The politics of social protection expenditure and financing in southern Africa

Social protection is expanding in southern Africa, but consideration of its fiscal base is usually limited to affordability concerns. Little attention is paid to the different sources of revenue or how the interests of contributors to social protection may affect spending priorities. This article suggests there is a link between revenue source and social protection spending. Aid dependent countries' social protection policy is mostly determined by donors. The governments of countries that rely on natural resources or Southern African Customs Union revenue are relatively free to shape social protection policy. Only in countries that rely on domestic tax-based revenue, where the government must consider the interests of the taxpayer, is there something resembling a social contract for social protection, in which the citizens engage with their government through an exchange-based logic. This article concludes that a broad and diversified tax base is an important mechanism for creating a reciprocal relationship of this kind and thus increasing social spending.     

Social protection in Lesotho: Innovations and reform challenges

Given its current socioeconomic conditions and fiscal ability, Lesotho has achieved an impressive record in creating a basic social assistance and social protection system, informed by political commitment and through budget reprioritisation. It has set up and administered near universal schemes operating at scale with fairly low transaction costs, addressing core areas and serving vulnerable constituencies – including the aged, orphaned and vulnerable children and children of school-going age. A contribution-based comprehensive national social security scheme to provide coverage for Lesotho workers and their families is also planned. Nevertheless, the task of providing adequate social protection coverage faces systems and delivery challenges; several human development indicators have worsened, and most of the Millennium Development Goals are far from being achieved. There is scope for creating greater fiscal space by establishing a compulsory national contributory scheme, and donor support in the short to medium term is inevitable.     

Gender and child sensitive social protection in South Africa

Drawing from a 2010 study of women receiving the Child Support Grant in an urban area of South Africa, this article discusses the link between social protection, women's empowerment and the well-being of children. It appears that the Grant enhances women's power and control over household decision-making in financial matters, general household spending and child well-being. At the same time, the data show that women continue to bear the greatest burden of care in the household and that these responsibilities significantly heighten gender inequalities. Therefore, while the Grant has benefits for child well-being and women's empowerment, it cannot on its own transform unequal and unjust social relations of power. It should be working in concert with other public programmes not only to focus on children's needs but also to strive for gender equality for poor women.     

The contribution of non-formal social protection to social development in Botswana

This article documents the non-formal system of social protection in Botswana, identifies opportunities for synergies between the non-formal and formal systems, and considers the challenges of integrating the two. Non-formal initiatives depend on traditional forms of social protection such as self-help, self-organisation, membership of a social group and cultural norms of community solidarity, reciprocity and obligations; whereas the formal social protection system is undergirded by statutes and laws, institutionalised in policy and legislation, publicly funded and delivered within national norms and eligibility criteria. The article argues that integrating the two could produce a complementary and responsive system of social protection that takes account of indigenous and other non-formal systems of support and enhances the delivery of social protection services, and that other countries in the region might derive lessons from Botswana's experience.     

Social development and social protection: New opportunities and challenges

The growing interest in social protection in the interdisciplinary field of development studies presents new challenges and opportunities. However, to respond effectively, development scholars should be cognisant of the extensive research that has been undertaken over many years in the interdisciplinary field of social policy into what is known as ‘social security’. They have hitherto neglected this research, but it can make a significant contribution to their own work. At the same time, they have a rare opportunity to inform social policy research, which has historically relied on a Eurocentric ‘welfare state’ approach that is of limited relevance to the developing world. By forging closer links between these two fields, we can address the challenges facing social protection more effectively.     

论如何筹集社会保障资金

随着改革开放的不断深入,我国对社会保障体制进行了一系列的改革。但迄今为止,全国统一的社会保障体系尚未形成,作为社会保障体系基础和核心环节的社会保障资金在筹措、管理及使用等方面还存在许多不完善和不规范的地方。因此,有必要用新的筹资方式代替原有的多元分散的筹资方式,以适应社会保障体制改革和经济社会发展的需要,社会保障税是我国社会保障筹资方式的最佳选择。     

The Impact of Social Safety Net Programs on Household Savings in Colombia

This paper seeks to understand and quantify how social safety net programs impact household savings in developing countries, considering the case of Colombia using two complementary approaches. The first approach explores how the health regime affects savings in the country. The second evaluates the impact on savings of familias en acción, a major antipoverty conditional cash transfer program. The results suggest that the savings of informal households are higher than those of formal households, because, with little incentive to enter the formal job market, informal households need to cover slightly greater non‐covered risks. The results also show that familias en acción recipients save more than non‐recipients because recipients favorably adjust their expenditure patterns.     

Pro-poor growth and social protection in South Africa: Exploring the interactions

This study evaluates the impact of South Africa's long-term economic growth on household poverty and inequality between 1995 and 2005. We find a decline in aggregate levels of poverty, but increasing levels of inequality. The evidence suggests that the growth model provides substantial redistributive income support to the poor through the social grant programme, whilst offering few returns to those in the middle of the distribution.     

从法的价值层面论农村社会保障法律制度的原则

本文论述了农村社会保障法律制度的价值追求———社会公平,评析了现阶段我国农村社会保障法律制度的价值缺失,在此基础上提出了农村社会保障立法中应贯彻反歧视与偏重保护原则。     

湖北省城镇社会保障体系建设中面临的问题与对策

在人口老龄化、城镇化及居民收入差距扩大的背景下,湖北省的城镇社会保障体系存在覆盖面窄、保障资金不足等问题,本文借鉴国内外经验,从拓宽社保资金来源、创新基金监管和运营模式等方面进一步完善湖北省城镇社会保障体系,以使更多的社会成员享受社保的阳光和经济社会发展的成果。     

消除社会排斥 加快东北下岗失业人员的社会保障建设

国有企业改革是振兴东北老工业基地的关键所在。由于社会排斥所造成的下岗失业工人的生存困境以及由此带来的社会问题,已成为制约国企改革的瓶颈。建立完善的社会保障制度有助于消除社会排斥,促进社会和谐发展。     

对社会保障支出水平的分析与建议

通过对近几年来社会保障支出水平的分析,指出尽管我国的社会保障支出表面上逐渐增加,但名义社会保障支出与各年的支出适度水平下限相比,之间的差距反而有所加大,随着经济的发展,实际社保支出水平没有变,针对这个现象指出原因并提出建议。     

The fiscal cost of child grants in the context of high adult mortality in South Africa: A simulation to 2015

This paper investigates the expected costs of cash transfers to children in South Africa up to 2015. The child population is not expected to grow between 2008 and 2015 and thus the fiscal cost of the Child Support Grant is expected to stabilise in the near future. The other major child grant, the Foster Care Grant, is far less predictable – while it is not intended to be an orphan grant, three quarters of its beneficiaries are orphans. Because of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the number of dual orphans is expected to double between 2008 and 2015, reaching 1.3 million, and the overall number of orphans (maternal, paternal and dual) to reach 4.8 million by 2015. If the Foster Care Grant were to become a de facto orphan grant, its costs would escalate rapidly. The paper does not argue in favour of an orphan grant, but rather for greater effort in ensuring that the Child Support Grant reaches the neediest children, especially maternal orphans.     

Microeconomic determinants of spatial mobility in post-apartheid South Africa: Longitudinal evidence from the National Income Dynamics Study

Migration, important for many areas in development, is strongly related to employment. Debate over labour supply in developing countries frequently hinges on labour migration. This paper examines the determinants of spatial mobility of working-age adults in South Africa, using the first nationally representative longitudinal survey – the National Income Dynamics Study – for 2008–10. The paper outlines the unique advantages of these data for the study of individual mobility – data that open the possibility of a new research project. Specifically, it asks how policy-relevant programmes, such as social transfers and housing assistance, affect migration. This paper finds, on balance, that transfers are negatively correlated with subsequent relocation. Previous migration is also predictive of future migration and both are tightly related to attrition, while there is an increasing but strongly non-linear relationship between income and mobility. Further, we highlight potential pitfalls – including attrition, and definitional difficulties – in the study of migration and illustrate possible solutions.     

社会保障制度非商品化的国际比较与战略取向

对安德森社会福利的非商品化度量方法进行改进,增加社会保障模式、公共负担和市场负担等宏观维度指标,从宏观和微观双重维度12个指标度量社会保障制度非商品化程度,并以此对36个国家的社会保障制度的非商品化程度进行度量和比较。研究发现,我国社会保障制度的非商品化程度较低,尤其是社会保障的宏观维度非商品得分较低。我国社会保障的非商品化水平相比于同类型国家略高,但离福利国家之路还较遥远。     

技术引进中的逆向选择与社会福利

技术引进成为发展中国家提高本国科技水平的重要方式之一,伴随着信息不对称等因素,技术引进过程中容易出现逆向选择的现象,本文对技术引进中逆向选择引起技术引进国社会福利变化进行研究,得出结论:信息对称条件下技术引进所带来的社会福利要远远高于信息不对称的情况。     

建构城市社会福利过程中市场要素的取舍

从理论上分析了社会福利的基本内涵,认为社会福利是社区居民生活的美好状态。在实践层面上,城市社会福利的提升需要对市场要素进行不同的取舍包括:社会福利服务中的市场要素;政府定位的转向;多方资源的参与中市场要素的位置等多方面的内容。     

How social security policies and economic transformation affect poverty and inequality: Lessons for South Africa

This article examines how various characteristics of social and economic policy frameworks affect poverty and inequality levels in developing countries, principally in Botswana and Mauritius. The research findings suggest that poverty and inequality are lower in countries with generous and broad-based – rather than pro-poor – social security policies, and where social policies are complemented by economic policies promoting economic transformation rather than mere economic growth. While South Africa's challenges of combating poverty and inequality are shaped by its own historical context, the lessons from other countries offer the opportunity to reflect on the social consequences of various social and economic policy mixtures. In particular, it may be worth considering how to bridge the divide between the economically productive contributors to social security policies and the economically marginalised beneficiaries of such policies.