Income Inequality,Welfare and Poverty in Ukraine

Ukraine is now faced with economic crisis on an unprecedented scale. The country is on the brink of hyperinflation. The government has to follow rigorous demand management policies which entail lowering the standard of living of the population. To design policies which protect the poorest and most vulnerable groups in the society, it is important to understand the nature of poverty and income inequality. This study attempts to do exactly this for Ukraine for the first time. The paper demonstrates that the standard of living in Ukraine has been falling at an alarming rate. The government welfare programmes are ineffective in protecting the poorest and most vulnerable groups in the society. This article provides an empirical basis to design appropriate policies, but a lot more work needs to be done.     

The Politics of Welfare Exclusion: Immigration and Disparity in Medicaid Coverage

The rapid growth of the immigrant population in the United States, along with changes in the demographics and the political landscape, has often raised questions for understanding trends of inequality. Important issues that have received little scholarly attention thus far are excluding immigrants’ social rights through decisive policy choices and the distributive consequences of such exclusive policies. In this article, we examine how immigration and state policies on immigrants’ access to safety net programs together influence social inequality in the context of health care. We analyze the combined effect of immigration population density and state immigrant Medicaid eligibility rules on the gap of Medicaid coverage rates between native‐ and foreign‐born populations. When tracking inequality in Medicaid coverage and critical policy changes in the post‐PRWORA era, we find that exclusive state policies widen the native‐foreign Medicaid coverage gap. Moreover, the effect of state policies is conditional on the size of the immigrant population in that state. Our findings suggest immigrants’ formal integration into the welfare system is crucial for understanding social inequality in the U.S. states.     

鄂伦春族社会福利制度的历史转型

清初,鄂伦春族在传统的氏族型社会福利之外出现了新生的政府型社会福利。历经民国、伪满到新中国建国初期,氏族型社会福利制度在国家管理等因素的影响下逐渐终结,政府型社会福利逐渐壮大并最终取而代之。同时,政府型社会福利也从清初的"统治利用型",经过民国的"平等扶助型"萌芽与伪满时期的被废除,于新中国建国初期转换为"平等扶助型"的社会福利制度。     

论个人收入差距对经济增长的效应

个人收入差距的效用,从经济增长角度分析,主要表现为对劳动力的激励效应,对生产要素的配置效应,对消费结构和产业结构的调整和引导以及对经济增长空间的伸缩效应。研究个人收入差距在经济增长中的效应,有利于政府制定合理的收入分配政策和经济发展计划,因此极具现实意义。     

No Race in Any Direction: State Welfare and Income Regimes

This paper has two objectives. First, we examine state adoption and implementation of income support policies under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. We develop a composite measure of income support that includes welfare programs that scholars traditionally investigate and adds optional policies that encourage independence through work. Second, we engage a substantive focus on the administrative ability and willingness of states to adopt and implement sophisticated income support policies. We investigate the extent to which state government professionalism, ideology, economic resources, and racially based policies have shaped state policy. We find that the percentage of the state population is liberal; state racial demographics and governmental professionalism are critical determinants of state welfare and income support regimes. Significantly, we find no evidence that states are converging toward high‐quality, effectively financed welfare policies or income regime policies to help the poor move into and economically survive in the job market.     

Production,Consumption, and the Allocation of Labor By a Peasant in a Periodic Marketing System

The allocation of time by a part-time marketer between subsistence production and marketing links production and consumption decisions in a periodic marketing system. Distinctions between full- and part-time marketers are emphasized. The model of the part-time trader predicts changes in the time devoted to each activity and in outputs as relative prices change. Interpretations can be made regarding the amount of effort devoted to, and the rewards from, periodic marketing.     

计划经济时期中国社会福利制度的历史考察

从20世纪50年代起,在计划经济体制的历史背景下,中国形成了比较完整的社会福利体系,对促进经济发展和保障人民生活起到了至关重要的作用,其积极贡献不可磨灭。但同时,这一时期的社会福利制度又具有鲜明的计划经济体制的烙印,具有很大的历史局限性。加强其研究对构建与社会主义市场经济新体制相匹配的社会福利制度具有重要的参考意义。     

Global Restructuring,the Welfare State and Urban Programmes: Federal Policies and Inequality within Australian Cities

This paper is a prelude to a theme issue in 2003 on Australasian city and regional problems and policies. It considers the impact of economic restructuring on the level of inequality and disadvantage within Australian cities. Evidence is presented that Australian cities have become more unequal over the past two decades and this greater level of inequality has found concrete expression within the built environment. These patterns of inequality are distinct to Australia. It is argued that the Australian Government's reliance on tightly targeted income support policies and market-based solutions to economic disadvantage has contributed greatly to the concentration of low income and vulnerable households within certain sections of Australian cities.     

当前中国社会贫富差距透视

当前,在经济整体发展水平还相对较低的情况下,一方面,我国城乡还有大量的贫困人口;另一方面,由于固有的地区、城乡、行业工资差距,社会转型、体制转轨的“助推”作用,以及财产收入的差距对总收入差距的影响开始凸显,使我国的贫富差距急剧扩大。因此,必须提高政府汲取能力,加大公平优先的二次分配力度,积极促进就业,完善社会保障体系,加快城市化进程,加大财政对农业的投入,以缩小贫富差距。     

旅游产业发展、价格效应及其社会福利影响

本文针对中国不同旅游目的地旅游产业快速发展与物价高涨的典型事实,将旅游收入、价格效应引入社会福利函数,构建旅游产业发展、价格效应及其社会福利影响的理论模型,对旅游产业发展及其价格效应的社会福利影响进行理论研究显示:旅游产业发展推动其经济增长,从而对旅游目的地社会福利水平的提升带来直接的积极影响,相反,对旅游目的地的价格体系失衡产生显著的消极影响,从而对其社会福利水平的提升带来间接的消极影响.本研究利用中国四大世界双遗产旅游区及其张家界、三亚、阳朔、丽江旅游区的实证资料验证了这种内在影响的存在性,为中国不同地区旅游产业可持续发展的政策制定提供理论与实证依据.     

Understanding Public Support for Time Limits and Other Welfare Reforms

This article presents results of a reanalysis of data from a survey of New York residents regarding that state's welfare system and proposed welfare reform. The data danger from most previous studies of public opinion about welfare because questions were asked about a range of specific welfare reform options, such as various time limits, eligibility restrictions, and work requirements, that are key features of the new federal welfare law. Specifically, the analysis explores the extent to which public support for these reforms can be explained by self interest factors, political qualification, and beliefs regarding the poor, social rights, and the welfare system. White these variables have been found to be important in prior research, they provide a somewhat less consistent explanation of support for specific features of the new welfare system in the United States.     

华人社区的冲突、控制与自治——"二战"前美国城市中的中国传统社会组织

在第二次世界大战以前,来到美国的中国移民基本上被华人社区中的中国传统的社会组织所控制。华人社区有四种基本的社会组织,即宗族、会馆、秘密社会和行会,这些组织的扩张是由于社区生活的需要和外部的压力。它们也强烈影响到华人社会的形成和发展,并在延缓中国移民的同化过程中扮演了一个重要角色。排华运动、组织的束缚和内部的争斗使中国移民与主流社会隔离了几十年,宗族的条规、方言的区别、利益的冲突等又破坏了中国移民的内部团结,这也导致了处于相对封闭状态的中国移民的同化过程非常缓慢。     

澳大利亚福利制度的形成

澳大利亚社会保障和福利制度是自20世纪初澳大利亚联邦成立以来的一项基本国策,福利制度的形成是澳大利亚社会改革和现代化发展的重要内容与特征之一。具有本土化扬弃功能的澳大利亚民族意识使这一移植于英国的“舶来品”植根于澳洲,进而形成适合于澳大利亚社会、拥有澳大利亚特色的社会制度,影响深远。     

A Time Series Analysis of Regional Income Inequalities and Migration in Japan, 1955–1985

This study tests the neoclassical concept of interregional migration in post–World War II Japan. The lead-lag relationship between net migration to a core area and regional income inequalities is examined by modeling an ARIMA transfer function. Until 1961, there was a rapid growth in net migration from the periphery to the core area that was accompanied by rapid divergence in regional income inequalities. Since then, migration to the core apparently has declined due to a convergence of regional income inequalities. The time series analysis indicates there has been short-run, as well as long-run, volatility in migration related to cyclical variations in economic performance in the core.