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.     

论日本的区域经济政策及其特色

战后，日本为适应经济社会发展的要求，实施了一系列区域经济政策，主要包括地区振兴与开发政策、区域产业布局政策、缩小地区差距政策及促进落后地区发展政策。日本在实施区域经济政策中，中央和地方政府高度重视，进行统一规划协调指导，给予财政金融支持，加强基础设施推动和法律法规保障，形成了具有鲜明特色的日本区域经济政策．     

Economic forces,structural discrimination and black family instability

The social and economic gains achieved by black families during the 1960s were severely eroded during the seventies and eighties. Unemployment, poverty, single-parent families, out-of-wedlock births, and adolescent pregnancies soared to alarming levels. According to the thesis of the declining significance of race, this crisis is mainly concentrated among the black “underclass” and it is broad societal trends, not racism, that is mainly responsible for their increased deprivation. We contend that this thesis fails to assess the role of institutionalized racism as it is manifested in “unintended” or “structural” discrimination, i.e., the disproportionate adverse effects of economic trends and policies on the functioning of low-income and middle-income black families. Moreover, we argue that social forces or policies that have racially disparate adverse effects are “discriminatory” by result, whether intended or not. The major economic trends that affected black families adversely during the seventies and eighties were: back-to-back recessions, double-digit inflation, and industrial and population shifts. The key economic policies that undermined black family stability have been: anti-inflation fiscal and monetary policies, trade policies, plant closings, social welfare, block grants, and federal per capita formulas for allocating funds to states and local areas that have not been corrected for the census undercount.     

瑞典福利政策和老年社会保障制度的发展及其启示

瑞典的福利政策和老年社会保障制度，在历史上促进了经济发展和人民生活水平的提高。但在石油危机发生后，经济增长速度减慢，养老保障开支增多。最终，瑞典通过改革和完善社会福利政策及老年社会保障制度，走出困境，并积累了大量改革经验。这对于我国推行惠民政策，建立和完善社会保障体系具有诸多启示。     

马来西亚华人经济的发展与影响

华人经济与马来西亚社会发展,有着非常密切的联系。本文分析了马来西亚华人经济政策的内涵、华人经济发展及其在族群经济中的地位,以及马来西亚华人对本身经济处境的自我评估等问题,认为目前马来西亚华人经济发展状况,有利于改善马来西亚族群关系,促进马来西亚社会的稳定与和谐。     

地下保单泛滥的成因与对策

遏制地下保单的泛滥,关键在于铲除其存在的社会经济基础。文章运用金融经济学的基本方法分析了地下保单的供求、内地与港澳保险公司的竞争及地下保单的监管,指出提高内地保险公司的竞争力是遏制地下保单的根本方法,加强保险监管则是现阶段打击地下保单蔓延的基本方法,只有双管     

企业社会责任、经济政策不确定性与融资约束——基于社会责任“累积-保险”效应的研究视角

综合运用2009-2017年A股上市公司数据,通过长、短期社会责任的影响对比,考察了在面对经济政策不确定性的冲击时,企业社会责任对融资约束的影响效应,并论证了不同政策不确定程度下的效应表现机理。结果表明：企业社会责任具备"累积效应",长期社会责任的融资约束缓解作用强于短期社会责任;企业社会责任也具备"保险效应",会显著削弱经济政策不确定性加剧融资约束的程度。进一步研究发现,高经济政策不确定性下："累积效应"仍然存在,且会因长期社会责任"保险效应"加强而得到强化。不同产权性质下：国有企业的融资约束受政策不确定性影响较小,且"双效应"更稳定;而非国有企业的社会责任对融资约束的缓解作用更强,但受经济政策冲击更大。研究揭示了企业社会责任对融资约束的积极效应,呼吁企业应积极履行社会责任并值得长期坚持。     

普京任期再开始 中东欧转型引争议——记“转型国家经济发展战略及其与中国的合作”研讨会

2012年4月21日,中国世界经济学会转轨经济专业委员会、辽宁大学转型国家经济政治研究中心、复旦大学新兴市场经济研究中心共同主办了"转型国家经济发展战略及其与中国的合作"学术研讨会。围绕"大选后俄罗斯经济发展战略的调整与经济发展的前景"、"中东欧国家经济增长模式的缺陷",以及"中国与俄罗斯经济合作的前景"等问题,来自全国各地的学者展开了研讨。     

Economic reforms and the prospect for sustainable development in Tanzania

The objective of the Macroeconomic Reforms and Sustainable Development in Southern Africa project was to facilitate the attainment of sustainable development objectives agreed at the United Nations' Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992, in which Tanzania participated. The two natural resource-based sectors of tourism and mining were chosen for analysis. Despite the difficulty of linking policy explicitly to particular economic activity performance, macroeconomic indicators show that economic policies stimulated economic activity resulting in, among other things, a significant increase in economic growth, declining inflation, declining deficits, and an increase in tax revenue collection. The mining and tourism sectors' share of GDP increased significantly, and both sectors have contributed greatly to employment generation. However, these economic gains have come at the cost of environmental degradation, social hardship and the breakdown of social norms and values. Such results indicate that the country is not yet on a sustainable development path. While good policies exist and are being improved, there has been a failure of policy implementation over the years. With good policies, appropriate integrative strategies, commitment and political will, the country may attain a sustainable development path.     

跨越“中等收入陷阱”的公共政策因应:韩国做法及启示

社会不均等会严重威胁社会稳定,进而影响经济的持续增长。韩国在跨越中等收入陷阱这一关键时期,充分发挥了就业、教育、税收和社会保障等一系列与经济发展相适应的社会均等化政策,从而实现了高速增长同时的社会均等化发展。借鉴韩国跨越中等收入陷阱时期的社会均等化政策,中国应着力从创造社会流动性、合理分配教育资源、发挥税收和社会保障制度的再分配效应等方面入手,制定社会均等化政策,突破中等收入陷阱。     

日本贫富差距扩大的原因及趋势分析

进入21世纪以来,日本的贫富差距问题日益突出,并演变成社会广泛关注的焦点问题。日本贫富差距的日益扩大与日本政府所奉行的新自由主义经济政策息息相关。基于对日本贫富差距不断扩大的现状和日本政府及社会的选择倾向分析,我们对未来日本的贫富差距问题的演变趋势可以做出两方面的预测:一是如果日本政府及社会的选择趋向于采取缓和的经济政策,日本的贫富收入差距有逐步缩小的趋势,但彻底解决的可能性不大;二是如果日本政府和社会的选择依然倾向于强化新自由主义经济政策取向,日本的贫富差距问题还有可能趋向进一步恶化,甚至最终可能导致社会的、政治的和经济的危机。     

社会转型视域下农村社会救助制度的思考

改革开放以来,农村经济社会的变迁对农村原有社会救助体系产生了前所未有的冲击,其价值取向、政策规范、救助方式、管理手段等,已越来越不适应农村经济社会发展的需要。本文从社会转型这一视野下对农村社会救助制度进行重新审视,分析了社会救助理念、贫困生成机制、社会结构、政策取向等方面发生的变化,提出了创新农村社会救助制度的思路和对策,以促进农村和谐社会的构建。     

The political economy of social democratic economic policies: the Pasok experiment in Greece

This article looks at the political economy of social democraticeconomic policies. It focuses on those policies that seek toextend democracy to the social and economic spheres and examineswhy such experiments have met with limited success in the past.It compares external constraints on the viability of such policies,such as the freedom of capital movements and globalization,with internal constraints. Since social democratic policiesrely on promoting coordination and cooperation between economicagents and groups, it is argued that an important, but oftenneglected, internal constraint is the extent to which socialdemocracy can draw upon, or, if they are lacking, foster thoseinstitutions within society which promote coordination and cooperation.The paper examines in detail the social democratic experienceof PASOK in Greece and draws some conclusions for the widerrelevance of the future viability of social democratic economicpolicies.     

巴西解决社会发展问题的措施与启示——兼谈巴西与中国经济关系的重要性

巴西是拉美第一经济大国,中巴两国同为发展中国家,两国经贸合作潜力巨大。深入观察和研究巴西经济社会发展现状、问题和采取的措施,对解决我国社会矛盾、构建社会主义和谐社会不无裨益。     

论宏观经济政策对房地产上市公司资本结构之影响

房地产业的特殊经济地位和社会地位决定了政府对房地产业实施宏观经济政策的必然性。本文介绍了宏观经济政策与房地产上市公司资本结构的主要内容,分析了宏观经济政策如何影响上市公司的资本结构,阐述了优化房地产上市公司资本结构的宏观调控政策。     

刺激消费需求的财政政策研究

消费需求作为社会总需求的最重要组成部分,提供了经济增长的持久动力。以消费需求作为经济增长的主要驱动力量,有利于促进经济发展方式的转变。然而,受各种因素的制约,我国消费需求增长缓慢,对经济增长的拉动作用不强。因此,充分利用财政税收手段增加居民的消费能力,提升居民的消费意愿,有利于扩大内需、改善民生,提高经济增长的质量和效益。     

Monetarism,employment and social stratification

The main purpose of this study is to analyse the changes that have occurred in the employment structure as a result of monetarist economic policies applied in Chile and Argentina throughout the last decade. This analysis is made in the context of trends observed over the last 30 years in both countries. The paper contends that the occupational changes resulting from these monetarist policies do not imply a break with the past, but that the accentuation of the earlier trends is so great that it creates an entirely different economic and social scene. This has far-reaching implications for issues such as, inter alia, deindustrialization and the nature and status of the working class.     

寻找经济问题的社会解决方案——基于历史和经验的思考

面对严峻现实，各路学者，各种方法应当同舟共济，共同应对百年罕见的全球金融危机。社会学家以及与社会发展领域有关的学科应该尝试把社会有关的原理应用于经济问题，寻求帮助解决经济问题的方案。     

民营经济发展中的政府行为研究

改革开放以来,我国经过积极的探索和实践,促进了民营经济不断发展与壮大。其主要做法是:制定经济政策时充分考虑多元化的利益取向;将政府职能转化为社会管理和公共服务;政府在参与经济活动中将行政手段逐步向行政、法律、经济、信息手段的综合运用过渡等。政府这些经济政策有利地推动我国社会主义市场经济向前发展。     

Trajectories of social protection in Africa

Social protection in contemporary Africa is the product of several strands of social policy, from European social security systems to humanitarian relief interventions. Contributory social security mechanisms such as unemployment insurance and pensions were imported to Africa during the colonial period, but cover only a minority of formally employed workers. Food aid alleviates hunger but does not resolve problems of chronic food insecurity. Cash transfers are being promoted as an alternative to food aid, but have been criticised for being ineffective against price inflation and underwriting neoliberal economic policies. Some programmes link social transfers to public works employment and microfinance, with the aim of ‘graduating’ participants off social protection. This article argues instead for a ‘social contract’ approach – recognising the right to social protection, empowering passive beneficiaries to become entitled claimants, and introducing social audits to hold duty-bearers accountable for effective and equitable delivery of citizen-driven social protection policies.