-skills” training could be used as a useful intervention for teens in families that are supported by welfare organization.

Labor, Welfare and Coping with the Crisis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Johannes Dragsbæk

of contemporary capitalism – the discredited Anglo-Saxon finance-driven model versus the export-driven production model of growth, with weak safety nets, adopted by East Asian countries in contrast to the export-oriented Nordic social welfare model. The third section documents the impact of the crisis...... are the weaknesses? What are the human costs and collateral damage in the context of new types of regulation of labor markets and social welfare in the broadest sense and what are the differences and similarities between the models in general specifically with regard to crisis management? The approach guiding...... on the economies, and discusses core examples of state intervention in the socio-economic sectors such as labor markets and social welfare in the Nordic as well as Korean contexts. The final section discusses some tentative conclusions about the resilience of the Nordic and ROK models and their potential...

Neural correlates of conventional and harm/welfare-based moral decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Stuart F; Zhao, Hui; Leong, Kelly Kimiko; Smetana, Judith G; Nucci, Larry P; Blair, R James R

2017-12-01

The degree to which social norms are processed by a unitary system or dissociable systems remains debated. Much research on children's social-cognitive judgments has supported the distinction between "moral" (harm/welfare-based) and "conventional" norms. However, the extent to which these norms are processed by dissociable neural systems remains unclear. To address this issue, 23 healthy participants were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they rated the wrongness of harm/welfare-based and conventional transgressions and neutral vignettes. Activation significantly greater than the neutral vignette baseline was observed in regions implicated in decision-making regions including rostral/ventral medial frontal, anterior insula and dorsomedial frontal cortices when evaluating both harm/welfare-based and social-conventional transgressions. Greater activation when rating harm/welfare-based relative to social-conventional transgressions was seen through much of ACC and bilateral inferior frontal gyrus. Greater activation was observed in superior temporal gyrus, bilateral middle temporal gyrus, left PCC, and temporal-parietal junction when rating social-conventional transgressions relative to harm/welfare-based transgressions. These data suggest that decisions regarding the wrongness of actions, irrespective of whether they involve care/harm-based or conventional transgressions, recruit regions generally implicated in affect-based decision-making. However, there is neural differentiation between harm/welfare-based and conventional transgressions. This may reflect the particular importance of processing the intent of transgressors of conventional norms and perhaps the greater emotional content or salience of harm/welfare-based transgressions.

Relational Benefits & Costs in Social Media Brand Pages

OpenAIRE

Tsimonis, Georgios; Dimitriadis, Sergios

2014-01-01

Attracted by the rapid penetration of social media into society, firms are increasingly using them to offer interactive services to their customers, and to create or enhance their relationships with them. As the number of consumers who join brand pages on social media platforms raises, it brings to the front a new question: What relational benefits and costs arise from customer interactions with brands in social media? Thus, this study is an attempt to identify what benefits and costs users p...

Moral Bioenhancement for Social Welfare: Are Civic Institutions Ready?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John R. Shook

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Positive assessments of moral enhancement too often isolate intuitive notions about its benefits apart from the relevance of surrounding society or civic institutions. If moral bioenhancement should benefit both oneself and others, it cannot be conducted apart from the enhancement of local social conditions, or the preparedness of civic institutions. Neither of those considerations has been adequately incorporated into typical neuroethical assessments of ambitious plans for moral bioenhancement. Enhancing a person to be far less aggressive and violent than an average person, what we label as “civil enhancement,” seems to be quite moral, yet its real-world social consequences are hardly predictable. A hypothetical case about how the criminal justice system would treat an offender who already received civil enhancement serves to illustrate how civic institutions are unprepared for moral enhancement.

Welfare and competition effects of electricity interconnection between Ireland and Great Britain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malaguzzi Valeri, Laura

2009-01-01

This study analyzes the effects of additional interconnection on welfare and competition in the Irish electricity market. I simulate the wholesale electricity markets of the island of Ireland and Great Britain for 2005. I find that in order for the two markets to be integrated in 2005, additional interconnection would have to be large. The amount of interconnection decreases for high costs of carbon, since this causes the markets to become more similar. This suggests that in the absence of strategic behavior of firms, most of the gains from trade derive not from differences in size between countries, but from technology differences and are strongly influenced by fuel and carbon costs. Social welfare increases with interconnection, although at a decreasing rate. As the amount of interconnection increases, there are also positive effects on competition in Ireland, the less competitive of the two markets. Finally, it is unlikely that private investors will pay for the optimal amount of interconnection since their returns are significantly smaller than the total social benefit of interconnection. (author)

Social welfare in one-sided matchings: Random priority and beyond

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Filos-Ratsikas, Aris; Frederiksen, Søren Kristoffer Stiil; Zhang, Jie

2014-01-01

We study the problem of approximate social welfare maximization (without money) in one-sided matching problems when agents have unrestricted cardinal preferences over a finite set of items. Random priority is a very well-known truthful-in-expectation mechanism for the problem. We prove...... that the approximation ratio of random priority is Theta(n^{-1/2}) while no truthful-in-expectation mechanism can achieve an approximation ratio better than O(n^{-1/2}), where n is the number of agents and items. Furthermore, we prove that the approximation ratio of all ordinal (not necessarily truthful......-in-expectation) mechanisms is upper bounded by O(n^{-1/2}), indicating that random priority is asymptotically the best truthful-in-expectation mechanism and the best ordinal mechanism for the problem....

Positive animal welfare states and reference standards for welfare assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Mellor, D J

2015-01-01

Developments in affective neuroscience and behavioural science during the last 10-15 years have together made it increasingly apparent that sentient animals are potentially much more sensitive to their environmental and social circumstances than was previously thought to be the case. It therefore seems likely that both the range and magnitude of welfare trade-offs that occur when animals are managed for human purposes have been underestimated even when minimalistic but arguably well-intentioned attempts have been made to maintain high levels of welfare. In light of these neuroscience-supported behaviour-based insights, the present review considers the extent to which the use of currently available reference standards might draw attention to these previously neglected areas of concern. It is concluded that the natural living orientation cannot provide an all-embracing or definitive welfare benchmark because of its primary focus on behavioural freedom. However assessments of this type, supported by neuroscience insights into behavioural motivation, may now carry greater weight when used to identify management practices that should be avoided, discontinued or substantially modified. Using currently accepted baseline standards as welfare reference points may result in small changes being accorded greater significance than would be the case if they were compared with higher standards, and this could slow the progress towards better levels of welfare. On the other hand, using "what animals want" as a reference standard has the appeal of focusing on the specific resources or conditions the animals would choose themselves and can potentially improve their welfare more quickly than the approach of making small increments above baseline standards. It is concluded that the cautious use of these approaches in different combinations could lead to recommendations that would more effectively promote positive welfare states in hitherto neglected areas of concern.

"Done more for me in a fortnight than anybody done in all me life." How welfare rights advice can help people with cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moffatt Suzanne

2010-09-01

UK by lack of easy access to information about benefit entitlements and assistance to claim. Proactive welfare rights advice services, working closely with health and social care professionals can assist with the practical demands that arise from dealing with the illness and should be considered an important part of a holistic approach to cancer treatment.

Within-person analysis of welfare transitions in a longitudinal panel survey reveals change in mental health service use.

Science.gov (United States)

Pymont, C; Schofield, T P; Butterworth, P

2017-12-01

While international research shows that receipt of welfare benefits is associated with poor mental health, less is known about the relationship between welfare receipt and mental health service use. We investigate whether within-person change in welfare recipient status is associated with change in mental health service use. Analysis of two waves of data from an Australian national household survey. Random- and fixed-effect models considered the effect of change in welfare receipt status, and assessed whether change in mental health service use differed by type of welfare benefit or the direction of welfare transition. Individuals were more likely to report greater mental health service use at times of welfare receipt. These associations were attenuated, but remained significant, after adjusting for mental health. Increased health service use was not tied to specific types of welfare benefits. The increase in mental health service use associated with a transition onto welfare benefits was much greater than the decline in service use associated with the transition off benefits. Within individuals, welfare receipt is associated with greater mental health service use. While this does reflect poorer mental health at the time of welfare receipt, other factors seem to facilitate health service use. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Welfare Economics: A Story of Existence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khalid Iqbal

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to explore that, despite severe challenges, welfare economics still exists. This descriptive study is conducted through some specific time line developments in this field. Economists are divided over the veracity and survival of the welfare economics. Welfare economics emphasizes on the optimum resource and goods allocation with the objective of better living standard, materialistic gains, social welfare and ethical decisions. It origins back to the political economics and utilitarianism. Adam Smith, Irving Fisher and Pareto contributed significantly towards it. During 1930 to 1940, American and British approaches were developed. Many economists tried to explore the relationship between level of income and happiness. Amartya Sen gave the comparative approach and Tinbergen pioneered the theory of equity. Contemporarily the futuristic restoration of welfare economics is on trial and hopes are alive. This study may be useful to understand the transitional and survival process of welfare economics.

Who benefits?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjorth, Frederik Georg

2016-01-01

Cross-border welfare rights for citizens of European Union member states are intensely contested, yet there is limited research into voter opposition to such rights, sometimes denoted ‘welfare chauvinism’. We highlight an overlooked aspect in scholarly work: the role of stereotypes about benefici...... recipient identity. These effects are strongest among respondents high in ethnic prejudice and economic conservatism. The findings imply that stereotypes about who benefits from cross-border welfare rights condition public support for those rights....

The globalisation of farm animal welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Fraser, D

2014-04-01

Animal welfare has achieved significant global prominence for perhaps three reasons. First, several centuries of scientific research, especially in anatomy, evolutionary biology and animal behaviour, have led to a gradual narrowing of the gap that people perceive between humans and other species; this altered perception has prompted grass-roots attention to animals and their welfare, initially in Western countries but now more globally asthe influence of science has expanded. Second, scientific research on animal welfare has provided insights and methods for improving the handling, housing and management of animals; this 'animal welfare science' is increasingly seen as relevant to improving animal husbandry worldwide. Third, the development and use of explicit animal welfare standards has helped to integrate animal welfare as a component of national and international public policy, commerce and trade. To date, social debate about animal welfare has been dominated bythe industrialised nations. However, as the issue becomes increasingly global, it will be important for the non-industrialised countries to develop locally appropriate approaches to improving animal welfare, for example, by facilitating the provision of shelter, food, water and health care, and by improving basic handling, transportation and slaughter.

Female headship, feminization of poverty and welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Kimenyi, M S; Mbaku, J M

1995-07-01

Female-headed households are at greater risk of slipping into poverty than male-headed households. Indeed, sex and marital status of the head of household are the most important determinants of a family's poverty status in the US. Divorce, separation, death of a husband, and out-of-wedlock births can lead to female headship. Transfer payments, especially the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, are blamed for contributing to increased marital instability and out-of-wedlock births. The authors examined the role of welfare benefits in influencing female headship. Preliminary results using standard estimation procedures indicate that transfers do not significantly influence female headship. Standard estimation procedures are, however, erroneous because they ignore differences in propensities to establish mother-only households. Therefore, adjusting for differences in propensities to establish female-headed households, the level of welfare benefits is indeed an important factor in explaining the variation in the changes in the birth rates to unmarried women. The use of a weighted measure suggests that welfare benefits, by increasing female headship of women who otherwise have low propensities to be female heads, have played a significant role in the feminization of poverty.

Social welfare effects of educational labour market programmes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Martin

A number of papers (e.g. Besley and Coate (1992, 1995)) have considered the optimality of ALMP-programmes and especially the deterrence effect, i.e. the feature that participation in ALMP-programmes implies a disutility comparable to disutility for ordinary work. The papers consider the relative...... levels of benefit rates in ALMP-programmes and in ‘passive’ public income support. In this paper, we focus on ALMP-programmes with a positive outcome, namely education programmes that raise participants’ level of productivity. A’ priori it appears difficult to say whether a positive outcome is a motive...... for subsidizing ALMP-programmes relative to passive support, or whether individuals’ self-interest reduces the need to support such programmes. Hence we discuss the relative benefit rates in optimal of social policy. The optimal benefit rate in education programmes turns out to be higher or lower than the passive...

Reconfiguring the social and solidarity economy in a Danish/Nordic welfare context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hulgård, Lars; Andersen, Linda Lundgaard

2018-01-01

-ture but are important examples of pluralism in a Danish welfare context (Andersen, 2015). Roskilde Festival and Skovgård Hotel share a number of features that place them as interesting agents of solidarity economy. They both display a differentiated activity portfolio of business; public and civil character......When looking at definitions and understandings of the social and solidarity economy, one issue stands out as particularly significant. The issue of how it links to organizational (micro and meso level dimensions) and societal specificities. Whereas social enterprise also in the EMES ideal typical...... version (Borzaga & Defourny, 2001) is only indirectly linked to a Polanyian framework (Gardin, 2006), the notion of solidarity economy can hardly be understood at an elaborate level without reference to the Polanyian framework of plurality. Accordingly, in this paper we will first highlight the difference...

Benefit dependency: the pros and cons of using "caseload" data for national and international comparisons

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Deken, J.; Clasen, J.

2013-01-01

Policy-makers in advanced welfare states have increasingly expressed concerns over large numbers of working-age people claiming social security support. Accordingly, policies aimed at reducing the level of "benefit dependency" have gained prominence. However, such policies rest on shaky empirical

The benefits of social influence in optimized cultural markets.

Science.gov (United States)

Abeliuk, Andrés; Berbeglia, Gerardo; Cebrian, Manuel; Van Hentenryck, Pascal

2015-01-01

Social influence has been shown to create significant unpredictability in cultural markets, providing one potential explanation why experts routinely fail at predicting commercial success of cultural products. As a result, social influence is often presented in a negative light. Here, we show the benefits of social influence for cultural markets. We present a policy that uses product quality, appeal, position bias and social influence to maximize expected profits in the market. Our computational experiments show that our profit-maximizing policy leverages social influence to produce significant performance benefits for the market, while our theoretical analysis proves that our policy outperforms in expectation any policy not displaying social signals. Our results contrast with earlier work which focused on showing the unpredictability and inequalities created by social influence. Not only do we show for the first time that, under our policy, dynamically showing consumers positive social signals increases the expected profit of the seller in cultural markets. We also show that, in reasonable settings, our profit-maximizing policy does not introduce significant unpredictability and identifies "blockbusters". Overall, these results shed new light on the nature of social influence and how it can be leveraged for the benefits of the market.

Farmers’ perception of stable schools as a tool to improve management for the benefit of mink welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Britt I. F.; Anneberg, Inger; Sørensen, Jan Tind

2015-01-01

The aim of the study was to explore farmers' perception of stable schools as a tool to improve management for the benefit of mink welfare. Stable schools are knowledge exchange between farmers working towards a common goal, being able to give practical advice to each other. The concept is based......, and that motivation for working towards a common goal is very important for the process of common learning among the farmers. The uniform production system at mink farms gives special challenges in how to work with the different subjects to ensure farmer ownership of the process. The farmers did not see the seasonal...

A Team of Instructors' Use of Social Presence, Teaching Presence, and Attitudinal Dissonance Strategies: An Animal Behaviour and Welfare MOOC

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Sunnie Lee; Watson, William R.; Janakiraman, Shamila; Richardson, Jennifer

2017-01-01

This case study examined a team of instructors' use of social presence, teaching presence, and attitudinal dissonance in a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on Animal Behaviour and Welfare (ABW), designed to facilitate attitudinal learning. The study reviewed a team of six instructors' use of social presence and teaching presence by applying the…

Intergenerational Justice Perceptions and the Role of Welfare Regimes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sabbagh, Clara; Vanhuysse, Pieter

2010-01-01

, different welfare regimes structure young people's perceptions of the justness of public resources transfers from young to elderly age-groups and (2) the perceived relative contributions and rewards of various age-groups. Thus we inquire about both the perceived support in principle and about the perceived...... justness of actual outcomes of resource transfers between age-groups. We find that support of transfers from the young to the old is higher in social-democratic and conservative welfare regimes than in liberal and radical regimes. Support of resource transfers also correlates positively with a 'welfare......-statist' ideological frame (the endorsement of egalitarian redistribution and broad state responsibility for welfare provision and the attribution of social inequality to external causes), and negatively with a 'market-based' frame (individualism, a work ethic, and internal attribution). Regarding actual outcomes...

Animal Welfare: Could Adult Play be a False Friend?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catherine Blois-Heulin

2015-05-01

Full Text Available There is no consensus regarding the functions of play. As play behavior is a characteristic of young stages of development, it has been suggested that the higher prevalence of adult play observed in domestic animals could be the result of their “neotenic retardation.” Functional hypotheses have dealt with the long term benefits, such as “rehearsal,” “motor training” for future adult competencies or “training for the unexpected.” However, there is little consistent experimental evidence favoring a particular hypothesis. The present study aimed to test the functional significance of adult play as a potential reliable indicator of good welfare, a by-product of domestication or a tool for social cohesion. Observations of both a domestic species (the horse and wild/captive animals (cercopithecids confirm the literature data that show the greater prevalence of adult play in the domestic/captive situations. This convergence between a domestic and a wild species argue against the idea that adult play may be a mere product of domestication. Moreover, animals living in naturalistic situations had the same low level of adult play as observed in wild animals suggesting that captive/domestic animals do not play only because they are stress free or well fed. Play is not a reliable indicator of welfare: Horses and adult macaques that played the most were also those that exhibited the greatest signals of poor welfare as stereotypic behaviors. Furthermore, adult play was more frequent at times of social disturbances and instability. Adult play is a sign showing that the adult organism needs to evacuate stress.

From Vikings to Welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gert Tinggaard, Svendsen; Svendsen, Gunnar Lind Haase

not destroyed but rather accumulated in the following centuries up till the universal welfare state of the 20th century. Focusing on the case of Denmark, our tentative argument is that social trust was not destroyed through five subsequent phases of state building but rather enhanced. Long-run political...... stability arguably allows such a self-reinforcing process over time between institutions and social trust....

Welfare State and globalisation of the economic area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José João ABRANTES

2013-06-01

Full Text Available A “welfare State” is a concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life. The general term may cover a variety of forms of economic and social organization. This article examines the concept of welfare state in the context of legislation adopted in recent years in Portugal that wants to "provide greater flexibility" of the labour market. This article discusses the crisis and the future of the Social State that is also, according to my view, an act of citizenship, a way of expressing our concern with the actual status of the welfare State.

Dual discounting in cost-benefit analysis for environmental impacts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kula, Erhun; Evans, David

2011-01-01

Discounting has been a long-established intertemporal efficiency tool in cost-benefit analysis which focuses on project selection at communal level with a view to maximising the social welfare. However, with the relentless growth in environmental stress that, in good parts, stems from investment projects the established criterion in discounting appears to be inadequate especially when environmental issues are taken into consideration. This paper looks at how dual focus on efficiency and sustainability can be achieved by using dual discounting, i.e. discounting environmental benefits separately and differently from other costs and benefits and applies this alternative criterion to an afforestation scheme in the United Kingdom which contains carbon sequestration in addition to timber benefits.

Scientific assessment of animal welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Hemsworth, P H; Mellor, D J; Cronin, G M; Tilbrook, A J

2015-01-01

Animal welfare is a state within the animal and a scientific perspective provides methodologies for evidence-based assessment of an animal's welfare. A simplistic definition of animal welfare might be how the animal feels now. Affective experiences including emotions, are subjective states so cannot be measured directly in animals, but there are informative indirect physiological and behavioural indices that can be cautiously used to interpret such experiences. This review enunciates several key science-based frameworks for understanding animal welfare. The biological functioning and affective state frameworks were initially seen as competing, but a recent more unified approach is that biological functioning is taken to include affective experiences and affective experiences are recognised as products of biological functioning, and knowledge of the dynamic interactions between the two is considered to be fundamental to managing and improving animal welfare. The value of these two frameworks in understanding the welfare of group-housed sows is reviewed. The majority of studies of the welfare of group-housed sows have employed the biological functioning framework to infer compromised sow welfare, on the basis that suboptimal biological functioning accompanies negative affective states such as sow hunger, pain, fear, helplessness, frustration and anger. Group housing facilitates social living, but group housing of gestating sows raises different welfare considerations to stall housing, such as high levels of aggression, injuries and stress, at least for several days after mixing, as well as subordinate sows being underfed due to competition at feeding. This paper highlights the challenges and potential opportunities for the continued improvement in sow management through well-focused research and multidisciplinary assessment of animal welfare. In future the management of sentient animals will require the promotion of positive affective experiences in animals and this

The benefits of social influence in optimized cultural markets.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrés Abeliuk

Full Text Available Social influence has been shown to create significant unpredictability in cultural markets, providing one potential explanation why experts routinely fail at predicting commercial success of cultural products. As a result, social influence is often presented in a negative light. Here, we show the benefits of social influence for cultural markets. We present a policy that uses product quality, appeal, position bias and social influence to maximize expected profits in the market. Our computational experiments show that our profit-maximizing policy leverages social influence to produce significant performance benefits for the market, while our theoretical analysis proves that our policy outperforms in expectation any policy not displaying social signals. Our results contrast with earlier work which focused on showing the unpredictability and inequalities created by social influence. Not only do we show for the first time that, under our policy, dynamically showing consumers positive social signals increases the expected profit of the seller in cultural markets. We also show that, in reasonable settings, our profit-maximizing policy does not introduce significant unpredictability and identifies "blockbusters". Overall, these results shed new light on the nature of social influence and how it can be leveraged for the benefits of the market.

The state of animal welfare in the context of refinement.

Science.gov (United States)

Zurlo, Joanne; Hutchinson, Eric

2014-01-01

The ultimate goal of the Three Rs is the full replacement of animals used in biomedical research and testing. However, replacement is unlikely to occur in the near future; therefore the scientific community as a whole must continue to devote considerable effort to ensure optimal animal welfare for the benefit of the science and the animals, i.e., the R of refinement. Laws governing the care and use of laboratory animals have recently been revised in Europe and the US and these place greater emphasis on promoting the well-being of the animals in addition to minimizing pain and distress. Social housing for social species is now the default condition, which can present a challenge in certain experimental settings and for certain species. The practice of positive reinforcement training of laboratory animals, particularly non-human primates, is gathering momentum but is not yet universally employed. Enhanced consideration of refinement extends to rodents, particularly mice, whose use is still increasing as more genetically modified models are generated. The wastage of extraneous mice and the method of their euthanasia are refinement issues that still need to be addressed. An international, concerted effort into defining the needs of laboratory animals is still necessary to improve the quality of the animal models used as well as their welfare.

Exploring the work/ welfare relationship

OpenAIRE

2015-01-01

The impact of current transformations in European labor markets social policy and employment patterns on women gender relations motherhood and family: implications for social work and social care (Editorial) We are delighted to introduce this exciting Special Edition for the Swiss Journal of Social Work. This special guest edited issue will interrogate a particular problem of the impact of the shifting axis on family gender relations and gendered impacts of welfare reform and change. In the c...

Child poverty: what can social spending explain in Europe?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Diris, R.; Vandenbroucke, F.; Verbist, G.

2014-01-01

This study assesses the role of social spending in relation to child poverty in European welfare states. Using macro-level panel data from EU SILC 2005-2012, we analyze the effect of the size of social spending and the effect of how those benefits are targeted. We separately estimate the effect of

Financial structures, firms, and the welfare states in South Korea and Singapore

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lim, S.

South Korea and Singapore display distinctive patterns of social provision. The Singaporean welfare state has served as the primary provider of social infrastructure and services, whereas the South Korean welfare state has developed its primary role in supporting income maintenance. These

Welfare State Changes and Outcomes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alves, Sonia

2015-01-01

. The conclusion of this article is that income inequality has been steadily increasing in Danish society; while in Portugal, despite improvements in many social domains (healthcare, poverty alleviation, unemployment protection), problems of inequality remain deeply embedded in the country’s social......It is well known that welfare states ensure a certain level of social protection affecting levels of well-being and the extent of inequalities in society. Changes within crucial domains of social policy, such as education, health, or social protection, have, therefore, a major effect upon...

Comparing Tax Routes to Welfare in Denmark and the United Kingdom

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kvist, Jon; Sinfield, Adrian

Substantial benefits are being routed through the tax system separately and much less publicly than in the welfare state. This study analyses how the tax benefits in Denmark and the United Kingdom are operating, raising questions of equity and privilege, and of cost and value for money. One major...... conclusion is that tax routes to welfare deserves much closer and more public examination than they currently receive in either country....

Child Welfare Research and Training: A Response to David Stoesz

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Brenda D.; Vandiver, Vikki L.

2016-01-01

In this response to David Stoesz' critique, "The Child Welfare Cartel," the authors agree that child welfare research and training must be improved. The authors disagree, however, with Stoesz' critique of social work education, his assessment of the most-needed forms of child welfare research, and his depiction of the goals and…

[Respiratory handicap. Recognition, evaluation and social benefits].

Science.gov (United States)

Marsac, J; Pujet, J C

1983-01-01

The medico-social aspects of respiratory handicap pose some perplexing problems, notably in their recognition, rigorous evaluation and in the granting of social security benefits. The clinical and respiratory function data should be standardised and classified according to type and significance of respiratory disease and also according to the degree of co-operation and understanding of the patient. The respiratory handicap should be evaluated after considering the functional disability engendered by the disorder and their socio-professional repercussions. The abnormality in the lungs should be measured by resting tests; the degree of disability by exercise studies; the socio-professional handicap by ergonometric tests to assess the scale of the demands and requirements of family and social and professional life, indeed the cultural and economic style of the individual concerned. Such combined studies would enable recognition of severe chronic respiratory handicap leading to decisions for exemption certificates, such as cases of severe respiratory failure in patients requiring supplementary treatment for oxygen therapy or assisted ventilation. The benefits and grants offered to those with respiratory handicaps would involve a number of rights relating to: care, work, costs of replacement of workers in the event of prolonged sick leave or the benefits of an invalidity pension. There will be other allowances such as invalidity cards, lodging special studies and other rights particularly relating to lodging and special equipment. The present scale is difficult to use both because of its lack of specificity and its ill-chosen terminology. For better balance between the handicap and the benefits offered, a common and more flexible system, with a printed table should be at hand for the doctor to use for certain decisions: long term illness, period of invalidity or early retirement because of medical incapacity. Within each table a sub-section should exist to allow for

Welfare's Children. Discussion Paper.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiseman, Michael

States with family cap public assistance policies deny or reduce additional welfare benefits to mothers who conceive and give birth to additional children while they are receiving aid. By 1999, 22 states had family cap policies in place. This paper reports estimates of the number and cost implications of infants conceived by mothers receiving…

Social media and physicians: Exploring the benefits and challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Panahi, Sirous; Watson, Jason; Partridge, Helen

2016-06-01

Healthcare professionals' use of social media platforms, such as blogs, wikis, and social networking web sites has grown considerably in recent years. However, few studies have explored the perspectives and experiences of physicians in adopting social media in healthcare. This article aims to identify the potential benefits and challenges of adopting social media by physicians and demonstrates this by presenting findings from a survey conducted with physicians. A qualitative survey design was employed to achieve the research goal. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 physicians from around the world who were active users of social media. The data were analyzed using the thematic analysis approach. The study revealed six main reasons and six major challenges for physicians adopting social media. The main reasons to join social media were as follows: staying connected with colleagues, reaching out and networking with the wider community, sharing knowledge, engaging in continued medical education, benchmarking, and branding. The main challenges of adopting social media by physicians were also as follows: maintaining confidentiality, lack of active participation, finding time, lack of trust, workplace acceptance and support, and information anarchy. By revealing the main benefits as well as the challenges of adopting social media by physicians, the study provides an opportunity for healthcare professionals to better understand the scope and impact of social media in healthcare, and assists them to adopt and harness social media effectively, and maximize the benefits for the specific needs of the clinical community. © The Author(s) 2014.

Comparing the Nordic and South Korean Models: Labour-Market Regulation and Social Welfare in Times of Crisis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Johannes Dragsbæk

2012-01-01

The first part of the paper briefly describes the causes and impacts of the US induced financial crisis cum “Great Depression”. The second part discusses the status of the various models of contemporary capitalism – the discredited Anglo-Saxon finance-driven model versus the export-driven product......The first part of the paper briefly describes the causes and impacts of the US induced financial crisis cum “Great Depression”. The second part discusses the status of the various models of contemporary capitalism – the discredited Anglo-Saxon finance-driven model versus the export......-driven production model of growth, with weak safety nets, adopted by East Asian countries in contrast to the export-oriented Nordic social welfare model. The third section documents the impact of the crisis on the economies, and discusses core examples of state intervention in the socio-economic sectors...... such as labor markets and social welfare in the Nordic as well as Korean contexts. The final section discusses some tentative conclusions about the resilience of the Nordic and ROK models and their potential for recovery....

Enterprising social wellbeing: social entrepreneurial and strengths based approaches to mental health and wellbeing in "remote" Indigenous community contexts.

Science.gov (United States)

Tedmanson, Deirdre; Guerin, Pauline

2011-07-01

Social enterprises are market-based activities that provide social benefits through the direct engagement of people in productive activities. Participation in social enterprise development brings psychosocial wellbeing benefits, by strengthening family networks, enhancing trust, increasing self-reliance and social esteem and promoting cultural safety. Our objective is to explore how social enterprise activities can meet community needs and foster self-sustainability while generating profits for redistribution as social investment into other ventures that aid social functioning and emotional well-being. Social entrepreneurship enhances both interdependence and independence. Concomitant mental health and social wellbeing dividends accrue overtime to communities engaged in self-determined enterprise activities. Social entrepreneurship builds social capital that supports social wellbeing. Strengths-based approaches to social entrepreneurship can assuage disempowering effects of the "welfare economy" through shifting the focus onto productive activities generated on people's own terms.

Invertebrate welfare: an overlooked issue

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Kelsey Horvath

2013-03-01

Full Text Available While invertebrates make up the majority of animal species, their welfare is overlooked compared to the concern shown to vertebrates. This fact is highlighted by the near absence of regulations in animal research, with the exception of cephalopods in the European Union. This is often justified by assumptions that invertebrates do not experience pain and stress while lacking the capacity for higher order cognitive functions. Recent research suggests that invertebrates may be just as capable as vertebrates in experiencing pain and stress, and some species display comparable cognitive capacities. Another obstacle is the negative view of invertebrates by the public, which often regards them as pests with no individual personalities, gastronomic entities, or individuals for scientific experimentation without rules. Increasingly, studies have revealed that invertebrates possess individual profiles comparable to the personalities found in vertebrates. Given the large economic impact of invertebrates, developing certain attitude changes in invertebrate welfare may be beneficial for producers while providing higher welfare conditions for the animals. While the immense number and type of species makes it difficult to suggest that all invertebrates will benefit from increased welfare, in this review we provide evidence that the topic of invertebrate welfare should be revisited, more thoroughly investigated, and in cases where appropriate, formally instituted.

Neoliberalism, welfare policy and health: a qualitative meta-synthesis of single parents' experience of the transition from welfare to work.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Kay

2012-09-01

Following the United States' lead, the emergence of neoliberal welfare policy across the western world has resulted in employment programmes for single parents, who are predominantly single mothers. While some governments claim that employment will improve single parents' incomes and well-being, researchers dispute that single parents can unproblematically move into the workforce, with net positive effects. While researchers have quantified the socio-economic effect of these programmes, in particular on participant health, no study has yet synthesized participants' experiences of welfare-to-work. Here, I present a meta-synthesis of eight qualitative health-related studies of single parents' (and exclusively single mothers') welfare-to-work transition. I report that single mothers faced a combination of health and economic issues which made their transition from welfare to work difficult, including degrees of poor physical and mental health. For participants in the United States, these health issues were often compounded by a loss of health benefits on moving into low-wage employment. In countries where a return to employment was required before children reached school age, a lack of affordable and appropriate child care, especially for children with health problems, exacerbated these difficulties. As a result of scarce resources, single mothers in receipt of welfare benefits often relied on food banks or went without food. A return to the workforce did not alleviate this problem as additional child care and reduced government subsidies depleted the funds available for food. I conclude that welfare-to-work policies are underpinned by the neoliberal assumption that the market more efficiently distributes resources than the State. However, for the women in the studies examined here, labour market participation often depleted access to essential resources. Interventions to address the 'problem' of welfare dependency must recognize the complex interplay between work

Rights, solidarity and the animal welfare state

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harfeld, Jes

2016-01-01

This article argues that aspects of the animal rights view can be constructively modulated through a communitarian approach and come to promote animal welfare through the social contexts of expanded caring communities. The Nordic welfare state is presented as a conceivable caring community within...... which animals could be viewed and treated appropriately as co-citizens with solidarity based rights and duties....

Welfare reform in European countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Immervoll, Herwig; Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen; Kreiner, Claus Thustrup

2007-01-01

This article compares the effects of increasing traditional welfare to introducing in-work benefits in the 15 (pre-enlargement) countries of the European Union. We use a labour supply model encompassing responses to taxes and transfers along both the intensive and extensive margins, and the EUROMOD...

Financial coping strategies of mental health consumers: managing social benefits.

Science.gov (United States)

Caplan, Mary Ager

2014-05-01

Mental health consumers depend on social benefits in the forms of supplemental security income and social security disability insurance for their livelihood. Although these programs pay meager benefits, little research has been undertaken into how this population makes ends meet. Using a qualitative approach, this study asks what are the financial coping strategies of mental health consumers? Seven approaches were identified: subsidies, cost-effective shopping, budgeting, prioritizing, technology, debt management, and saving money. Results illustrate the resourcefulness of mental health consumers in managing meager social benefits and highlight the need to strengthen community mental health efforts with financial capabilities education.

Child welfare worker characteristics and job satisfaction: a national study.

Science.gov (United States)

Barth, Richard P; Lloyd, E Christopher; Christ, Sharon L; Chapman, Mimi V; Dickinson, Nancy S

2008-07-01

The education, recruitment, training, and retention of a quality child welfare workforce is critical to the successful implementation of public policy and programs for the nation's most vulnerable children. Yet, national information about child welfare workers has never been collected. The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being is a study of children who are investigated for child maltreatment that also offers information about the child welfare workers (unweighted N = 1,729) who serve them in 36 states and 92 counties. These cases represent the national population of child welfare workers, estimated at more than 50,000, serving children approximately 12 months after a case was opened. Child welfare workers having any graduate or social work degree in a nonurban setting were more satisfied than their peers. Regression results indicate that worker satisfaction is associated with quality of supervision and urban setting but does not have a clearly independent relationship with having a degree in social work. Practice implications are discussed.

A history of animal welfare science.

Science.gov (United States)

Broom, Donald M

2011-06-01

Human attitudes to animals have changed as non-humans have become more widely incorporated in the category of moral agents who deserve some respect. Parallels between the functioning of humans and non-humans have been made for thousands of years but the idea that the animals that we keep can suffer has spread recently. An improved understanding of motivation, cognition and the complexity of social behaviour in animals has led in the last 30 years to the rapid development of animal welfare science. Early attempts to define welfare referred to individuals being in harmony with nature but the first usable definition incorporated feelings and health as part of attempts to cope with the environment. Others considered that welfare is only about feelings but it is argued that as feelings are mechanisms that have evolved they are a part of welfare rather than all of it. Most reviews of welfare now start with listing the needs of the animal, including needs to show certain behaviours. This approach has used sophisticated studies of what is important to animals and has replaced the earlier general guidelines described as freedoms. Many measures of welfare are now used and indicate how good or how poor the welfare is. Naturalness is not a part of the definition of welfare but explains why some needs exist. In recent years, welfare has become established as one of various criteria used to decide on whether a system is sustainable because members of the public will not accept systems that cause poor welfare. The study of welfare has become part of the scientific basis upon which important political decisions are made.

EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG SOCIAL BENEFITS, ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK DEPENDENCY, SATISFACTION, AND YOUTH’S HABIT FORMATION

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Tran Van Dat

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Online social network is one of the biggest Internet phenomenon, which has attracted the interest of many marketers and psychologists who wanted to understand social network users’ behavior. Recognizing the lack of theoretical and empirical attention that has been given to this field, especially in Vietnam market, this study was conducted to examine the relationships among social benefits, online social network dependency, satisfaction, and youth’s habit formation in the context of Facebook. The findings of the study of 200 Facebook users indicated that the interrelationship among four factors of social benefits, online social network dependency, satisfaction, and habit formation affect each other. Indeed, dependency on online social network among the youth whose age ranged from 16 to 24 years old is significantly affected by social benefits factor and leads to the formation of habit. In addition, satisfaction plays a role in determining habitual Facebook use. This paper discusses theoretical and practical implication in marketing and psychology field.

Have Dutch Municipalities Become More Efficient in Managing the Costs of Social Assistance Dependency?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Broersma, Lourens; Edzes, Arjen; van Dijk, Jouke

2010-01-01

Many welfare reforms undertaken in OECD-countries are directed towards enhancing efficiency in the administration and implementation of social security and social benefits. In this perspective the governance reforms in The Netherlands are an example of decentralisation through budgeting of means to

Fiscal Costs and Benefits of High Skilled Immigration to a Generous Welfare State

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Højbjerg Jacobsen, Rasmus; Rose Skaksen, Jan

We consider the fiscal impact of work related high skilled immigration to a generous welfare state. In a simple theoretical model, we show that, even though a generous welfare state tends to attract immigrants with a high demand for public services, the high skilled immigrants may still be selected...... among individuals with a relatively low demand of public services. In the empirical analysis we apply a unique Danish data set containing very detailed information on all residents in Denmark, including information on migration.Denmark is interesting, because it has one of the most generous welfare...... states in the world, and, in spite of that, it turns out that high skilled immigration gives rise to a big net fiscal surplus. Further, high skilled immigrants seem to be selected among those having a relatively low demand of public services....

An evaluation of health benefit modification in Taft-Hartley health and welfare funds: implications for encouraging tobacco-cessation coverage.

Science.gov (United States)

Au-Yeung, Caroline M; Weisman, Susan R; Hennrikus, Deborah J; Forster, Jean L; Skoog, Rodney; Luneburg, Wade; Hesse, Bernie

2010-12-01

An estimated one fifth of all U.S. adult smokers receive health benefits through insurance plans administered by Taft-Hartley Health and Welfare Funds. Most funds do not offer comprehensive tobacco-cessation services to fund participants despite evidence that doing so would be cost effective and save lives. This paper examines the decision-making processes of Minnesota-based fund trustees and advisors to identify factors that influence decisions about modifications to benefits. Formative data about the process by which funds make health benefit modifications were collected in 2007-2008 from 25 in-depth key informant interviews with fund trustees and a cross-section of fund advisors, including administrators, attorneys, and healthcare business consultants. Analyses were performed using a general inductive approach to identify conceptual themes, employing qualitative data analysis software. The most commonly cited factors influencing trustees' decisions about health plan benefit modifications-including modifications regarding tobacco-cessation benefits-were benefit costs, participants' demand for services, and safeguarding participants' health. Barriers included information gaps, concerns about participants' response, and difficulty projecting benefit utilization and success. Advisors wielded considerable influence in decision-making processes. Trustees relied on a small pool of business, legal, and administrative advisors to provide guidance and recommendations about possible health plan benefit modifications. Providing advisors with evidence-based information and resources about benefit design, cost/return-on-investment (ROI), effectiveness, and promotion may be an effective means to influence funds to provide comprehensive tobacco-cessation benefits. Copyright © 2010 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Promising Innovations in Child Welfare Education: Findings from a National Initiative

Science.gov (United States)

Strand, Virginia C.; Dettlaff, Alan J.; Counts-Spriggs, Margaret

2015-01-01

For many years, schools of social work have engaged in partnerships, especially with public child welfare agencies, to prepare a competent and professional child welfare workforce through the mechanism of Title IV-E training. In 2008 the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) established an additional resource for preparing students in…

Social cost-benefit analysis and nuclear futures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pearce, D.W.

1979-01-01

The usefulness of cost-benefit analysis in making nuclear power investment decisions is considered. The essence of social cost-benefit analysis is outlined and shown to be unavoidably value-laden. As a case study six issues relevant to the decision to build on oxide fuel reprocessing plant (THORP) are examined. The potential practical value of using cost-benefit analysis as an aid to decision-making is considered for each of these issues. It is concluded that cost-benefit approach is of limited value in the nuclear power case because of its inapplicability to such issues as the liberty of the individual and nuclear weapons proliferation. (author)

Quality of life in people aged 65+ in Europe: associated factors and models of social welfare-analysis of data from the SHARE project (Wave 5).

Science.gov (United States)

Conde-Sala, Josep L; Portellano-Ortiz, Cristina; Calvó-Perxas, Laia; Garre-Olmo, Josep

2017-04-01

To analyse the clinical, sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors that influence perceived quality of life (QoL) in a community sample of 33,241 people aged 65+ and to examine the relationship with models of social welfare in Europe. This was a cross-sectional study of data from Wave 5 (2013) of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The instruments used in the present study were as follows: sociodemographic data, CASP-12 (QoL), EURO-D (depression), indicators of life expectancy and suicide (WHO), and economic indicators (World Bank). Statistical analysis included bivariate and multilevel analyses. In the multilevel analysis, greater satisfaction in life, less depression, sufficient income, better subjective health, physical activity, an absence of functional impairment, younger age and participation in activities were associated with better QoL in all countries. More education was only associated with higher QoL in Eastern European and Mediterranean countries, and only in the latter was caring for grandchildren also related to better QoL. Socioeconomic indicators were better and QoL scores higher (mean = 38.5 ± 5.8) in countries that had a social democratic (Nordic cluster) or corporatist model (Continental cluster) of social welfare, as compared to Eastern European and Mediterranean countries, which were characterized by poorer socioeconomic conditions, more limited social welfare provision and lower QoL scores (mean = 33.5 ± 6.4). Perceived quality-of-life scores are consistent with the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of participants, as well as with the socioeconomic indicators and models of social welfare of the countries in which they live.

Stereotypes and Welfare Attitudes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hedegaard, Troels Fage

2014-01-01

recipients lacking both the financial incentives and the will to work. According to theories of the impact of media on welfare attitudes, this had the potential to undermine public support. A two-wave panel survey, however, showed only a small drop in public support for spending on social assistance...

Relational Benefit on Satisfaction and Durability in Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility

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Minseok Kim

2018-04-01

Full Text Available These days, companies are moving from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR activities for short-term profit generation to the ones for achieving economic and social long-term goals. This phenomenon results from the idea that CSR is not a mere cost but can be used as a source of opportunity, innovation and competitive advantage. Deemed as a great business strategy, strategic CSR activities are being emphasized by various stakeholders in the global market. The purpose of this study is to present specific implications and to empirically research the relations among relational benefits, commitment, and authenticity. It identifies the main factors of relationship management in expanding the stakeholder pool and forming relationships for strategic CSR activities. To this end, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 113 CSR practitioners in Korea and analyzed how social, psychological, and economic benefits affect the satisfaction and durability of strategic CSR activities through relational commitment and authenticity. Consequently, social, psychological, and economic benefits have an impact on relationships and, by extension, have a positive effect on relational satisfaction and durability. However, economic benefits affect relational authenticity, but social and psychological benefits do not. As a result, relational benefits cannot affect satisfaction through relationships. Therefore, relational benefits and commitment are more important variables for the satisfaction and durability of strategic CSR activities.

Re-imagining the (Welfare) Professional as a Specialised Generalist

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahl, Hanne Marlene

2005-01-01

The new welfare professions are often linked to the enlargement of the welfare state and the extension of social rights. Recently, this story has become more complex. The increasing prevalence of New Public Management (NPM) in state regulation sets a new discursive (meta) context for groups...

Social Welfare in East and West – A Tranquilizer for Dialogue

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juego, Bonn; Schmidt, Johannes Dragsbæk

Policies in Southeast Asia (Thailand and Indonesia in particular, but also Malaysia and the Philippines) in a comparative perspective with the East Asian experience (Japan, Korea and Taiwan - excl. labor), and the Scandinavian experience with corporatism (incl. labor). Are there lessons to be lea......Policies in Southeast Asia (Thailand and Indonesia in particular, but also Malaysia and the Philippines) in a comparative perspective with the East Asian experience (Japan, Korea and Taiwan - excl. labor), and the Scandinavian experience with corporatism (incl. labor). Are there lessons...... definite conclusions or policy prescriptions. As a matter of fact, in terms of social welfare, equity and labor market policies the pre-crisis model of East Asia might offer lessons for the West and vice versa. Mutual learning and dialogue must be the key for future understanding and cooperation....

Determining Connections between the Daily Lives of Zoo Elephants and Their Welfare: An Epidemiological Approach.

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Cheryl L Meehan

Full Text Available Concerns about animal welfare increasingly shape people's views about the acceptability of keeping animals for food production, biomedical research, and in zoos. The field of animal welfare science has developed over the past 50 years as a method of investigating these concerns via research that assesses how living in human-controlled environments influences the behavior, health and affective states of animals. Initially, animal welfare research focused on animals in agricultural settings, but the field has expanded to zoos because good animal welfare is essential to zoos' mission of promoting connections between animals and visitors and raising awareness of conservation issues. A particular challenge for zoos is ensuring good animal welfare for long-lived, highly social species like elephants. Our main goal in conducting an epidemiological study of African (Loxodonta africana and Asian (Elephas maximus elephant welfare in 68 accredited North American zoos was to understand the prevalence of welfare indicators in the population and determine the aspects of an elephant's zoo environment, social life and management that are most important to prevent and reduce a variety of welfare problems. In this overview, we provide a summary of the findings of the nine papers in the collection titled: Epidemiological Investigations of North American Zoo Elephant Welfare with a focus on the life history, social, housing, and management factors found to be associated with particular aspects of elephant welfare, including the performance of abnormal behavior, foot and joint problems, recumbence, walking rates, and reproductive health issues. Social and management factors were found to be important for multiple indicators of welfare, while exhibit space was found to be less influential than expected. This body of work results from the largest prospective zoo-based animal welfare study conducted to date and sets in motion the process of using science-based welfare

Contemporary Welfare Regimes in Baltic States: Adapting Post-Communist Conditions to Post-Modern Challenges

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Anu Toots

2010-11-01

Full Text Available This article revises the conventional approach to welfare state development in the post-communist world, according to which the main challenge for the Eastern European states is to catch up with Western European welfare regimes. The article argues that adjustment to the new social risks and volatile markets is more important today than the catching-up scenario. Based on social and labour market statistics for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the article analyses how the Baltic States are coping with this adjustment challenge. Adaptation to the post-modern conditions can be regarded as successful if the stability of welfare spending is accompanied by the expanding and flexible employment and by the stable or decreasing level of poverty. The findings suggest that the opportunities to increase the flexibility and equality of the labour market provided by the breakdown of the communist regime were not used. Instead, the Baltic welfare states continue to focus on protecting against the old social risks by combining neoliberal and post-communist principles. Poor performance in meeting new social risks poses a greater challenge for the post-communist welfare states than their lag in terms of gross welfare expenditure.

Animal welfare and the human-animal bond: considerations for veterinary faculty, students, and practitioners.

Science.gov (United States)

Wensley, Sean P

2008-01-01

Consideration of the human-animal bond typically focuses on the benefits of companion animals to human health and well-being, but it is essential that in realizing these benefits the welfare needs of the animals, both physical and mental, are also met. Positive emotional relationships with animals are likely to increase recognition of animal sentience and so help create positive attitudes toward animals at the societal level, but, at the individual level, the animals to which humans are bonded should also benefit from the human-animal relationship. A strong human-animal bond may benefit animal welfare (e.g., by motivating an owner to commit time and funds to necessary veterinary medical treatment), but may also be the source of compromised welfare. Highly bonded owners may, for example, be reluctant to permit euthanasia on humane grounds, and the anthropomorphic nature of many human-companion animal bonds can contribute to the development of problem behaviors and obesity. The challenge for the veterinary profession is to ensure that widespread positive sentiment toward animals, which the human-animal bond generates, is translated in to human behavior and actions that are conducive to good animal welfare. This, it is suggested, can be achieved through adequate veterinary education in veterinary and animal welfare science, ethics, and communication.

"I Wish to Be Self-Reliant": Aspiration for Self-Reliance, Need and Life Satisfaction, and Exit Dilemma of Welfare Recipients in Hong Kong

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Chack-Kie; Lou, Vivian Wei-Qun

2010-01-01

This qualitative study explores the welfare recipients' experiences of and attitudes toward the welfare benefit system in Hong Kong. A sample of 19 welfare recipients from six main recipient groups was interviewed, some twice. This study finds that the recipients have strong aspirations to exit the welfare benefit system. The welfare application…

The Ideology of Welfare Reform: Deconstructing Stigma.

Science.gov (United States)

Mills, Frederick B.

1996-01-01

Critiques recent welfare reform proposals and recommends social work practices that humanize Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). The critique deconstructs the labels "dependent,""addict," and "illegitimate" as they are applied to AFDC mothers and explores the reproduction of stigma through social work…

Improving working equine welfare in 'hard-win' situations, where gains are difficult, expensive or marginal.

Science.gov (United States)

Pritchard, Joy; Upjohn, Melissa; Hirson, Tamsin

2018-01-01

Brooke is a non-government organisation with working equine welfare programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2014, staff from ten country programmes were asked to identify 'no-win' situations (subsequently reframed as 'hard-wins')-where improving equine welfare is proving difficult, expensive and/or marginal-in order to inform strategic decisions on how to approach, manage and mitigate for such situations. The Delphi-type consultation process had three phases. Round 1 posed five questions in the form of a workshop, survey and semi-structured interviews. Round 2 re-presented key themes and sense-checked initial conclusions. Round 3 reviewed the nature and prevalence of hard-win situations at an international meeting of all participants. Reasons given for hard-win situations included: no economic or social benefit from caring for working animals; poor resource availability; lack of empathy for working equids or their owners among wider stakeholders; deep-seated social issues, such as addiction or illegal working; areas with a high animal turnover or migratory human population; lack of community cooperation or cohesion; unsafe areas where welfare interventions cannot be adequately supported. Participants estimated the prevalence of hard-win situations as 40-70% of their work. They suggested some current ways of working that may be contributing to the problem, and opportunities to tackle hard-wins more effectively. Respondents agreed that if equine welfare improvements are to span generations of animals, interventions cannot rely on relatively simple, technical knowledge-transfer strategies and quick-wins alone. Programmes need to be more flexible and iterative and less risk-averse in their approaches to embedding good equine welfare practices in all relevant actors. Consultation recommendations informed development of Brooke's new global strategy, a revised organisational structure and redefinition of roles and responsibilities to streamline ways to

Medicaid Issues in Family Welfare and Nursing Home Reform. Including H.R. 2270, a Bill To Amend Title XIX of the Social Security Act To Change the Medicaid Requirements for Nursing Facilities Based on Recommendations of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Hearings before the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, First Session (April 24 and May 12, 1987).

Science.gov (United States)

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Two hearings held a month apart examine major issues concerning Medicaid benefits in family welfare and nursing home reform. The first set of hearings discusses the proposed Family Welfare Reform Act of 1987 (H.R. 1720), which is intended to replace the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program of the Social Security Act Title IV.…

European Welfare State in a Historical Perspective. A Critical Review

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George Marian ŞTEFAN

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This paper provides an analysis of the historical evolution of the European welfare state, especially after the second half of the nineteenth century. Even if one considers that social protection systems have their origins in the period of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, various social problems have been treated in European countries before the Bismarck’s social legislation, beginning with the sixteenth century. In this article we presented mainly (i the origins of social policy systems in Europe, as shown in the literature covered, (ii the conceptual evolution of the so-called “welfare state” and (iii the development of social security schemes based on International Labour Organization typology.

Lifetime distributional effects of Social Security retirement benefits.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Karen; Toder, Eric; Iams, Howard

This article presents three measures of the distribution of actual and projected net benefits (benefits minus payroll taxes) from Social Security's Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) for people born between 1931 and 1960. The results are based on simulations with the Social Security Administration's Model of Income in the Near Term (MINT), which projects retirement income through 2020. The base sample for MINT is the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation panels for 1990 to 1993, matched with Social Security administrative records. The study population is grouped into 5-year birth cohorts and then ranked by economic status in three ways. First, the population is divided into five groups on the basis of individual lifetime covered earnings, and their lifetime present values of OASI benefits received and payroll taxes paid are calculated. By this measure, OASI provides much higher benefits to the lowest quintile of earners than to other groups, but it becomes less redistributive toward lower earners in more recent birth cohorts. Second, people are ranked by shared lifetime covered earnings, and the values of shared benefits received and payroll taxes paid are computed. Individuals are assumed to split covered earnings, benefits, and payroll taxes with their spouses in the years they are married. By the shared covered earnings measure, OASI is still much more favorable to persons in the lower income quintiles, although to a lesser degree than when people are ranked by individual covered earnings. OASI becomes more progressive among recent cohorts, even as net lifetime benefits decline for the entire population. Finally, individuals are ranked on the basis of their shared permanent income from age 62, when they become eligible for early retirement benefits, until death. Their annual Social Security benefits are compared with the benefits they would have received if they had saved their payroll taxes in individual accounts and used the

Poverty and Christian Welfare Scheme: Evidence from the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion Osun State, Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Awoniyi

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Existing studies on welfare schemes in Nigerian Churches have focussed on the political and economic perspectives, neglecting the ethical dimension which has a stronger basis in the Bible. This study, therefore, examined the welfare scheme of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion, Osun State, Nigeria as evidence with a view to assessing their method of generating welfare resources, as well as their implementation and monitoring strategy against the provision of the Bible on welfare ethics. Data were obtained through interviews, observation and questionnaire. In-depth interviews were conducted with 90 randomly selected key informants including 12 clergy, 24 poor members of the church, 18 welfare scheme officers and 36 beneficiaries. Four welfare schemes were observed between 1991 -2012 in a total of 30 Anglican Churches in major towns in Osun State. A total of 600 copies of the questionnaire were purposively administered to beneficiaries, church members and welfare scheme officers. Out of these, 550 were retrieved and analysed using percentages. The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion generated resources for welfare schemes through compulsory  levies, donations, annual harvest proceeds, offering collection ,tithes/offering and foreign assistance .Four categories of welfare schemes were adopted: Health care delivery, vocational rehabilitation, micro-credit loans, and women’s empowerment. One implementation strategy was adopted, namely, social advocacy. The church utilized sensitisation mechanism, widow retreat workshops, free health campaign, radio/television programmes and supportive counselling. Welfare scheme for the Church of Nigeria offered socio-economic benefits to members of the Church, but they were weakened by limited human coverage, insufficient funds and poor monitoring. These call for moral reorientation on the part of stakeholders in order to inculcate the ethics of justice and fairness as enshrined in the Bible.

Jobs and welfare in Mozambique

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jones, Sam; Tarp, Finn

Mozambique has achieved remarkable macroeconomic success over recent decades, boasting one of the world’s highest rates of GDP growth. However, absolute poverty remains persistent, spilling over into social unrest. To better understand the link between aggregate growth and household welfare...

Behavior Modification of Aggressive Children in Child Welfare: Evaluation of a Combined Intervention Program

Science.gov (United States)

Nitkowski, Dennis; Petermann, Franz; Buttner, Peter; Krause-Leipoldt, Carsten; Petermann, Ulrike

2009-01-01

Children and adolescents with aggressive disorders are prevalent in child welfare settings. Therefore, the assumption is that child welfare services would benefit from a cognitive-behavioral intervention. This study investigates whether implementation of the training with aggressive children (TAC) could improve the outcome of child welfare. Twelve…

Earned Citizenship: Labour Migrants’ Views on the Welfare State

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kremer, M.

2016-01-01

In policy and research, migration and the welfare state are often seen as being at odds. When ‘strangers’ enter the welfare state, the financial and social foundations of solidarity are said to crumble. A prominent question, therefore, is whether immigrants should have the same rights as the

Disability and the Worlds of Welfare Capitalism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rourke O’Brien

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A higher proportion of working- age persons receive disability assistance in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands than in other European countries. Whereas current research emphasizes the connection between disability assistance and rates of labor force exit, to date there has been no exploration of how welfare state context influences individual self-reported disability. Using nationally representative data from 15 countries (n = 88, 478, I find that residents of generous welfare states are significantly more likely to report a disability net of self-reported health, sociodemographic, and labor force characteristics and, notably, that this association extends to younger and more educated workers. I argue that welfare state context may directly shape what it means to be disabled, which may have consequences for evaluations of welfare state performance and social exclusion.

EFFECT OF FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION ON CAPITAL EXPENDITURE, GROWTH, AND WELFARE

OpenAIRE

Badrudin, Rudy

2013-01-01

This research analyzes the influence of fiscal decentralization on capital expenditure, economic growth, and social welfare of 29 regencies and 6 cities in Central Java Province based on the data of year 2004 to 2008. The method used to analyze the hypotheses is the Partial Least Square. The results showes that fiscal decentralization has no significant effect on capital expenditure; fiscal decentralization has significant effect on economic growth and social welfare; capital expenditure has ...

Drivers for animal welfare policies in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Dalla Villa, P; Matthews, L R; Alessandrini, B; Messori, S; Migliorati, G

2014-04-01

The European region has been, and remains, a global leader in the development of animal welfare policies. The region has a great diversity of cultures and religions, different levels of socio-economic development, and varied legislation, policies and practices. Nevertheless, there are common drivers for animal welfare policy based on a history of animal welfare ethics and obligations to animal users and society in general. A unifying goal of countries in the region is to achieve sustainable compliance with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) standards on animal health and welfare. Ethics isthe overarching driver, supported by the actions of governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental activities, markets and trade, science and knowledge. Historically, organisations involved in promoting animal welfare have tended to act in isolation. For example, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have run campaigns to influence retailers and the welfare policies of their farmer suppliers. Increasingly, different organisations with common or complementary goals are working together. For example, competent authorities, inter-governmental bodies and NGOs have combined their efforts to address dog population control across several countries in the region. Also, animal welfare is becoming integrated into the corporate social responsibility targets of private companies. Science and knowledge, as drivers and tools, are assisting with the harmonisation of welfare standards, e.g. by providing a common basis for measuring welfare impacts through animal-based measures and widespread sharing of this information. Current trends suggest that there will be greater collaboration among the organisations driving change, and increasing convergence of animal welfare strategies and welfare assessment tools. The result will be increased harmonisation of animal welfare standards throughout the region.

THE WELFARE AND THE ECONOMIC GROWTH: TWO FACES OF THE SAME COIN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ALINA LIGIA DUMITRESCU

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The research starts with review of the evolution of the concept of welfare. The model of economic growth and social welfare of the European Union continuously adapts to social and economic changes of contemporary European society. As a result of the financial and economic crisis and its impact on the EU’s economy, including economic contraction and rising unemployment, European Commission has launched the Strategy “Europe 2020”. The study will focus on the analysis of the strategy “Europe 2020” as a tool for economic growth and welfare.

Social welfare and legal constraints associated with work among breast and prostate cancer survivors: experiences from Ireland.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharp, Linda; Timmons, Aileen

2011-12-01

Around 40% of cancer survivors are of working age. We investigated employment outcomes among survivors in Ireland where sick leave and sick pay are at the employers' discretion and the law affords no protection against dismissal following extended absence. A questionnaire was mailed to 1,373 survivors, identified from the National Cancer Registry, 6-24 months post-diagnosis. The analysis included breast and prostate cancer respondents who were working at diagnosis. Factors associated with work continuation post-diagnosis and work resumption after cancer-related absence were identified using logistic regression. The response rate was 54%. Three hundred forty-six respondents were working at diagnosis (breast cancer = 246; prostate cancer = 100). Sixty-two (18%) continued working post-diagnosis. Factors significantly associated with work continuation were: self-employment, prostate cancer, lower pre-diagnosis household income, and not having surgery. Two hundred eighty-four took time off work post-diagnosis; of these, 51 (18%) had left the workforce, 187 (66%) had resumed working, and 46 (16%) planned to resume working. Factors significantly associated with work resumption were: tertiary education, not having chemotherapy, receiving sick pay, and not having a medical card (which provides free access to public health services). Among those who resumed working, the median absence was 30.1 weeks (inter-quartile range = 12.9-51.6). The length of absence varied significantly by socio-demographic, financial, medical, and job- and social welfare-related factors. Median working hours pre- and post-diagnosis differed significantly (pre-diagnosis = 38/week; post-diagnosis = 30/week; p<0.001). The high level of workforce departure and associations between self-employment, sick pay and medical cards, and employment outcomes suggest that social welfare and legal provisions are important determinants of the survivors' workforce participation. IMPLICATIONS FOR

The Role Of Women Farmer Group In Increasing Family Welfare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maudia Camalin

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The cross sector inequality puts farmers in Sumedang on the lowest level of welfare. Agricultural institutions, specifically the Women Farmer Group is formed to increase the level of farmer’s family welfare through women as the booster. The aim of starting KWT Mekar Arum is to relieve poverty which is the main social problem in Margaluyu Village, Tanjungsari Sub-district,  Sumedang Regency. This research is intended to describe its role on increasing the level of the member’s family welfare. It is a qualitative designed research with a case study method. The research result shows that the group has a social role for its members. Facilitation in production input, capital, and marketing are carried out by the group in working its role on developing member’s businesses. By joining the group, increase in welfare occurs in terms of income, health, and education of the KWT Mekar Arum.

Social costs and benefits of nuclear futures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pearce, D.

1979-01-01

The conceptual framework for evaluating which energy path is chosen is one of trading-off costs and benefits in a world of technological, economic and social uncertainty. The translation of this conceptual framework into an analytical format with empirical relevance is dealt with. Some salient features of cost benefit analysis are discussed. Actual costs and benefits of nuclear futures are then considered. Subjects discussed are: routine and non-routine radiation, waste management, proliferation, and civil liberties. A 'regret' matrix is presented showing the cost to any future generation if a decision on nuclear power is made now. (U.K.)

Modern Welfare and ‘Good Old’ Philanthropy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Villadsen, Kaspar

2011-01-01

This article identifies a number of parallels between nineteenth-century philanthropy and contemporary social work that have so far received little attention in the ongoing debate on the relation between philanthropy and modern welfare. While adopting a critical perspective on social philanthropy...... importantly, the philanthropists gave twentieth-century social policy a recipient who is not a subject of formal rights, but possesses a series of social duties and responsibilities....

Does media coverage influence public attitudes towards welfare recipients? The impact of the 2011 English riots.

Science.gov (United States)

Reeves, Aaron; de Vries, Robert

2016-06-01

Following the shooting of Mark Duggan by police on 4 August 2011, there were riots in many large cities in the UK. As the rioting was widely perceived to be perpetrated by the urban poor, links were quickly made with Britain's welfare policies. In this paper, we examine whether the riots, and the subsequent media coverage, influenced attitudes toward welfare recipients. Using the British Social Attitudes survey, we use multivariate difference-in-differences regression models to compare attitudes toward welfare recipients among those interviewed before (pre-intervention: i.e. prior to 6 August) and after (post-intervention: 10 August-10 September) the riots occurred (N = 3,311). We use variation in exposure to the media coverage to test theories of media persuasion in the context of attitudes toward welfare recipients. Before the riots, there were no significant differences between newspaper readers and non-readers in their attitudes towards welfare recipients. However, after the riots, attitudes diverged. Newspaper readers became more likely than non-readers to believe that those on welfare did not really deserve help, that the unemployed could find a job if they wanted to and that those on the dole were being dishonest in claiming benefits. Although the divergence was clearest between right-leaning newspaper and non-newspaper readers, we do not a find statistically significant difference between right- and left-leaning newspapers. These results suggest that media coverage of the riots influenced attitudes towards welfare recipients; specifically, newspaper coverage of the riots increased the likelihood that readers of the print media expressed negative attitudes towards welfare recipients when compared with the rest of the population. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2016.

The Effect of Steps to Promote Higher Levels of Farm Animal Welfare across the EU. Societal versus Animal Scientists' Perceptions of Animal Welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Averós, Xavier; Aparicio, Miguel A; Ferrari, Paolo; Guy, Jonathan H; Hubbard, Carmen; Schmid, Otto; Ilieski, Vlatko; Spoolder, Hans A M

2013-08-14

Information about animal welfare standards and initiatives from eight European countries was collected, grouped, and compared to EU welfare standards to detect those aspects beyond minimum welfare levels demanded by EU welfare legislation. Literature was reviewed to determine the scientific relevance of standards and initiatives, and those aspects going beyond minimum EU standards. Standards and initiatives were assessed to determine their strengths and weaknesses regarding animal welfare. Attitudes of stakeholders in the improvement of animal welfare were determined through a Policy Delphi exercise. Social perception of animal welfare, economic implications of upraising welfare levels, and differences between countries were considered. Literature review revealed that on-farm space allowance, climate control, and environmental enrichment are relevant for all animal categories. Experts' assessment revealed that on-farm prevention of thermal stress, air quality, and races and passageways' design were not sufficiently included. Stakeholders considered that housing conditions are particularly relevant regarding animal welfare, and that animal-based and farm-level indicators are fundamental to monitor the progress of animal welfare. The most notable differences between what society offers and what farm animals are likely to need are related to transportation and space availability, with economic constraints being the most plausible explanation.

Maximising the net social benefit of the construction of post-disaster alternative housing projects.

Science.gov (United States)

El-Anwar, Omar

2013-07-01

The widespread destruction that follows large-scale natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, challenges the efficacy of traditional temporary housing methods in providing adequate solutions to housing needs. Recognising these housing challenges, the Congress of the United States allocated, in 2006, USD 400 million to the Department of Homeland Security to support Alternative Housing Pilot Programs, which are intended to explore the possibilities of providing permanent and affordable housing to displaced families instead of traditional temporary housing. This paper presents a new methodology and optimisation model to identify the optimal configurations of post-shelter housing arrangements to maximise the overall net socioeconomic benefit. The model is capable of quantifying and optimising the impacts of substituting temporary housing with alternative housing on the social and economic welfare of displaced families as well as the required additional costs of doing so. An application example is presented to illustrate the use of the model and its capabilities. © 2013 The Author(s). Journal compilation © Overseas Development Institute, 2013.

Using pooled budgets to integrate health and welfare services: a comparison of experiments in England and Sweden.

Science.gov (United States)

Hultberg, Eva-Lisa; Glendinning, Caroline; Allebeck, Peter; Lönnroth, Knut

2005-11-01

The lack of collaboration between health, social and other welfare services is believed to impair efficiency and reduce effectiveness in addressing the complex problems of patients. Differences in funding streams, political accountabilities, organisational structures and professional cultures are all alleged to contribute to barriers between services. Drawing on their respective evaluations, this paper describes experiments in England and Sweden that use pooled budgets between services to improve interagency and interprofessional collaboration and presents evidence on their impact. Despite differences in the funding and organisation of health and welfare services in each country, some similar conclusions are reached. Among senior managers and politicians, budget pooling broadened their awareness of interdependencies with other agencies and professionals in promoting patients' welfare. However, these broadened perspectives were not immediately shared by professionals working at the front line, with whom patients had immediate contact. Moreover, neither experiment yielded unequivocal evidence of improved cost-effectiveness or of the benefits of budget pooling on the outcomes for service users. These experiments also raise questions about the equity and accountability of welfare services because in both countries only a limited range of services has been integrated under the umbrella of the pooled budgets.

Free Movement as a Threat for Universal Welfare States?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Greve, Bent

2014-01-01

, especially in the area of pensions. Given the enlargement of the past 10 years and a strong increase in inter-EU migration this impact might even increase. This article, using Denmark as a case study, looks at how, over time, free movement may lead towards convergence and thereby Europeanization of welfare...... states in Europe. It focuses especially on the pressures brought to bear on the universality of the Danish welfare state, thereby moving it away from one of the distinctive characteristics of the Nordic welfare state model: the universal access to benefits. It also raises the question of whether...

The Benefish consortium 24 month report WP6: productivity modelling of OWI's and welfare intervention measures

OpenAIRE

Schneider, O.; Schram, E.; Noble, C.

2009-01-01

In order to accurately model all costs and benefits associated with welfare interventions for farmed fish it is necessary to establish how any welfare actions affect productivity. Productivity modelling within Benefish has been conducted in WP6. WP6 aimed to model relationships between welfare interventions, changes in OWI’s and measures of productivity. It did so focusing only on the effects which were biological in nature: economic costs and benefits attributed to changes in productivity ar...

Socioeconomic inequalities in oral health in different European welfare state regimes.

Science.gov (United States)

Guarnizo-Herreño, Carol C; Watt, Richard G; Pikhart, Hynek; Sheiham, Aubrey; Tsakos, Georgios

2013-09-01

There is very little information about the relationship between welfare regimes and oral health inequalities. We compared socioeconomic inequalities in adults' oral health in five European welfare-state regimes: Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, Bismarckian, Southern and Eastern. Using data from the oral health module of the Eurobarometer 72.3 survey, we assessed inequalities in two self-reported oral health measures: no functional dentition (less than 20 natural teeth) and edentulousness (no natural teeth). Occupational social class, education and subjective social status (SSS) were included as socioeconomic position indicators. We estimated age-standardised prevalence rates, ORs, the Relative Index of Inequality (RII) and the Slope Index of Inequality (SII). The Scandinavian regime showed the lowest prevalence rates of the two oral health measures while the Eastern showed the highest. In all welfare regimes there was a general pattern of social gradients by occupational social class and education. Relative educational inequalities in no functional dentition were largest in the Scandinavian welfare regime (RII=3.81; 95% CI 2.68 to 5.42). The Scandinavian and Southern regimes showed the largest relative inequalities in edentulousness by occupation and education, respectively. There were larger absolute inequalities in no functional dentition in the Eastern regime by occupation (SII=42.16; 95% CI 31.42 to 52.89) and in the Southern by SSS (SII=27.92; 95% CI 17.36 to 38.47). Oral health inequalities in adults exist in all welfare-state regimes, but contrary to what may be expected from theory, they are not smaller in the Scandinavian regime. Future work should examine the potential mechanisms linking welfare provision and oral health inequalities.

The Fiscal Impact of EU Immigration on the Universalistic Welfare State

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martinsen, Dorte Sindbjerg; Rotger, Gabriel Pons

Are inclusive welfare states compatible with free movement of people? For long the nexus between immigration and the welfare state has been perceived as fragile or even unsustainable. In this paper, we examine the fiscal impact of European Union (EU) immigration on the universalistic, tax...... on the December 31st of each year between 2002 and 2013, we analyse EU citizens’ contribution to and consumption of welfare benefits, in order to research the evolution of net fiscal contribution to the welfare state over a long time span. We find that EU immigrants made a significant positive net contribution...

Development of animal welfare understanding drives change in minimum welfare standards.

Science.gov (United States)

Mellor, D J; Webster, J R

2014-04-01

The process by which societies adapt to increasing knowledge about the mental and physical capacities of animals and the ways in which they are affected by human activities has been described as a journey. Different countries and regions are at various stages of this journey, and will take a unique path, depending on their specific social and cultural dynamics. However, all participants are unified by an increasing awareness of, and concern for, animal welfare. This journey has been characterised by a number of landmark events, one of which was the release of the Five Freedoms concept. Although aspirational and abstract, as it did not outline specific practical goals, nonetheless this concept became a catalyst for moving animal welfare thinking in a new direction, and set up a number of important targets for research. This eventually led to a key shift in thinking from a focus on biological functioning and resources, to ways of assessing welfare outcomes in terms of animals' experiences, i.e. their affective states. Behaviour science played an important role in the interpretation of animals' affective experiences, receiving compelling support from parallel studies in affective neuroscience. An important aspect of our understanding of animal welfare is that affective states can be negative or positive. Enabling animals to perform specific behaviours at key times when they are needed is central to the achievement of positive affective states. Another important event has been the development of practical ways to shift the spectrum of affective states towards a positive balance and their incorporation into welfare codes and regulations. The recent focus on positive affective states does not mean that negative experiences should be given less attention. In fact, in those countries that are at the early stages of the journey, improving function and productivity may be the most effective way to promote some important aspects of animal welfare. For example, alleviating

When do fat taxes increase consumer welfare?

Science.gov (United States)

Lusk, Jayson L; Schroeter, Christiane

2012-11-01

Previous analyses of fat taxes have generally worked within an empirical framework in which it is difficult to determine whether consumers benefit from the policy. This note outlines on simple means to determine whether consumers benefit from a fat tax by comparing the ratio of expenditures on the taxed good to the weight effect of the tax against the individual's willingness to pay for a one-pound weight reduction. Our empirical calculations suggest that an individual would have to be willing to pay about $1500 to reduce weight by one pound for a tax on sugary beverages to be welfare enhancing. The results suggest either that a soda tax is very unlikely to increase individual consumer welfare or that the policy must be justified on some other grounds that abandon standard rationality assumptions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Professional Norms and Categorization Practices among Danish Social Workers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Marie Østergaard

2012-01-01

clients. In my material I identify a difference between an administrative and a social-pedagogical reasoning about social workers’ casework. I analyze this difference as expressing different kinds of professional norms and I try to explain varying categorization practices with this difference. Finally, I...... compare correspondences between professional norms and categorization practice to the regulative setting (sickness benefits or social welfare) to see whether this matters to the found relationships. The analysis shows a relationship between administrative reasoning and stereotyped categorization of social...

Welfare issues of horses: an overview and practical recommendations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisabetta Canali

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The largest proportion of the world’s horses are still used for work in agriculture and traction, however in the western countries they are increasingly kept for recreational and social purposes, breeding, sport and competition. It is often assumed that horses enjoys better farming conditions than other species, yet they have specific needs which should be fulfilled in order to have a proper welfare. This paper will review the main welfare issues of horses and the following aspects will be considered: nutrition, housing and management, clinical problems, behaviour problems, training and riding, transportation, measuring welfare. Horses are social animals that live in groups in close contact with conspecifics. They spend most of their waking hours moving at walk, grazing and eating grass. Some of the constraints imposed on horses during the last centuries conflict to their naturally evolved behaviour. Effective and humane handling of horses positively affects many important aspects like the safety of man, the performance level and the welfare of horses. It is an essential condition for keeping horses that handlers, riders, trainers, farriers and veterinarians have proper knowledge of the behaviour of the horse in order to fulfil their natural needs and guarantee their welfare.

Social Cost Benefit Analysis of HL-LHC

CERN Document Server

Bastianin, Andrea

2018-01-01

We present a Social Cost–Benefit Analysis (CBA) of the High Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), assessing its economic costs and benefits up to 2038. The Net Present Value (NPV) of the HL-LHC project is positive at the end of the observation period. The ratio between incremental benefits and incremental costs of the HL-LHC with respect to continue operating the LHC under normal consolidation (i.e. without high-luminosity upgrade) is slightly over 1.7, meaning that each Swiss Franc invested in the HL-LHC upgrade project pays back approximately 1.7 CHF in societal benefits. Simulations based on 50000 Monte Carlo rounds show that there is a 94% chance to observe a positive NPV (i.e. a quantifiable economic benefit for the society). The attractiveness of CERN for Early Stage Researchers (ESR) is key for a positive CBA result. Given that benefits to ESRs are the single most important societal benefit, CERN should invest more in activities facilitating the transition to the international job...

Going beyond The three worlds of welfare capitalism: regime theory and public health research.

Science.gov (United States)

Bambra, C

2007-12-01

International research on the social determinants of health has increasingly started to integrate a welfare state regimes perspective. Although this is to be welcomed, to date there has been an over-reliance on Esping-Andersen's The three worlds of welfare capitalism typology (1990). This is despite the fact that it has been subjected to extensive criticism and that there are in fact a number of competing welfare state typologies within the comparative social policy literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide public health researchers with an up-to-date overview of the welfare state regime literature so that it can be reflected more accurately in future research. It outlines The three worlds of welfare capitalism typology, and it presents the criticisms it received and an overview of alternative welfare state typologies. It concludes by suggesting new avenues of study in public health that could be explored by drawing upon this broader welfare state regimes literature.

European welfare states in motion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hemerijck, A.C.; Dräbing, V.; Vis, B.; Nelson, M.L.; Soentken, M.F.F.

2013-01-01

In this working paper, we assess to what extent European welfare states have moved in the direction of social investment in terms of spending and how well they are performing socio-economically, for instance in terms of unemployment, poverty-reduction and work-family life reconciliation. Moreover,

Lifetime income inequality with taxation and public benefits

OpenAIRE

Kemptner, Daniel; Haan, Peter; Prowse, Victoria

2016-01-01

In this paper, we show how taxation, unemployment insurance, welfare, disability benefits and public pensions affect the inequality of lifetime income. Using results from a dynamic life-cycle model estimated using German panel data, we show that taxation and public benefits combined reduce the inequality of lifetime income, measured by the Gini coefficient, by 22\\%. Pensions only slightly reduce inequality in lifetime income. Welfare benefits, meanwhile, make persistent transfers to individua...

The measurement of employment benefits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Burtraw, D

1994-07-01

The consideration of employment effects and so-called 'hidden employment benefits' is one of the most confused and contentious issues in benefit-cost analysis and applied welfare economics generally. New investments create new employment opportunities, and often advocates for specific investments cite these employment opportunities as alleged benefits associated with the project. Indeed, from the local perspective, such employment opportunities may appear to be beneficial because they appear to come for free. If there is unemployment in the local area, then new investments create valuable employment opportunities for those in the local community. Even if there is full employment in the local area then new investments create incentives for immigrant from other locations that may have pecuniary benefits locally through increased property values, business revenues, etc. The focus in this study is on net economic benefits from a broad national perspective. From this perspective, many of the alleged employment benefits at the local level are offset by lost benefits at other locales, and do not count as benefits according to economic theory. This paper outlines a methodology for testing this rebuttable presumption with empirical data pertaining to labor markets that would be affected by a specific new investment. The theoretical question that is relevant is whether the social opportunity cost of new employment is less than the market wage. This would be the case, for example, if one expects unemployment or underemployment to persist in a specific region of the economy or occupational category affected by the new investment. In this case, new employment opportunities produce a net increase in social wealth rather than just a transfer of income.

The measurement of employment benefits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burtraw, D.

1994-01-01

The consideration of employment effects and so-called 'hidden employment benefits' is one of the most confused and contentious issues in benefit-cost analysis and applied welfare economics generally. New investments create new employment opportunities, and often advocates for specific investments cite these employment opportunities as alleged benefits associated with the project. Indeed, from the local perspective, such employment opportunities may appear to be beneficial because they appear to come for free. If there is unemployment in the local area, then new investments create valuable employment opportunities for those in the local community. Even if there is full employment in the local area then new investments create incentives for immigrant from other locations that may have pecuniary benefits locally through increased property values, business revenues, etc. The focus in this study is on net economic benefits from a broad national perspective. From this perspective, many of the alleged employment benefits at the local level are offset by lost benefits at other locales, and do not count as benefits according to economic theory. This paper outlines a methodology for testing this rebuttable presumption with empirical data pertaining to labor markets that would be affected by a specific new investment. The theoretical question that is relevant is whether the social opportunity cost of new employment is less than the market wage. This would be the case, for example, if one expects unemployment or underemployment to persist in a specific region of the economy or occupational category affected by the new investment. In this case, new employment opportunities produce a net increase in social wealth rather than just a transfer of income

Influence of TCSC on social welfare and spot price - A comparative ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this paper, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) based algorithm has been suggested to find optimal location and setting of Thyristor Controlled Series Compensator (TCSC) to maximize Social Benefit (SB), considering its installation cost in competitive electricity market. PSO has simultaneously optimized generators' ...

Collaboration, Knowledge and Innovation toward a Welfare Society: The Case of the Board of Social Farming in Valdera (Tuscany), Italy

Science.gov (United States)

Di Iacovo, Francesco; Moruzzo, Roberta; Rossignoli, Cristiano M.

2017-01-01

Purpose: Through an analysis of a social farming (SF) case study, this article investigates how collaboration and knowledge co-creation between different actors can support the process of rural transition in order to stimulate innovation in the welfare system using agricultural resources. Methodology: We used the "Antecedent-Process-Outcome…

Improving working equine welfare in ‘hard-win’ situations, where gains are difficult, expensive or marginal

Science.gov (United States)

Pritchard, Joy; Hirson, Tamsin

2018-01-01

Purpose Brooke is a non-government organisation with working equine welfare programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2014, staff from ten country programmes were asked to identify ‘no-win’ situations (subsequently reframed as ‘hard-wins’)—where improving equine welfare is proving difficult, expensive and/or marginal—in order to inform strategic decisions on how to approach, manage and mitigate for such situations. Methods The Delphi-type consultation process had three phases. Round 1 posed five questions in the form of a workshop, survey and semi-structured interviews. Round 2 re-presented key themes and sense-checked initial conclusions. Round 3 reviewed the nature and prevalence of hard-win situations at an international meeting of all participants. Results Reasons given for hard-win situations included: no economic or social benefit from caring for working animals; poor resource availability; lack of empathy for working equids or their owners among wider stakeholders; deep-seated social issues, such as addiction or illegal working; areas with a high animal turnover or migratory human population; lack of community cooperation or cohesion; unsafe areas where welfare interventions cannot be adequately supported. Participants estimated the prevalence of hard-win situations as 40–70% of their work. They suggested some current ways of working that may be contributing to the problem, and opportunities to tackle hard-wins more effectively. Conclusion and animal welfare implications Respondents agreed that if equine welfare improvements are to span generations of animals, interventions cannot rely on relatively simple, technical knowledge-transfer strategies and quick-wins alone. Programmes need to be more flexible and iterative and less risk-averse in their approaches to embedding good equine welfare practices in all relevant actors. Consultation recommendations informed development of Brooke’s new global strategy, a revised organisational

Privatization and Optimum-Welfare in an International Cournot Duopoly

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernanda A. Ferreira

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we will analyse the relationship between privatization of a public firm and tax revenue for the domestic government in an international competition, with import tariffs. We consider a duopoly model where a domestic public firmand a foreign private firmcompete in the domesticmarket, asCournot players. Furthermore, the domestic government imposes a tariff to regulate an imported good, and may have a higher preference for tariff revenue than for social welfare. We compute the outputs at equilibrium and we show that privatization (i will increase the profits of both domestic and foreign firms; (ii will increase the tariff imposed to the imported good; and (iii will decrease the domestic welfare. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a rise in the government’s preference for tariff revenues raises the social welfare in both mixed and private models.

Multi-objective optimal reactive power dispatch to maximize power system social welfare in the presence of generalized unified power flow controller

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suresh Chintalapudi Venkata

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In this paper a novel non-linear optimization problem is formulated to maximize the social welfare in restructured environment with generalized unified power flow controller (GUPFC. This paper presents a methodology to optimally allocate the reactive power by minimizing voltage deviation at load buses and total transmission power losses so as to maximize the social welfare. The conventional active power generation cost function is modified by combining costs of reactive power generated by the generators, shunt capacitors and total power losses to it. The formulated objectives are optimized individually and simultaneously as multi-objective optimization problem, while satisfying equality, in-equality, practical and device operational constraints. A new optimization method, based on two stage initialization and random distribution processes is proposed to test the effectiveness of the proposed approach on IEEE-30 bus system, and the detailed analysis is carried out.

Benefits and Costs of Social Media in Adolescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Uhls, Yalda T; Ellison, Nicole B; Subrahmanyam, Kaveri

2017-11-01

In 2015, American adolescents aged 13 to 18 years reported using social media 1 hour and 11 minutes a day, 7 days a week. Social media are used for a variety of activities, including sharing information, interacting with peers, and developing a coherent identity. In this review of the research, we examine how social media are intertwined with adolescent development and assess both the costs and benefits of adolescent social media use. We include suggestions for further research and recommendations for clinicians, policy makers, and educators. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Effective Teaching and Learning in Interprofessional Education in Child Welfare

Science.gov (United States)

Whiteley, Robert F.; Gillespie, Judy; Robinson, Cathy; Watts, Wilda; Carter, Deb

2014-01-01

This article reports on research regarding interprofessional education (IPE) in child welfare conducted in 2009 and 2010. Pre service nursing, social worker and teacher education candidates participated in a workshop that "exposed" (Charles, Bainbridge & Gilbert, 2010) students to IPE in child welfare. This paper addresses a gap in…

Do horses with poor welfare show `pessimistic' cognitive biases?

Science.gov (United States)

Henry, S.; Fureix, C.; Rowberry, R.; Bateson, M.; Hausberger, M.

2017-02-01

This field study tested the hypothesis that domestic horses living under putatively challenging-to-welfare conditions (for example involving social, spatial, feeding constraints) would present signs of poor welfare and co-occurring pessimistic judgement biases. Our subjects were 34 horses who had been housed for over 3 years in either restricted riding school situations ( e.g. kept in single boxes, with limited roughage, ridden by inexperienced riders; N = 25) or under more naturalistic conditions ( e.g. access to free-range, kept in stable social groups, leisure riding; N = 9). The horses' welfare was assessed by recording health-related, behavioural and postural indicators. Additionally, after learning a location task to discriminate a bucket containing either edible food (`positive' location) or unpalatable food (`negative' location), the horses were presented with a bucket located near the positive position, near the negative position and halfway between the positive and negative positions to assess their judgement biases. The riding school horses displayed the highest levels of behavioural and health-related problems and a pessimistic judgment bias, whereas the horses living under more naturalistic conditions displayed indications of good welfare and an optimistic bias. Moreover, pessimistic bias data strongly correlated with poor welfare data. This suggests that a lowered mood impacts a non-human species' perception of its environment and highlights cognitive biases as an appropriate tool to assess the impact of chronic living conditions on horse welfare.

Do horses with poor welfare show 'pessimistic' cognitive biases?

Science.gov (United States)

Henry, S; Fureix, C; Rowberry, R; Bateson, M; Hausberger, M

2017-02-01

This field study tested the hypothesis that domestic horses living under putatively challenging-to-welfare conditions (for example involving social, spatial, feeding constraints) would present signs of poor welfare and co-occurring pessimistic judgement biases. Our subjects were 34 horses who had been housed for over 3 years in either restricted riding school situations (e.g. kept in single boxes, with limited roughage, ridden by inexperienced riders; N = 25) or under more naturalistic conditions (e.g. access to free-range, kept in stable social groups, leisure riding; N = 9). The horses' welfare was assessed by recording health-related, behavioural and postural indicators. Additionally, after learning a location task to discriminate a bucket containing either edible food ('positive' location) or unpalatable food ('negative' location), the horses were presented with a bucket located near the positive position, near the negative position and halfway between the positive and negative positions to assess their judgement biases. The riding school horses displayed the highest levels of behavioural and health-related problems and a pessimistic judgment bias, whereas the horses living under more naturalistic conditions displayed indications of good welfare and an optimistic bias. Moreover, pessimistic bias data strongly correlated with poor welfare data. This suggests that a lowered mood impacts a non-human species' perception of its environment and highlights cognitive biases as an appropriate tool to assess the impact of chronic living conditions on horse welfare.

A review of ecosystem service benefits from wild bees across social contexts.

Science.gov (United States)

Matias, Denise Margaret S; Leventon, Julia; Rau, Anna-Lena; Borgemeister, Christian; von Wehrden, Henrik

2017-05-01

In order to understand the role of wild bees in both social and ecological systems, we conducted a quantitative and qualitative review of publications dealing with wild bees and the benefits they provide in social contexts. We classified publications according to several attributes such as services and benefits derived from wild bees, types of bee-human interactions, recipients of direct benefits, social contexts where wild bees are found, and sources of changes to the bee-human system. We found that most of the services and benefits from wild bees are related to food, medicine, and pollination. We also found that wild bees directly provide benefits to communities to a greater extent than individuals. In the social contexts where they are found, wild bees occupy a central role. Several drivers of change affect bee-human systems, ranging from environmental to political drivers. These are the areas where we recommend making interventions for conserving the bee-human system.

The risks and benefits of social media in dental foundation training.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhola, S; Hellyer, P

2016-11-18

The use of social media has greatly expanded in the last decade, with widespread use of smartphones, the internet, and other multimedia to enhance learning. There is evidence to suggest that social media has a place in healthcare education, but there is limited research to suggest the effectiveness or use of it in dental foundation training. This paper discusses the risks and benefits of social media and suggests that a better understanding of social media and its role in the development and practice of newly qualified dental professionals could benefit both trainees and trainers.

A multifunctional social economy offer to the Danish welfare state? The case of Farming for Health in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Pia Heike

2010-01-01

agriculture nor inside the fourth sector meet the practices of Farming for Health in Denmark. In addition it concludes that if Farming for Health should be an offer for the Danish welfare state then cooperation between for example bottom-up initiatives supported by the LEADER program and actors from......Social Farming and Farming for Health are both internationally accepted names for farms that in addition to their agricultural production offer social, medical care or educational services. Such services could for example be related to rehabilitation / reintegration of socially disadvantaged people...... to promote integration of minorities, to special education of maladjusted school pupils and to physical or mental therapeutic rehabilitation. In Europe there has in recent years been an increasing focus on this linkage between farming and social / health activities as an initiative that encourages relations...

Personal and social benefits:consumer beliefs towards product review blogs

OpenAIRE

Ghazisaeedi, Mehdi

2012-01-01

Online blogs that offer reviews of products, services and technologies increasingly attract interest among public relations practitioners, as well as academic scholars. This paper reports on blog readers’ perceptions of the personal and social benefits offered by these specialized blogs as a new communication medium. The study surveyed 169 Australian online consumers. A personal and social benefits (PSB) multi-item scale, traditionally employed in an advertising research context, is adapted a...

Work Identity and Contradictory Experiences of Welfare Workers in a Life-history Perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dybbroe, Betina

2012-01-01

Transformation of the welfare sectors challenge professional identities of care and welfare workers in Scandinavia. At the same time welfare and care workers take part in these changes and are changed in the psycho-social setting of the workplace. This article presents research about care work...... in nursing and involves a young nurse in scenes of the hospital, where gendered life history is re-enacted and present in a gendered work life with fragile possibilities of identification . Social dynamics interact with subjective dynamics in ways that illuminate not only habitual and creative orientations...

Social media in food risk and benefit communication

OpenAIRE

Rutsaert, Pieter

2013-01-01

The overall objective of this doctoral thesis was to contribute to a better understanding of the role social media can fulfil for the communication of food-related risks and benefits. Social media is the collective name for a number of online applications, including social networks, video- and picture-sharing websites, blogs, and microblogs, that allow users to generate and share information online. As a consequence users now control how information is found and used instead of the producers....

An approach for evaluating utility-financed energy conservation programs. The economic welfare model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Costello, K W; Galen, P S

1985-09-01

The main objective of this paper is to illustrate how the economic welfare model may be used to measure the economic efficiency effects of utility-financed energy conservation programs. The economic welfare model is the theoretical structure that was used in this paper to develop a cost/benefit test. This test defines the net benefit of a conservation program as the change in the sum of consumer and producer surplus. The authors advocate the operation of the proposed cost/benefit model as a screening tool to eliminate from more detailed review those programs where the expected net benefits are less than zero. The paper presents estimates of the net benefit derived from different specified cost/benefit models for four illustrative pilot programs. These models are representative of those which have been applied or are under review by utilities and public utility commissions. From the numerical results, it is shown that net benefit is greatly affected by the assumptions made about the nature of welfare gains to program participants. The main conclusion that emerges from the numerical results is that the selection of a cost/benefit model is a crucial element in evaluating utility-financed energy conservation programs. The paper also briefly addresses some of the major unresolved issues in utility-financed energy conservation programs. 2 figs., 3 tabs., 10 refs. (A.V.)

Chicken or Egg: Global Economic Crisis or Ideological Retrenchment from Welfare in Three European Countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Aase Mygind; Judd, Dawn; Boeckh, Jürgen

2015-01-01

As welfare states confront massive changes, these are often explained as inevitable by-products of the global economic crisis. However, many of the shifts in welfare ideology pre-date the crisis. As increasing numbers of European welfare states move towards neoliberal paradigms then this converge......As welfare states confront massive changes, these are often explained as inevitable by-products of the global economic crisis. However, many of the shifts in welfare ideology pre-date the crisis. As increasing numbers of European welfare states move towards neoliberal paradigms...... then this convergence is, in turn, having a marked impact on social work education and practice. Today it would appear that, to varying degrees, European social workers are driven by ever-growing managerialist objectives. Juxtaposed is the shift towards consumerism and individualism, which is manifested through various...

Social support mediates the association between benefit finding and quality of life in caregivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Brand, Charles; Barry, Lorna; Gallagher, Stephen

2016-06-01

The psychosocial pathways underlying associations between benefit finding and quality of life are poorly understood. Here, we examined associations between benefit finding, social support, optimism and quality of life in a sample of 84 caregivers. Results revealed that quality of life was predicted by benefit finding, optimism and social support. Moreover, the association between benefit finding and quality of life was explained by social support, but not optimism; caregivers who reported greater benefit finding perceived their social support be higher and this, in turn, had a positive effect on their overall quality of life. These results underscore the importance of harnessing benefit finding to enhance caregiver quality of life. © The Author(s) 2014.

Retiree health benefits-vesting of welfare benefits-early retirement-duty to bargain-termination of benefits-estoppel.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

Poore v. Simpson Paper Co., 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 11170 (9th Cir. Or. May 21, 2009). To be able to sue under ERISA, retirement health plan participants need not show that their benefits are vested the same way pension benefits are vested; the rights to the benefits need not be fixed or unalterable, rather, the employee must have an entitlement to the benefits.

The Benefish consortium 24 month report WP6: productivity modelling of OWI's and welfare intervention measures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schneider, O.; Schram, E.; Noble, C.

2009-01-01

In order to accurately model all costs and benefits associated with welfare interventions for farmed fish it is necessary to establish how any welfare actions affect productivity. Productivity modelling within Benefish has been conducted in WP6. WP6 aimed to model relationships between welfare

Forecasting the Socio-Economic Impact of the Large Hadron Collider: a Cost-Benefit Analysis to 2025 and Beyond

CERN Document Server

Florio, Massimo; Sirtori, Emanuela

2016-01-01

In this paper we develop a cost-benefit analysis of a major research infrastructure, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the highest-energy accelerator in the world, currently operating at CERN. We show that the evaluation of benefits can be made quantitative by estimating their welfare effects on different types of agents. Four classes of direct benefits are identified, according to the main social groups involved: (a) scientists; (b) students and young researchers; (c) firms in the procurement chain and other organizations; (d) the general public, including onsite and website visitors and other media users. These benefits are respectively related to the knowledge output of scientists; human capital formation; technological spillovers; and direct cultural effects for the general public. Welfare effects for taxpayers can also be estimated by the contingent valuation of the willingness to pay for a pure public good for which there is no specific direct use (i.e., as non-use value). Using a Monte Carlo approach, w...

Welfare Lobby Groups responding to Globalisation: A Comparison of the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS and the UK Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2004-05-01

Full Text Available The past decade has witnessed a period of intense economic globalisation. The growing significance of international trade, investment, production and financial flows appears to be curtailing the autonomy of individual nation states. In particular, globalisation appears to be encouraging, if not demanding, a decline in social spending and standards. However, many authors believe that this thesis ignores the continued impact of national political and ideological pressures and lobby groups on policy outcomes. In particular, it has been argued that national welfare consumer and provider groups remain influential defenders of the welfare state. For example, US aged care groups are considered to be particularly effective defenders of social security pensions. According to this argument, governments engaged in welfare retrenchment may experience considerable electoral backlash (Pierson 1996; Mishra 1999. Yet, it is also noted that governments can take action to reduce the impact of such groups by reducing their funding, and their access to policy-making and consultation processes. These actions are then justified on the basis of removing potential obstacles to economic competitiveness (Pierson 1994; Melville 1999.

Making the Indian Child Welfare Act Work: Missing Social and Governmental Linkages.

Science.gov (United States)

Sink, David

1982-01-01

The Indian Child Welfare Act places responsibility for implementing Indian welfare legislation onto Indian tribes themselves, rather than on the government bureaucracy. Successful implementation poses challenges concerning the establishment of comprehensive tribal courts, in view of sociocultural and environmental factors that have affected the…

Targeting plug-in hybrid electric vehicle policies to increase social benefits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skerlos, Steven J.; Winebrake, James J.

2010-01-01

In 2009 the U.S. federal government enacted tax credits aimed at encouraging consumers to purchase plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). These tax credits are available to all consumers equally and therefore do not account for the variability in social benefits associated with PHEV operation in different parts of the country. The tax credits also do not consider variability in consumer income. This paper discusses why the PHEV subsidy policy would have higher social benefits at equal or less cost if the tax credits were offered at different levels depending on consumer income and the location of purchase. Quantification of these higher social benefits and related policy proposals are left for future work.

Market Valuation of Accrued Social Security Benefits

OpenAIRE

John Geanakoplos; Stephen P. Zeldes

2009-01-01

One measure of the health of the Social Security system is the difference between the market value of the trust fund and the present value of benefits accrued to date. How should present values be computed for this calculation in light of future uncertainties? We think it is important to use market value. Since claims on accrued benefits are not currently traded in financial markets, we cannot directly observe a market value. In this paper, we use a model to estimate what the market price for...

Emigração e desenvolvimento da previdência social em Portugal Emigration and the development of social welfare in Portugal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor Pereira

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Este artigo analisa a política social do final dos anos 60 e inícios dos anos 70. Demonstra que o alargamento da previdência social corresponde a uma tentativa de ajustamento do governo face à emigração que se iniciou no fim da década de 50. Este alargamento resultou também da acção no seio do Estado de uma corrente de altos funcionários inspirados pela doutrina social da Igreja renovada pelo Vaticano II, da inserção de alguns agentes administrativos nas comunidades epistémicas internacionais ligadas às políticas sociais e de uma tentativa de legitimação do poder de Marcelo Caetano.This article analyses social policy in the 1960s and early 1970s. It shows that the expansion of the social welfare system was an attempt by the government to adapt to the emigration which began in the late 1950s. Other factors behind the expansion of the system were measures taken within the government by a group of senior officials who were inspired by the new life given to the Church's social doctrines arising from Vatican II, the membership of some administrative officials in international communities of experts on social policy, and the attempt to legitimize the Marcelo Caetano regime.

20 CFR 645.260 - What health and safety provisions apply to participants in Welfare-to-Work programs?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... Administrative Requirements § 645.260 What health and safety provisions apply to participants in Welfare-to-Work... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What health and safety provisions apply to participants in Welfare-to-Work programs? 645.260 Section 645.260 Employees' Benefits EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING...

Trust, Welfare States and Income Equality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergh, Andreas; Bjørnskov, Christian

2014-01-01

The cross-country correlation between social trust and income equality is well documented, but few studies examine the direction of causality. We show theoretically that by facilitating cooperation, trust may lead to more equal outcomes, while the feedback from inequality to trust is ambiguous....... Using a structural equation model estimated on a large country sample, we find that trust has a positive effect on both market and net income equality. Larger welfare states lead to higher net equality but neither net income equality nor welfare state size seems to have a causal effect on trust. We...

The Potential Social Benefits of Gifaataa Celebration of Wolaita

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meshesha Make Jobo

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This study was intended to explore the potential social benefits of 'Gifaataa' Celebration of Wolaita (GCW. The subjects used were 600 individuals selected by availability sampling and 12 elders selected by purposive sampling (by their deep knowledge of overall indigenous wisdom of Wolaita from six selected Woredas of Wolaita Zone. The descriptive survey research design was used having the quantitative and qualitative data collected through questionnaire, face-to-face interview and FGD. The analysis was made using the eclectic approach of data analysis. The result indicated that GCW has various potential social benefits: It creates and strengthens social ties by different events. It is a venture through which Wolaitas avoid bad and evil activities through elders’ counselling and it is a vehicle through which Wolaita’s indigenous language and culture are transferred to the next generation. Furthermore, Gifaataa is also a venture for promoting the social transformation of individuals.

Institutions, culture and migrants' preference for state-provided welfare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt-Catran, Alexander; Careja, Romana

2017-01-01

Using the difference-in-differences estimator and data provided by the German Socio-Economic Panel, this article explores migrants’ preferences for state-provided welfare. The study finds evidence that over time, the preferences of immigrants and natives become more similar. We interpret this fin......Using the difference-in-differences estimator and data provided by the German Socio-Economic Panel, this article explores migrants’ preferences for state-provided welfare. The study finds evidence that over time, the preferences of immigrants and natives become more similar. We interpret...... this finding as evidence that the culture of home countries does not have a time-invariant effect, and that immigrants’ welfare preferences are subject to a socializing effect of the host countries’ welfare regime....

A Review of the Social Benefits of Joint Farming Ventures

OpenAIRE

Áine Macken Walsh

2010-01-01

This paper will review some of the main benefits arising from farmers’ working together, whether through Farm Partnerships or Share Farming arrangements. First, some of the general social benefits are overviewed, and then brief case-studies are presented of the specific benefits that have been experienced by farmers working together in the UK and Norway.

Improving working equine welfare in 'hard-win' situations, where gains are difficult, expensive or marginal.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joy Pritchard

Full Text Available Brooke is a non-government organisation with working equine welfare programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2014, staff from ten country programmes were asked to identify 'no-win' situations (subsequently reframed as 'hard-wins'-where improving equine welfare is proving difficult, expensive and/or marginal-in order to inform strategic decisions on how to approach, manage and mitigate for such situations.The Delphi-type consultation process had three phases. Round 1 posed five questions in the form of a workshop, survey and semi-structured interviews. Round 2 re-presented key themes and sense-checked initial conclusions. Round 3 reviewed the nature and prevalence of hard-win situations at an international meeting of all participants.Reasons given for hard-win situations included: no economic or social benefit from caring for working animals; poor resource availability; lack of empathy for working equids or their owners among wider stakeholders; deep-seated social issues, such as addiction or illegal working; areas with a high animal turnover or migratory human population; lack of community cooperation or cohesion; unsafe areas where welfare interventions cannot be adequately supported. Participants estimated the prevalence of hard-win situations as 40-70% of their work. They suggested some current ways of working that may be contributing to the problem, and opportunities to tackle hard-wins more effectively.Respondents agreed that if equine welfare improvements are to span generations of animals, interventions cannot rely on relatively simple, technical knowledge-transfer strategies and quick-wins alone. Programmes need to be more flexible and iterative and less risk-averse in their approaches to embedding good equine welfare practices in all relevant actors. Consultation recommendations informed development of Brooke's new global strategy, a revised organisational structure and redefinition of roles and responsibilities to

Does a 'non-committed' government always generate lower social welfare than its 'committed' counterpart? Strategic trade policy when consumer surplus matters

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Žigić, Krešimir

2011-01-01

Roč. 39, č. 4 (2011), s. 533-556 ISSN 0147-5967 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC542 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : government commitment * social welfare * optimal tariffs and export subsidies Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 1.028, year: 2011

Prevalence of temporary social security benefits due to respiratory disease in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Ildefonso, Simone de Andrade Goulart; Barbosa-Branco, Anadergh; Albuquerque-Oliveira, Paulo Rogério

2009-01-01