The Welfare state and the elderly in Europe

The recent Enron-type scandals have reinvigorated the corporate governance debate. The purpose of this paper is to situate that debate in a much older and more fundamental debate about the organization of production. This paper presents a modern reconstruction of a property rights argument for the democratic firm (a firm whose legal members are the people working in it). The old “fruits of their labor” argument is reformulated using the ordinary responsibility principle that legal responsibility is to be imputed to whoever is in fact responsible. Far from conflicting with private property, the responsibility principle provides grounds for the just appropriation of private property. However, there is a conflict with the legal contract for the renting of human beings, the employment contract, in view of thede facto nontransferability of responsibility. This recognition of the invalidity of the employment contract can be independently arrived at using a modern reconstruction of an inalienable rights argument from the Reformation and Enlightenment. Finally these arguments are applied to the corporate governance debate to suggest a rechartering of corporations so that shareholders become debt-holders and the people working in a corporation become its legal members.     

Negotiating Domestic Labor: Women's Earnings and Housework Time in Australia

Abstract

Recent research in the United States has found that wives' absolute earnings level is more important than their earnings relative to their spouses in determining time spent on housework. Utilizing data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, this article examines whether women's housework time in Australia is associated with relative or absolute earnings and extends previous work by examining possible mechanisms linking women's earnings with their time on housework, outsourcing through the use of paid domestic help, and unmeasured heterogeneity among women. The research finds that women's housework time is more strongly affected by women's relative earnings than by their absolute earnings, and neither outsourcing nor unobserved heterogeneity can explain the relationship between women's earnings and their housework time in Australia. These results indicate that Australia has a strong male-breadwinner institutional framework that continues to hinder gender equality in paid and unpaid work.     

中国城乡老年健康及照料状况研究

人口老龄化背景下我国城乡的老年健康及老年照料问题日益严重。利用中国城乡老年人状况调查数据、全国残疾人抽样调查数据以及国家卫生服务利用调查数据,从两周患病率、慢性病患病率、残疾水平、自评健康以及健康预期寿命等方面分析了我国城乡老年人的健康状况,探讨了目前我国城乡老年人的照料提供来源。提出了人口老龄化趋势下提高老年健康水平,应对老年人口照料危机的政策建议。     

Who takes the child to the doctor? Mom,pretty much all of the time

We document the degree to which Danish mothers are responsible for handling their children’s medical services. Using unique administration data on detailed medical services that were performed on all Danish children from 1992 to 1995, we find that, on average, more than 90% of all children’s medical services were handled by their mothers rather than their fathers. To our knowledge, this is the first study to use medical register data to quantify domestic time use. As these services are mainly performed during work hours, this finding provides one mechanism by which absenteeism increases as a consequence of motherhood. Furthermore, the economic variables that should affect a household’s assignment of a task like taking the child to the doctor are shown to explain very little, suggesting that other factors, such as societal norms, are at play.     

日本老年医疗护理产业的现状及发展趋势

日本是人口老龄化比较严重的国家,已经形成比较完善的医疗护理、养老居住、老年商品及服务等老年产业。日本政府加强老年医疗护理产业发展政策的研究,完善对该产业服务质量的评价与监督,推进该产业服务体系建设;已将“医疗和护理产业”定为日本经济未来的增长点,计划将医疗护理产业建设成为日本的优势项目,参与国际竞争。日本老年医疗护理产业的做法及发展方向,值得我国借鉴和参考。     

农村老年人居家养老服务的需求及其影响因素分析—基于江苏省的社会调查

通过对江苏农村老年人的调查及访谈数据,分析农村老年人居家养老服务需求的主要表现及其特征,研究影响农村老年人居家养老服务需求的主要影响因素。就开展为老服务和制订相关政策提出了建议。     

论商品价值性质

不是任何抽象劳动都形成商品的价值,而是具有社会性、交换性和补偿性的抽象劳动才形成商品的价值。形成价值的抽象劳动的社会性、交换性和补偿性同时存在,三者互为前提,相互联系。抽象劳动的社会性、补偿性和交换性在生产过程和交换过程中形成商品价值性质。商品价值性质的核心是生产者的劳动时间与社会总劳动时间的关系。价值性质范畴有助于深化和发展劳动价值论,为判断劳动是否生产商品和形成价值提供新的视角。依据商品价值性质有助于解释一些经济现象,使劳动价值论更有说服力,从而增强其生命力。     

Problems of elderly health care and welfare arrangement --Case study of demand on elder care in northeastern of Thailand

This research attempted to explain the problems of elderly health care, the problems and suggestion in elder welfare arrangement and the demand on elder care. The survey underlying this study was conducted in Muang district, Khon Kaen province, Thailand. Eighteen subdistricts were interviewed in the study area. Data were collected in two areas of Khon Kaen province, that are, the city of Khon Kaen and the outside Thesaban Nakhon Khon Kaen. The random sample consisted of 386 elders： 112 elders lived in the city of Khon Kaen and 234 elders lived outside Thesaban Nakhon Khon Kaen, Muang district, Khon Kaen. The analysis of the demand on elderly welfare gave an interesting result that the elders demanded on monthly income to support living cost and medical services at high level; The demand on housing was at low level; The demand on education, religion and culture the demand on club, sport and entertainment, and the demand on job and art were at the moderate level; The main problem of elderly welfare arrangement was the scarcity of budget support, the weakness of elder health, and activities announcement. The analysis of pattern of elder welfare： The case study of elder care identified that 31.87 percent of the elders had demand on elder care. Price of the elder care at 100 Baht per day was mostly selected about one-fourth of all the case occurred. Female elder selected the elder care at 100 Baht per day, while male elder choose at a higher price level, which were 200 Baht per day and 150 Baht per day respectively. The female elder care was the most popular. The elder care age between 30-39 years was mostly selected. Finally, most of elders purposed the working day of the elder care depend on their appointment.     

中国社会养老体系建设的研究新思路

家庭养老作为一种制度体系,有其深刻的意识形态传统并植根于中国特定的生产组织模式。基于东西方社会生产方式演变过程中生产组织关系的对比视角,在养老体系建设的框架中,抓住中国绵延千载的家庭养老模式的特点,对中国社会养老模式应具备的特点进行了探索。在我国发达城市逐渐兴起的义工养老模式是具备稳定潜质和长久不衰潜质的社会养老模式。据此设想中国社会养老体系建设过程中的挑战与对策。     

中西合璧的老人支持体系——香港所追求的全面照顾模式

以老人照顾体系发展的四个阶段,回顾香港过去五十年来从家庭维系传统孝亲价值,政府角色对照顾责任的厘清,传统家庭对机构照料的忌讳,到近年来从\"在社区照顾\"发展至\"就地养老\"的概念;从人口结构的变化、社会经济发展的变迁以及政府角色与责任的不同作了探讨剖析。说明\"全面照顾模式\"如何结合上述价值与社会体系背景,将政府与民间的各层面力量融入成为全方位、多面向与多选项的照顾体系,说明了对于政策制定者、服务提供者以及社区工作者这又意味着什么样的挑战。     

杭州春季城市公园老年人行为抽样调查与分析

户外环境的使用对于老年人的健康具有积极影响,通过提高公园的使用率可以更好地发挥公园功效。选择杭州萧山的南江公园、江寺公园2处公园作为样本,通过行为观察法了解老年人的行为特征和使用方式,研究老年人在一天中不同时段的活动类型、活动与环境之间的关系,从而就老年人能够更好地使用公园提出相应的对策和建议。     

我国城市首批独生子女父母养老方式选择与养老模型建构

提出城市独生子女父母养老方式选择的研究假设,依据调查数据,描述首批独生子女父母养老方式的选择,探索应对我国大规模急速老龄化的养老战略选择,分析不同养老方式对养老资源的不同发掘整合结构及功能、不同养老方式需要的条件,以及经济住房困难和富裕家庭对不同养老方式的选择。依据老年人不同自理能力,提出对城市独生子女父母养老模型的建构思考,探索规避老龄社会养老风险的制度架构。     

城市居民的居住期望及其对养老方式选择的影响

以城市居民为研究对象,从江苏省四个城市随机抽取813位居民进行访问式问卷调查,以居住安排与养老方式的关系作为分析视角,从个体特征,家庭的社会经济地位,居住结构状况,养老观念等几个纬度出发,经由交互分析和Logistic回归分析的方法,具体阐明了城市居民的居住期望和养老意愿的现状,并进而论证了影响他们做此选择的可能因素。多数城市居民老年时将独自(与配偶)居住,依靠社会化养老或自我服务可能会成为城市居民安度晚年的主流形式。