The assessment: economic policy and social democracy

The economic objectives of recent governments of the Left werefull employment, reducing inequality, and enhancing economicperformance and democratic control by measures of planning andsocialization. The economic inheritance was difficult - stagnantinvestment, high unemployment in a number of cases, and inflationhigher than that of competitors. The generalized productivityslow-down, slow growth, and the drive to reduce inflation representedan unfavourable context. The supply-side interventions atrophied,were abandoned or reversed. Employment performance was pooroverall and sometime s disastrous. Some extensions of the welfarestate were achieved and major increases in inequality were avoided,but this record was hardly exceptional. Globalization is oftenblamed for such disappointments. Here, the emphasis is on theinherent difficulties of the social democratic project - containingdistributional conflict other than by unemployment, sustainingsupport for redistribution when living standards are stagnating,and constraining business while relying on it to maintain highinvestment.     

The market turn: from social democracy to market liberalism

Social democracy and market liberalism provide different solutions to the same problem: how to provide for life‐cycle dependency. Social democracy makes lateral transfers from producers to dependents by means of progressive taxation. Market liberalism uses financial markets to transfer financial entitlement over time. Social democracy came up against the upper limits of public expenditure in the 1970s. The ‘market turn’ from social democracy to market liberalism was enabled by liberalized credit in the 1980s. Much of this was absorbed into homeownership, which attracted majorities of households (and voters) in the developed world. Early movers did well, but eventually easy credit drove house prices beyond the reach of younger cohorts. Debt service diminished effective demand, which instigated financial instability. Both social democracy and market liberalism are currently in crisis.     

The voluntary organizations and democracy in Korea: A civil society perspective

After achieving the dramatic progress of democracy recently, the preconditions of democracy in Korea are a major concern for scholars at home and abroad; These days, therefore, finding factors for successful democracy might be an important agenda for Korea as much as for all less‐developed countries. Among many factors conducive to democracy, this study emphasizes the important role played by voluntary associations as mediating and countervailing mechanisms to both the central government and markets. Even though there have been many factors at work in shaping political democracy, Korean experience during last three decades calls attention to the importance of the transition of the resurrection of civil society through an explosion of autonomous interest group expression and activity. The Korean experience supports that the organization of the citizenry is an indispensable condition for the development and maintenance of democracy.     

The case for social security in South Africa: An economic perspective

Sound economic arguments exist for social security in a market system, since it can promote efficiency and equity. Furthermore, social security can reduce the risks of economic insecurities caused by unemployment, poverty and the new international economic environment to individuals and society. For a developing country, South Africa has a relatively well-developed social security system. However, it cannot address all the needs without major fiscal adjustments. The most viable approach may be to target only the most vulnerable groups, although such an approach may be criticised from an equity perspective. An important limitation of the South African social security system is that many unemployed individuals go without coverage, which may contribute towards instability. It may be necessary to revisit public works programmes in conjunction with the private sector.     

Understanding Swedish social democracy: victims of success?

The economic policies of Swedish Social Democrats were not theproduct of one centralized authority but, rather, a series ofinitiatives influenced by many political actors and inspiredby egaliatarian preferences. We focus on three policy areas.First, the welfare state is a central achievement of SocialDemocracy. Although its expansion is over, it has cemented SocialDemocracy's position in power and is still popular among theelectorate. Second, the labour-market model is in crisis. Thecentralized Rehn-Meidner model is not working, coordinationof wage bargaining has turned out to be difficult, and the tradeunions' radical politics of the 1970s alienated Swedish employersfrom social concertation. Finally, macroeconomic managementhas had to struggle with inflationary pressures, and the overheatingof the late 1980s and the subsequent deflationary shock ledto a sharp increase in unemployment in the 1990s. Many of theseproblems are related to Social Democracy's internal strains.     

Economic Policy and social democracy; the Austrian experience

In the 1970s, Austria's social democratic government pursueda distinctive policy strategy to overcome the period of stagflationand to maintain full employment after the first oil crisis.In the Keynesian tradition, the model assigned expansionaryfiscal and monetary policy to stabilize effective demand andemployment; the exchange rate to curb inflation; while the balanceof trade was left to moderate incomes policies by the socialpartners. In the 1970s, this strategy was successful and themacroeconomic performance of the Austrian economy was outstanding.In the restrictive environment of the 1980s, the Austro-Keynesianmodel waned; while the stabilizing elements of the model, i.e.the hard currency and moderate incomes policies, were maintained,deficit spending as a discretionary strategy was given up. But,although the Austrian economy has been put under much competitivepressure owing to a continuous appreciation of the schillingalong with the Deutschmark, its macroeconomic performance hasbeen at least as good as the European or OECD average, but withlower unemployment.     

Japanese nonprofit sector in comparative perspective

Nonprofit organizations have long been less visible in Japan than in most other developed countries. But this does not imply that Japan does not have a sizable nonprofit sector. To the contrary, large numbers of Japanese hospitals, universities, social service organizations, and community groups are essentially not‐for‐profit in form.     

Indonesia's economic performance in comparative perspective and a new policy framework for 2049

This is the first paper of a planned ‘Indonesia 2049’ project, which asks how far Indonesia's economy will have developed 100 years after actual political independence in 1949. We compare dimensions of Indonesia's economy with those of two oil exporters (Mexico and Nigeria), three large populous developing economies (China, India and Brazil) and three Southeast Asian neighbours (Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines). Under Soeharto, Indonesia's economic performance was better than it had been under Soekarno, and above the average of the eight comparator countries, but below that of the East Asian economies. Our view is that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's second administration must adopt a new economic policy framework to ensure successful transition to knowledge-based growth. This proposed new framework goes beyond the Washington Consensus of ‘getting prices right’ and ‘getting institutions right’ to include ‘getting the role of science right’ and ‘getting the conception of the reform process right’.     

Unemployment duration and unemployment insurance: a comparative analysis based on Scandinavian micro data

Based on pooled register data from Norway and Sweden, we findthat differences in unemployment duration patterns reflect dissimilaritiesin unemployment insurance (UI) systems in a way that convincinglyestablishes the link between economic incentives and job searchbehaviour. Specifically, UI benefits are relatively more generousfor low-income workers in Sweden than in Norway, leading torelatively longer unemployment spells for low-income workersin Sweden. Based on the between-countries variation in replacementratios, we find that the elasticity of the outflow rate frominsured unemployment with respect to the replacement ratio isapproximately one in Norway and 0.5 in Sweden.     

The Chinese governance system: Its strengths and weaknesses in a comparative development perspective

This is an overview paper focusing on the organizational aspects of the Chinese governance system and their relation to development. Compared to other developing countries like India, it has special positive features of career incentives promoting growth at the local level, the ability to take long-term decisions relatively quickly, and a unique blend of political centralization and decentralization of economic power and responsibility, that is conducive to central guidance and local business development. On the other hand, with a lack of sufficient downward (as opposed to upward) accountability and absence of institutionalized systems of scrutiny and challenge from below, mistakes or abuse of power are more difficult to check and correct quickly, political loyalty may often get a premium over performance at the upper levels, and there are insufficient checks on collusion between business and officials. The over-all organizational system is prone to over-reaction in times of crisis and thus only weakly resilient compared to systems where information flows from below are less controlled or choked.     

Years of schooling: the Australian experience in comparative perspective

This paper examines why secondary school participation rates have been persistently lower in Australia than in Canada or the United States. The contributions of immigration and apprenticeship have not raised the stock of skills in the adult population to North American levels. Until recently Australians believed, for a variety of reasons, that secondary schooling was needed by only a minority of students. Supply constraints have also been important, as Australians experienced lower growth rates of income, and larger and more sustained increases in the school–age population.     

Co-operatives and the poor: A comparative perspective

Co-operatives have a universal appeal as an instrument of poverty alleviation and yet their record has been less than exemplary. This paper highlights dilemmas faced in co-operative development between the objectives of growth and distribution, and those between decentralization and equity. The paper identifies the various internal and external prerequisites for a successful co-operative movement. By examining the evidence with regard to marketing, credit and production co-operatives it argues that in the absence of such prerequisites, alternative forms of institutional arrangements may be as, or more effective than co-operative institutions. In any case a healthy movement which reaches the poor calls for institutional competition.     

Race and social organization: An economic perspective

Conclusion Improvements in the economic, political, and social status of Blacks are joint effects. Improvement in one is unlikely without concommitant improvements in the others; this is a multiedge sword.Success in any of the areas is correlated with improvement in the others—synergism. On the other hand, failure to realize the interdependencies makes success or improvement in any of the areas unlikely.     

The organisation of urban agriculture in Cape Town,South Africa: A social capital perspective

This article explores urban agriculture in Cape Town and its organisational forms. Based on a literature review of peer-reviewed articles and grey literature, it examines the state of linkages among urban farmers and various supporting organisations of urban agriculture. Moreover, it examines the coordination of activities among key supporting organisations. By analysing the roles of state and non-state actors and linkages, the article discusses implications for the development of urban agriculture. This article suggests that a lack of effective coordination of initiatives among supporting actors presents a significant pitfall in the development of urban agriculture. Furthermore, the failure of farmers to self-organise is identified as equally detrimental. Therefore, it calls for improved synergies between state and non-state actors involved to ensure that the gains of urban agriculture are enhanced.     

Corporate social responsibility and development: An anthropological perspective

Some analysts suggest that corporate-driven social responsibility initiatives offer a new, and potentially bright, prospect of addressing global poverty and underdevelopment effectively. There is a growing academic literature that examines this proposition critically, often rehearsing debates about the successes and failures of the international development programmes of the second half of the 20th century. From an anthropological perspective, however, the most useful question to ask is not whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives will succeed in fulfilling the promises made by their proponents but rather what the implications and consequences –often unintended – might be of expecting business corporations to become significant engines of development. This article examines current debates about CSR, and the emerging CSR discourse and apparatus, as a prelude to asking ‘What does CSR do?’.     

The inequality trap. A comparative analysis of social spending between 1880 and 1930

It is often assumed that the fight against inequality played an important role in the rise of the welfare state. However, using social transfers as an indicator of redistribution and three alternative proxies for inequality—the top income shares, the ratio of the GDP per capita to the unskilled wage, and the share of non‐family farms—this article shows that inequality did not favour the development of social policy between 1880 and 1930. On the contrary, social policy developed more easily in countries that were previously more egalitarian, suggesting that unequal societies were in a sort of inequality trap, where inequality itself was an obstacle to redistribution.