The Political Economy of Unemployment Insurance based on Individual Savings Accounts: Lessons from Chile

In recent years, unemployment protection systems based on individual savings have been instituted in several developing countries. Chile was one of the first to establish such a system, which at the time was widely cited as a model for other countries. This article discusses the particular political context in which the Chilean system was created before examining how it works in terms of coverage and levels of benefits received by unemployed workers. The authors undertake a detailed analysis of the administrative data produced by the system and conclude that the insurance covers only a small proportion of the unemployed, as most workers generally had precarious jobs that did not allow them to contribute to the system consistently. The Chilean case illustrates how difficult it is to establish functioning unemployment insurance in developing countries with precarious labour markets. Based on the interaction between employment characteristics and the conditions imposed by the benefit system, the article assesses the efficacy of the Unemployment Insurance Savings Accounts (UISA) system and analyses whether it can indeed serve as a model for other developing countries.     

Women and Money: Lessons from Senegal

This article examines the complexity and diversity of women's informal financial practices using data from surveys conducted in Senegal. It suggests that these practices are at the centre of a constant dialectic between short‐term and long‐term horizons, between the requirements of daily survival and the demands of community solidarity, and between personal aspirations and collective constraints. These practices also clearly illustrate a desire among the women in Senegal to impose a form of financial self‐discipline, and to create situations that will oblige them to earn income. The socio‐economic diversity among these entrepreneurs is also underscored. Informal financial arrangements are both a product and producer of gender inequalities and inequalities among women, as reflected in the research. This has direct policy implications, especially for microfinance products. If they are to be effective, microfinance services must develop beyond a standard, one‐size fits all model and become more innovative and adaptable to the diverse demands of women. They must be combined with complementary measures that challenge the systemic causes of inequality. Microfinance programmes should draw on informal financial arrangements while challenging their tendency to perpetuate inequality.     

Managing Multidisciplinarity: Lessons from SUBR:IM

Abstract

The complex nature of societal problems has fuelled arguments that such issues can only be addressed by holistic responses which are informed by high-quality policy, practice and techno-scientific research. As a result, research councils are encouraging the development of interdisciplinary research consortia through which the strengths of various scientific and social scientific disciplines can be harnessed to produce coherent, well-informed and cross-disciplinary outputs. Yet the task of managing such projects is problematic. The paper draws on the authors' experiences of managing one such consortium, SUBR:IM (Sustainable Brownfield Regeneration: Integrated Management). We reflect upon the processes and politics of building a broadly-based consortium and argue that, while the benefits of such endeavours can be significant, research councils need to give greater recognition to the barriers that exist to achieving genuine collaboration, such as disciplinary incommensurabilities, centrally imposed constraints and internal resistance. The paper explores these barriers before identifying possible ways forward, including better processes of consortia building, more effective internal structures, focusing on a single case study and recruiting the right mix of academics.     

The Return of Keynesianism in Australia: The Rudd Government and the Lessons of Recessions Past

The global recession of 2008–09 brought Keynesian countercyclical budgeting back into vogue – conveniently for governments of the Left such as the incoming Rudd Labor government in Australia. This paper reviews some of the key moments of 20th century macroeconomic policy to assess the reasons and rationale for this revival and concludes that the lessons of those experiences are not always what they seem to be. The paper argues that: (1) Keynesianism is often confused with a narrow focus on fiscal, rather than monetary, policy and an emphasis on full employment at any cost; (2) the return of Keynesianism in Australia has only been made possible by an unusual, if not unprecedented, convergence of conducive conditions; (3) the ‘automatic stabilisers’ significantly reduce the necessity for discretionary fiscal policy; and (4) policy achievements must be seen in the light of Australia's external economy.     

Indexing Immigration and Integration Policy: Lessons from Europe

Immigrant‐related policy indexes have become popular in both U.S. and European contexts, yet these projects boast distinct and divergent trajectories. European indices are characterized by rigorous conceptualization, specificity in elements of policy design (e.g., settings like fees or appeal process), and a variety of measurement strategies. By contrast, U.S. state‐level policy indices exhibit a lack of differentiation between immigration and integration policy and excessive generality in measurement and representation of policy instruments and settings, exacerbated in presenting a policy index as an aggregate count. This paper argues U.S. policy indexing can benefit from the European indexing experience. Following an overview of the state of each field, assessing concept differentiation, specification, and measurement in each, the paper illustrates how even the well‐conceived and specified European integration policy indices run into problems at the analysis stage. It presents a replication‐replacement study to illustrate divergent performance of highly correlated and conceptually agreeing indices, as well as methodological issues inherent to indices of low‐N, including using a policy index as a dependent variable and index selection absent a priori theorization. It concludes with suggestions for improving American immigration policy indices, as well as general observations on working with statistical power‐challenged indices and data limitations.     

Sustainable Water Management Policy: Lessons from Amsterdam

This article focuses on the identification of critical water policy instruments, and opportunities and barriers to transforming urban water use in a sustainable and efficient direction in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). The main lessons that can be inferred from past and current water policies and management practices in Amsterdam show (1) the relevance of common action for increasing the quality of or general control over water resources when shared interests of different actors using the same water resource are present; (2) that the effectiveness and applicability of water policy instruments are strongly conditional upon receiving the support of both water users and suppliers; (3) that the governance structure of water provision plays a crucial role in increasing the efficiency of water use.     

Epistemological Ignorances and Fighting for the Disappeared: Lessons from Mexico

Social justice struggles across the Americas have, over the last half century, transformed the urban areas of this region into international staging grounds for protesting the global devastation wrought by capitalist exploitation, state terror and social hatred. This paper maintains that there is much to learn for struggles against this triangulation in other parts of the world. In particular, through a discussion of how contemporary activism in Mexico against feminicidio, drug wars and brutal repression draws from a long legacy of protest across the Americas, I seek to illustrate the relevance for other places as people fight a cruel modernity that evolves through terror, profit and hatred. Critical geography has long contributed to exposing these connections and can still deepen its commitments to mapping the landscapes of the growing populations of disappeared and marginalized peoples in Mexico and elsewhere.     

Solidarity Economy for Development and Women's Emancipation: Lessons from Bolivia

This article critically assesses the relationship between the solidarity economy (SE) and women's emancipation through a case study of SE groups in El Alto, Bolivia. It highlights the fact that the failure to harness the potential of SE as a development alternative and as a means for the emancipation of women can partly be attributed to the neglect of gender‐related issues in the study of SE. Following an examination of SE in the Bolivian context of class and ethnicity, the article deepens the analysis by focusing on gender. It shows that the significant participation of women in SE is a response to the double imperative imposed by the current processes of monetization of production and home‐based reproduction. Compared with their insertion into the market individually, participation in SE allows women to increase and smooth their income. In general, however, their income remains lower than that of men and also below the poverty line. This reflects a continuing gender asymmetry and points to the limitations to what solidarity among poor women can achieve. The article concludes with an assessment of the possibilities as well as the difficulties inherent in a new pathway to women's emancipation through SE, a pathway which would necessitate a reorganization of the social sphere of reproduction.