Showing papers in "Social Policy & Administration in 2013"

From Defamilialization to Degenderization: Toward a New Welfare Typology

Abstract: This article discusses gender and welfare typologies. It criticizes typologies based on degrees of defamilialization and offers an alternative.

Policy Diffusion and Policy Transfer in Comparative Welfare State Research

Abstract: For many years, comparative welfare state research has followed a ‘methodological nationalism’ in the sense that countries were treated as independent units. Yet the recent ‘spatial turn’ in comparative politics has also influenced welfare state research. For some years now, the field has been witnessing a growing interest in questions about interdependencies and policy diffusion between countries. In this article, we provide a structured overview of the state of the art in the policy diffusion and transfer literature that deals specifically with social policy. We present and critically evaluate existing theoretical concepts and quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches that enable the analysis of interdependencies between countries. Moreover, we summarize the empirical findings of quantitative and qualitative studies on the diffusion and transfer of social policy, from some pioneering studies to the latest findings. Against this background we point out what we believe to be promising avenues for future research. We focus on five areas: theoretical work on the mechanisms underlying diffusion and transfer; methodological approaches; the impact of domestic institutions and policy characteristics on social policy diffusion and transfer; programme-specific dynamics; and the systematic combination of horizontal and vertical interdependencies.

A Framework for Exploring the Policy Implications of UK Medical Tourism and International Patient Flows

Abstract: It is estimated that over 50,000 individuals from the UK each year elect to fund their own treatment abroad. Such treatments commonly include cosmetic and dental surgery; cardio, orthopaedic and bariatric surgery; IVF treatment; and organ and tissue transplantation. The UK has also experienced inward flows of patients who travel to receive treatment and pay out of pocket, being treated in both private and NHS facilities. The rise of 'medical tourism' presents new opportunities and challenges in terms of treatment options for consumers/patients and health policymakers. Such developments denote a commercialization, commodification and internationalization of health care in a way that UK policy has not experienced to date. This article addresses four key issues. We explain the rise of medical-related travel (applied to the UK), identify key policy considerations for the future, highlight important research gaps and explore conceptual frameworks which might help us understand better the observed patterns of medical tourism. Whilst the context for policy and practice is undoubtedly dynamic, we argue the need for greater clarity in understanding the emergent implications for health policy and health care delivery.

Is ‘Candidacy’ a Useful Concept for Understanding Journeys through Public Services? A Critical Interpretive Literature Synthesis

Abstract: Across the public sector there is concern that service uptake is inequitably distributed by socio-economic circumstances and that public provision exacerbates the existence of inequalities either because services are not allocated by need or because of differential patterns of uptake between the most and least affluent groups. A concept that offers potential to understand access and utilization is ‘candidacy’ which has been used to explain access to, and utilization of, healthcare. The concept suggests that an individual's identification of his or her ‘candidacy’ for health services is structurally, culturally, organizationally and professionally constructed, and helps to explain why those in deprived circumstances make less use of services than the more affluent. In this article we assess the fit of candidacy to other public services using a Critical Interpretive Synthesis of three case studies literatures relating to: domestic abuse, higher education and environmental services. We find high levels of congruence between ‘candidacy’ and the sampled literatures on access/utilization of services. We find, however, that the concept needs to be refined. In particular, we distinguish between micro, meso and macro factors that play into the identification, sustaining and resolution of candidacy, and demonstrate the plural nature of candidacies. We argue that this refined model of candidacy should be tested empirically beyond and within health. More specifically, in the current economic context, we suggest that it becomes imperative to better understand how access to public services is influenced by multiple factors including changing discourses of deservedness and fairness, and by stringent reductions in the public purse.

Unemployment Protection and Family Policy at the Turn of the 21st Century: A Dynamic Approach to Welfare Regime Theory

Abstract: This article contributes to the welfare state regime literature from a substantive and methodological perspective. At a very abstract level we confirm the relevance of the welfare state regime theory and stability for the period from 1971 to the end of the 1990s. However, by analyzing family policy and unemployment protection, we observe a dual transformation of the welfare state, consisting of a trend towards a 'socialization' of family policies and a retrenchment in unemployment insurance benefits. Our Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) of the two policy domains captures the multidimensionality of the decommodification and defamilialization concepts and visualizes welfare state developments over time in a Cartesian space. This dynamic analysis provides us with a nuanced understanding of welfare state regime stability and change.

Disciplining Disability under Danish Active Labour Market Policy

Abstract: This article explores how caseworkers are re-constructing disability in the Danish welfare system and disciplining themselves and clients according to the active labour policy paradigm. Combining Foucault's ideas about discipline with Maynard-Moody and Musheno's method of interpreting street-level bureaucrats' stories (Foucault 1977; Maynard-Moody and Musheno 2003), we analyze caseworkers' stories about their clients, fellow caseworkers and themselves to understand how they practice the ideology behind active labour policy. Our analysis uses Moller's (2009) interviews with 24 Danish caseworkers who administer social welfare and sick leave benefits based on disability as the primary eligibility criterion. We selected stories told by caseworkers that exemplify archetypes of good and bad citizens, good and bad clients, and good and bad caseworkers. Through interpretative analysis, we elucidate how caseworkers make sense of active labour policy and internalize the pressures of managerial reforms to discipline both citizens and each other.

Middle-Class Political Activism and Middle-Class Advantage in Relation to Public Services: A Realist Synthesis of the Evidence Base

Abstract: Since the late 1960s social policy scholarship has been concerned with the distribution of the resources or benefits across social gradients. This article presents a review of the literature on one mechanism by which inequity might be produced – activism by middle-class service-users enabling them to capture a disproportionate share of resources. The review used the methodology of realist synthesis to bring together evidence from the UK, the USA and Scandinavian countries over the past 30 years. The aim was to construct a ‘middle-theory’ to understand how and in which contexts collective and individual activity by middle-class service-users might produce inequitable resource allocation or rationing decisions that disproportionately benefit middle-class service-users. The article identifies four causal theories which nuance the view that it is the ‘sharp elbows’ of the middle-classes which confer advantage on this group. It shows how advantage accrues via the interplay between service-users, providers and the broader policy and social context.

Understanding the Influence of Evidence in Public Health Policy: What Can We Learn from the ‘Tobacco Wars’?

Abstract: Public health is overtly policy-orientated and there is widespread support for the notion that health policies should be strongly informed by evidence. Despite this, studies consistently find that public health policies are not evidence-based. This is often explained by reference to popular theories about research-policy relations which highlight, amongst other things, the communicative gaps between academics and policymakers, the centrality of values (or politics) to decision-making and the efforts by external interests to influence policy outcomes. Employing the ‘tobacco wars’ as a case study, with a particular focus on the UK, this article explores how tobacco control advocates and tobacco industry interests have attempted to influence policy and how, in so doing, each has sought to enrol evidence. Whilst accepting that evidence has played an important role in tobacco policy development, the article challenges claims that the implementation of tobacco control policies can be attributed to evidence. Turning to value-orientated and network-based approaches to conceptualizing policy development, the article demonstrates both the importance of values and the complex nature of coalitions. However, it argues that this approach needs to be supplemented by an ideational understanding of policy change, which pays attention to the ways in which arguments and evidence are constructed and framed. The article also suggests there are signs that the two ‘coalitions’ involved in the ‘tobacco wars’ may be unravelling. Overall, the ‘tobacco wars’ serve to highlight the complex relationship between evidence and policy, offering some insights for those interested in studying or improving the use of evidence in policy.

Beyond welfare regimes: From empirical typology to conceptual ideal types

Abstract: The welfare regime concept introduced by Gosta Esping-Andersen in 1990 is still widely used in comparative political research, although it has been challenged extensively both on empirical and analytical grounds. Besides the fact that many empirical welfare states seem to be hybrid cases of the established welfare regime categories, the argument that welfare regimes exist not only at the country level but also at the local level and at the level of particular welfare programmes has recently gained momentum in the academic literature. In this article, it is argued that the welfare regime concept should be stripped of its historical-geographical connotations and turned into an ideal-typical approach. To this end, a three-dimensional model is proposed here that allows for analyzing the attributes of welfare states, welfare regions and welfare programmes on three analytical dimensions: welfare culture, welfare institutions and socio-structural effects. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

‘Active Families’: Familization, Housing and Welfare across Generations in East Asia

Abstract: Debates around welfare change have tended to concentrate on the balance between market and state provision. Although there is increasing reference to a mixed economy of welfare, this generally signifies a greater emphasis on a third sector of voluntary/community level provision. However, the family sphere has been, and still remains, an important and dynamic source of welfare provision across changing regimes and between generations. With this as background, the article addresses three particular questions. First, how has the role of families in the welfare mix changed over time? Second, how do family ‘strategies’ adapt to structural changes in order to maximize collective/individual benefits in certain areas and how do these strategies evolve over generations? Third, is such family engagement in welfare influenced by policy shifts appropriately conceptualized as ‘re-familization’ or ‘de-familization'? These issues are explored in the comparative socio-economic and cultural contexts of China and Japan and draw on qualitative research with three generations of families in Shanghai and Tokyo.

Wage-Earners' Welfare after Economic Reform: Refurbishing, Retrenching or Hollowing Out Social Protection in Australia and New Zealand?

Abstract: Australia and New Zealand developed distinctive ‘wage-earner welfare states’, with social protection largely delivered through high breadwinner basic incomes and residual social policies. Market reforms then pursued in both countries during the 1980s and 1990s retrenched important elements of the Antipodean model. Our article offers a novel characterization of major reforms to both welfare states from the mid-1990s to the early 2010s. We focus on industrial relations, as a form of wage-earner welfare, and expansions to social provision for families and retirees that may be viewed as responding to the evolving needs of wage-earners as family patterns diversify and populations age. Policy reversals complicate the picture of the long-term path of industrial relations. Voters rejected the Employment Contracts Act in New Zealand in 2000 and WorkChoices in Australia in 2007, with incoming labour governments moderating policy to favour wage-earner expectations of decent wages and fair bargaining. Alongside this, governments expanded both paternalistic social policies and private social provision. We argue these changes taken together produced a ‘hollowing out’ of wage-earner welfare in both countries, accompanied by increasingly stratified welfare, which marginalizes and stigmatizes many outside the workforce. But, we also note persistent differences, reflecting the more radical and ‘pure’ New Zealand experiment, its relatively centralized politics and stronger liberal tradition. Hence, Australia retains more progressive taxation and family support less connected with employment status, while making greater use of tax expenditures to support private welfare.

Who Wants to Redistribute? An Analysis of 14 Post‐Soviet Nations

Abstract: We investigate population groups' attitude regarding inequality reduction in post-Soviet transitional countries of the Baltic, Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as the Slavic countries and Moldova. Empirical evidence presented in this article demonstrates that despite skyrocketing inequality, erosion of social provisions and efforts to introduce an individualistic market economy ideology during the last 15 years, overall support for redistribution and welfare state efforts to counterbalance rising inequality remained strongly legitimized among citizens in all post-Soviet countries. Nevertheless, there are differences between population groups in attitude: the older, the less educated, the poor and women express more support for redistribution; while the younger, the better educated, the rich and men tend to not support redistribution. Populations in transitional countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia that face higher inequality and less effective redistribution policies expressed a strong desire for more redistribution and more active social welfare policies.

Trust as a Means of Bridging the Management of Risk and the Meeting of Need: A Case Study in Mental Health Service Provision

Abstract: Shifts in public policy towards an increasing focus on risk have been deemed problematic at a number of levels, particularly the tendency for concerns over reputational risk to institutions to trump the interests and needs of service-users. This article explores the tension between these two dimensions, of risk and need, in a case study of local mental health services - a setting where conflicting objectives to manage risk and meet need are apparent. Media-driven pressure to ward against the ‘risk’ represented by service-users tends towards more coercive policy which may obstruct the meeting of need, which in turn may undermine service-user engagement and hinder risk management. Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with service-users, professionals and managers, the article explores the process of trust and its facilitative role in meeting need and managing risk. Findings suggest that while existing foci on risk are at times counter-productive, trust plays a significant role in service-users' initial and ongoing engagement, communication and co-operation with professionals. Yet inherent obstacles to trust within mental healthcare contexts remain, due to cultural pressures on professionals, the nature of the illness experience and negative past experiences of in-patient care.

Lone parents and welfare-to-work in England: A spatial analysis of outcomes and drivers

Abstract: Mirroring changes across nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, recent UK governments have redrawn lone parents' entitlement to social assistance benefits ever tighter around participation in the labour market. A radical shift since 2008 has been the gradual transfer of most non-employed lone parents into the ‘activating’ Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) regime. The enhanced conditionality requirements of this JSA regime have been justified by both paternalistic and contractualist arguments but, however justified, are built on the premise that behavioural factors drive lone parent employment outcomes, a view made increasingly forcefully under the current Coalition government. This article uses up-to-date administrative data at local authority level across England to provide a geographical perspective into the sub-national changes in lone parent employment outcomes since the transfer to JSA from 2008, as well as the relevant importance of the alternative structural and behavioural accounts to these outcomes. The findings suggest that the JSA transfer has increased lone parent employment, that structural rather than behavioural drivers are more relevant causal factors and that there is good reason to be concerned about the effect of the reforms on the well-being of lone parents and their children.

Trials and tribulations : the 'use' (and 'misuse') of evidence in public policy

Abstract: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are increasingly playing a central role in shaping policy for development. By comparison, social experimentation has not driven the great transformation of welfare within the developed world. This introduces a range of issues for those interested in the nature of research evidence for making policy. In this article we will seek a greater understanding of why the RCT is increasingly seen as the ‘gold standard’ for policy experiments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), but not in the more advanced liberal democracies, and we will explore the implications of this. One objection to the use of RCTs, however can be cost, but implementing policies and programmes without good evidence or a good understanding of their effectiveness is unlikely to be a good use of resources either. Other issues arise. Trials are often complex to run and ethical concerns often arise in social ‘experiments’ with human subjects. However, rolling out untested policies may also be morally objectionable. This article sheds new light on the relationship between evidence and evaluation in public policy in both the global north and developing south. It also tackles emerging issues concerning the ‘use’ and ‘misuse’ of evidence and evaluation within public policy.

Is Sweden Being Torn Apart? Privatization and Old and New Patterns of Welfare State Support

Abstract: This article examines the potential impact of institutional change on popular welfare support. The encompassing welfare state of Sweden provides an interesting case where the privatization of socia ...

The Working Class and Welfare: Francis G. Castles on the Political Development of the Welfare State in Australia and New Zealand Thirty Years On

Abstract: In his celebrated work of comparative policy, Francis Castles argued that a radical wage-earning model of welfare had evolved in Australia and New Zealand over the course of the 20th century. The Castles' thesis is shown to have two parts: first, the ‘fourth world of welfare’ argument that rests upon protection of workers; and, second, an emphasis on the path-dependent nature of social policy. It is perfectly possible to accept the second premise of the argument without the first, and indeed many do so. It is also possible to accept the importance of wage level protection concerns in Australasian social policy without accepting the complete fourth world thesis. This article explores the path of social democracy in Australia and New Zealand and the continuing importance of labour market regulation, as well as considering the extent to which that emphasis still makes Australasian social policy distinctive in the modern age. The argument focuses on the data and policies relating to labour market protection and wages, as well the systems of welfare and social protection, and the comparative information on poverty and inequality.

Reflections on the Concept of Social Exclusion and the Australian Social Inclusion Agenda

Abstract: Social inclusion has been at the centre of the Australian social policy agenda since the Australian Labor Party (ALP) was elected to government in 2007. Since then, the government has set in place a series of administrative, consultative and measurement structures designed to improve understanding of the issue, to monitor change and to help develop appropriate policy responses. However, while much has been achieved, it remains unclear whether the new policy focus has made a substantive difference in practice to what would have been achieved by any new centre-left government coming to office after a decade of policy reform driven by a combination of social conservatism and economic neo-liberalism. This article describes how the Australian social inclusion policy agenda has evolved since 2007, reviews recent research developments and presents new findings on recent changes in different dimensions of exclusion. Attention also focuses on the problems associated with identifying instances of exclusion in general, on the overlap/relationship between exclusion and poverty, and on the impact of exclusion and poverty on subjective well-being.

Gender Equality Policies and Practices in Croatia – The Interplay of Transition and Late Europeanization

Abstract: This article contributes to understanding change in gender regimes in post-communist countries. Using Croatia as a case, it juxtaposes the observed change in key indicators of the position of women in various walks of life with the context of the European gender agenda and the positions of actors involved in the national political arena and policies introduced throughout the transition period.The article reviews the previous enlargement waves and indicates that the gender agenda was added to the negotiation process rather late - primarily via the EU accession conditionality requirement. Although narrow in scope and often limited in impact to just 'paper compliance' with EU legislation, it opened discussions in the gender equality area in post-communist countries and empowered women's organizations. In all the countries, the implementation of the European agenda was heavily influenced by the power and discourses of the main actors involved.The article provides a map of social actors involved, together with gender-related policies as they have changed in three distinct periods in Croatia. The final analysis of observed practices and structures indicates very slow change and the crucial impact of structural and institutional developments as well as economic cycles, but little association of observed developments with dominant discourses or policies implemented over the past two decades. Language: en

Partisan Effects on Welfare State Retrenchment: Empirical Evidence from a Measurement of Government Intentions

Abstract: The effect of partisanship is disputed in the literature on welfare state retrenchment. The ‘new politics’ school argues that partisan conflicts are irrelevant to the understanding of retrenchment, but the second generation of retrenchment research concludes that such conflicts are still important. We engage in this debate by introducing a new empirical approach. Our method provides a necessary but currently missing link in the second generation of retrenchment studies which theorize on the input side of welfare state reform but conduct empirical studies on the output side. Our empirical approach entails a new type of data, compiled on the basis of content analysis of adopted laws, and we analyze the intentions pursued by incumbent governments in social policy-making. Based on an empirical study, we find partisan effects in programmes protecting against social risks that are disproportionally distributed among social strata.

Addressing Ethnicity in Social Care Research

Abstract: This article surveys recent developments in relation to the dimensions of ethnicity and ethnicdisadvantage in social policy research and practice, with a focus on social care. While therehas been limited increase in attention to ethnicity within general policy discussion andincreasing sophistication within specialist debates, advances in theory and methodology havelargely failed to penetrate the research mainstream, let alone policy or practice. This is along-standing problem. We advocate more focussed consideration of ethnicity and ethnicdisadvantage at all levels. Failure to do so creates the risk of social policy research being leftbehind in understanding rapid changes in ethnic minority demographics and patterns of migration, with increasing disadvantage to minorities.

Policy Style and Governing without Consensus: Devolution and Education Policy in Northern Ireland

Abstract: Devolved government was established in Northern Ireland in 1999 at the same time as Scotland and Wales with a varying range of powers, particularly over the major areas of social policy including education. Devolution in Northern Ireland was set up on the basis of statutory power-sharing in the core executive with a number of mechanisms to promote involvement by all sections of the community through their political representatives. This marked a departure from the traditional majoritarian and hierarchical model of UK government. The operation of devolved government in Northern Ireland requires a consensus on major policy items requiring legislation. The main aim of the article is to assess whether or not there is a devolved policy style in Northern Ireland and to compare this policy style with the findings of similar analysis in Scotland and Wales. Consideration is then given to the impact of both the distinctive policy processes which reflect the consociational nature of the Good Friday Agreement and wider social, political and administrative factors. Decision-making on education policy is a totally devolved function and thus serves as an important example of autonomous policy formulation and policy-making. The three main topics of current policy debate in education are selected for analysis to determine the nature of the decision-making process and the existence of a distinct devolved policy style.

Putting the Research Boot on the Policymakers' Foot: Can Participatory Approaches Change the Relationship between Policymakers and Evaluation?

Abstract: Barriers to the full use of social science in public policy-making are related to a separation of knowledge production from its consumption, and by a lack of mechanisms to accommodate the political nature of decision-making processes. Policymakers can ignore evidence in favour of conventional wisdom or ideologically driven choices. Avoiding policy engagement is a denial of some core ambitions for applied social science, but attempts at policy engagement have sometimes resulted in academic regret or little impact. One implication is that more participatory and co-productive approaches to evaluation could be used by researchers and policymakers, particularly politicians, working together. However, participatory approaches have tended to align with methodologies which de-privilege the idea of objective evidence of policy effectiveness. A case study of self-evaluation by local government politicians attempted to overcome an artificial separation of positivist and non-positivist methods into non-participatory and participatory approaches, and close the divide between evidence and politically situated policymakers. It finds interest by local councillors in outcome evaluation, and some efforts to temper ideological biases with evidence, although a bias towards positive results remained. Successful self-evaluations used data on policy outcomes in mixed methods pre- and post-intervention designs, but not all were successful. One conclusion from the case study is that the participation of policymakers in conducting research may simply replicate difficulties faced by academic researchers using more conventional methods. However, the example suggests that a belief in positivism and a commitment to participatory approaches do not need to be in conflict.

Voluntary Pension Saving for Old Age: Are the Objectives of Self‐responsibility and Security Compatible?

Abstract: Fiscal pressure and demographic change lead governments to seek ways of reducing state expenditure on pensions. Individuals are asked to take more responsibility, and funded, supplementary pension schemes have been established in many countries. This article looks at schemes that are voluntary – the NEST or Personal Accounts scheme in Britain and the Riester Pension scheme in Germany. It examines the debate about whether it is worthwhile for some people to participate in pension schemes that are not mandatory – particularly those with low incomes and/or potentially broken careers. The small pensions they accumulate in such schemes merely offset entitlements to means-tested pension benefits, leaving them no better off in old age. Concerns about the behavioural consequences of pension means-testing are not new. Nonetheless, few policymakers have been willing to look at when and how such concerns were expressed in the context of voluntary pension savings. Equally, they have seldom been prepared to explain the costs involved in guaranteeing savings-based pensions or the implications that the lack of offering such a guarantee might have for individual behaviour. The state has sought for people to take greater ‘self-responsibility’ for their retirement income, but many people wish for some certainty with respect to the pensions they can expect. These goals might well be in conflict. Whether the ‘state pension for the 21st century’, as proposed by the UK government, will succeed in satisfying the objectives both of the state and of pension savers remains an open question.

The Deinstitutionalization of Children in Bulgaria – The Role of the EU

Abstract: In this article, the role of the EU as a key factor for the development of the deinstitutionalization of children is explored. A series of hypotheses concerning EU funding, policies and politics are addressed with regards to how the EU as a whole has affected the deinstitutionalization of children. The article explains the presence of association between instigation of public interest and civil mobilization and the launch of a nationwide reform – in particular how advocacy both at national and EU level led to the adoption of a national reform strategy in Bulgaria. Further, the association between the availability of an innovative approach to spending the EU funds and the decision generally to reform the system for institutional care for children is presented. The article explains the difference that €107.6 million will make for Bulgaria's abandoned children if the European structural funds are realized with their full potential. On the other hand, it reveals the challenges that the process is facing. A great deal of non-governmental organization (NGO) experience concerning EU involvement in the process has been generalized and construed in order to achieve the best possible understanding of the whole process, the key players and the fundamental issues.

Caught in the Same Frame? The Language of Evidence-based Policy in Debates about the Australian Government ‘Intervention’ into Northern Territory Aboriginal Communities

Abstract: This article examines ongoing contestation surrounding the policies of the Federal government's ‘Intervention’ in Indigenous communities in Australia's Northern Territory. It highlights how the paradigm of ‘evidence-based policy’ has been used by both the government and its critics, suggesting this commonality of language is worthy of reflection. Cautioning against an over-reliance on the rationalist framework of ‘evidence-based policy’, it draws on literature that problematizes this idea and insists on the inherently contested and political nature of the relationship between knowledge, evidence and policy-making. It concludes by pointing to alternative strategies for improving Indigenous policy that risk being overlooked by a focus on ‘evidence-based policy’ as a prescriptive ideal.

Public Opinion and Policy‐making

Abstract: ‘Evidence-based policy’ often uses systematic reviews of existing research on the effectiveness of interventions to provide guidance for policymakers. When applied to gauging public support for interventions, there are two stumbling blocks – opinion data on contentious issues are volatile and prone to measurement error, and the barometer of public opinion should be set for the present rather than reflecting sentiments of other times. Despite these impediments, systematic reviews are a useful tool. Authoritative evidence to support policy is not a matter of taking contemporary, error-free snapshots of public opinion but derives from building and testing explanation of how public attitudes arise. We make this case via a review of public support for legislation banning smoking in cars carrying children.

Obstacles to evidence-based policy-making in the EU enlargement countries: the case of skills policies

Abstract: The global economic crisis has had a significant impact on the EU enlargement region by reducing inflows of external finance. Unemployment has increased in a context of already high long-term and youth unemployment. As governments seek to restrict their budget deficits there will be little scope for much increase in government expenditure in the near future. These effects of the crisis highlight the need for better policy-making in the region, drawing on better understanding of the causes of economic and social problems, better appreciation of the range of policy options and their relative chances of success or failure. However, there is a substantial knowledge gap that can only be filled by well-designed research studies based on research questions that are relevant to the needs of policymakers. In this context, evidence-based policy-making techniques have a valuable role to play in improving the policy process. This article points out the specific nature of the policy process in transition countries and the difficulties of formulating rational policy during periods of rapid structural change in which the administrations have become politicized and state capture by big business interests is common. In addition, pervasive policy transfer, often of a coercive nature, is an additional constraint on rational policy-making. The conflicting advice received from multiple donors and external advisers provides an incentive for playing the system and producing inconsistent policy formulas. The article concludes that there is significant scope for improvement in policy-making through the use of evidence-based policy-making techniques. Governments should, therefore, encourage the use of systematic review and ex-post evaluation of policy programmes and analysis of natural experiments where possible, while at the same time maintain a realistic awareness of the dangers and distorting effects of the influence of advocacy coalitions, state capture and partyisation of economies.

Risky by Design: The Mandatory Private Pillar of Australia's Retirement Income System

Abstract: Australia's retirement income system has been touted by some as among the world's best. Its contemporary architecture mirrors the ‘ideal’ recommended by the World Bank. Yet occupational superannuation, the mandatory private pillar of Australia's retirement income system, is one to which many uncertainties and, hence, risks are attached almost by design. This article explores some of these systemic risks in light of the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) and its aftermath and considers some of their implications. The range of risks includes inflation risk, malfeasance and incompetence in the management of superannuation funds, exchange rate risk, investment risk, longevity risk and political risk. However, this article focuses on the latter three. While Australia's federal governments have become increasingly conscious of investment risk and longevity risk, greater sensitivity to political risk and its impacts is still needed.

The Global Financial Crisis and Child Poverty: The Case of Australia 2006–10

Abstract: While events associated with the global financial crisis (GFC) had a profound impact on real family incomes and well-being in many rich countries, impacts in Australia were relatively minor. One reason for this was the massive policy response by the Australian government at the outset of the GFC, which pumped billions of dollars into the pockets of low and middle income families. This article examines the impact of this stimulus on child poverty in Australia in the context of longer-term policies on income support for families with children. We show that the emphasis of longer-term policy has been to moderate support for families with children and that, since the mid-1990s, rates of relative child poverty have not fallen. We find that while the impact of the stimulus was to reduce child poverty, the underlying trajectory of policies towards family assistance and child poverty in Australia has not changed, and therefore there is no expectation that child poverty will continue to fall in the future.