This paper proposes a reform of family allowance to combat poverty, coherent with the vision of human development welfare and the tradition of selective universalism of the Onofri Commission. The main contents of the reform are: a) Unification of the main tax deductions for minors and spending in the form of family allowances in a new and more effective spending measure to support families which resolves the problem of the incapacity of tax deductions. b) The full-scale introduction of the Minimum Income Mechanism whose experimentation had been initiated (but only to be interrupted). c) The reform of current selectivity criteria, especially the Ise tool. This reform aims to achieve better redistribution objectives than the current ones, concentrating available resources on families with minors and medium to low Ise. It should be maintained a certain level of selectivity in the interventions on the basis of family not individual criteria. The reform will also use any eventual additional resources to cover all urgent needs of our welfare systems rather than universalistic monetary redistribution.only subscribers can see the full article

This paper takes a retrospective view of social policy in post-colonial sub-Saharan Africa. In doing so it seeks to account for two distinct phases in the nature of social policy and its linkages to wider economic and political objectives in the region. We argue that in social policy in the nationalist phase (1960-1980) played an ex-ante transformative role: in this period investment in education and healthcare is the key mechanism of social policy. The weaknesses of this phase were growing authoritarianism and failure to structurally and dynamically transform the economies. The implications of the retrenchment of the public realm under the neoliberal policy regime were not only in its disastrous social consequences of entitlement failure but extend to the crisis of citizenship and statehood in the region. only subscribers can see the full article

The Lisbon strategy is a community approach designed to create learning opportunities for one’s national system and that of other countries, with the aim of encouraging the best solutions, selecting the best practices and using indicators as benchmarking. It is a process that has made the idea of convergence a reality, aiming at getting those involved to redefine their strategic and political priorities under the effect of continuous learning. However, it is clear that none of the indicators adopted at Lisbon or immediately after will be reached in 2010. It is therefore a failure that is not limited just to the social area. Using the most recent data, the article discusses the reasons for this partial failure and concludes with some suggestions for possible solutions. only subscribers can see the full article

Prior to the crisis of the late 1990s, East Asia’s welfare states were premised on two sets of ideas: «welfare developmentalism» according to which social policy is viewed principally as an instrument for economic growth, and Confucian familism, which saw the family as the main site of welfare provision. The weaknesses of this approach were painfully exposed during the economic crisis of the late 1990s. In response, many East Asian countries have strengthened and expanded their welfare provisions. This paper explores the contrasting trajectories of welfare development across E. Asia, highlighting ways in which both the economic reform context and the political dynamics of reform are shaping welfare state outcomes. only subscribers can see the full article

How adequate Gdp is as a measure of development has always been a matter of debate, but attempts to define a more holistic concept of development have so far failed. As well as considering national and international policy initiatives aimed at defining agreed paradigms of sustainable development, this article offers to identify a series of theoretical and cultural elements on which a measurement of wellbeing compatible with the idea of sustainability can be based. The possibility of translating these elements into a concrete example is demonstrated in the analysis of the Feem Si (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Sustainability index), a flexible tool that can simulate the impact of various policies, thus making a new paradigm of sustainable development operative. only subscribers can see the full article

Since the late 1970s, all the developed welfare states of the European Union (Eu) have been recasting the basic policy mix on which their national systems of social protection were built after 1945. Intensified global competition, industrial restructuring, budgetary austerity, changing family relations and demographic ageing have thrown into question the once sovereign and stable welfare systems of the «Golden Ag». Moreover, domestic issues of work and welfare have more recently become ever more intertwined with processes of European political and economic integration. In this respect, it is fair to say that in the Eu we have entered an era of semi-sovereign welfare states. This paper tries to capture the comprehensive character of the ongoing effort to recast the architecture of the post-war social contract in terms of the concept of welfare recalibration for both heuristic and prescriptive purposes. only subscribers can see the full article

The main objective of this paper is to provide arguments needed to support the thesis that the most serious obstacle to the construction of a competitive and fair economy in Italy is represented by the production structure, characterised by the prevalence of small or micro companies and by a manufacturing specialisation centred mostly on traditional production. This structure acts as a hindrance to the utilisation of human capital encouraging growth strategies which are not focused on the introduction of innovations, thus proving to be fragile. The removal of this obstacle requires different policy interventions other than tax cuts, reduction in social spending and the insistence on the flexibilisation of the labour market.only subscribers can see the full article

The essay looks critically at the recent reforms of the secondary school and university, partly in the light of the July Budget. The impression given by the details of these reforms is that budgeting considerations have prevailed over supposed criteria of improving quality and efficiency. What is certain is the limited funds for both school and university, with ageing, demotivated and ill-paid staff. The educational process is the motor of a community’s development, and also a formidable promoter of social mobility if properly planned and administered. The recent reforms do not seem to be moving in this direction.only subscribers can see the full article

The paper intends to show that, as to the forging of the new welfare state, the past close to two decades of post-communist transformation has brought about Central Europe’s remarkable departure from the track of Western developments. Besides steady slowing down of economic growth since the late 1990s, a review of the key indicators of social development reveals the emergence of previously unknown fault-lines in the new social structures. it is argued that the actual reality of the post-1990 systemic transformation has brought about ever more remarkable retreats of bifurcation in provisions that have concluded, in turn, in an ever more visible disintegration in day-to-day social relations. Taking the case of Hungary, it is demonstrated that the new reforms in welfare have assisted integration into the market for the well-to-do, while the very same reforms have brought further marginalisation and social exclusion for the truly poor. only subscribers can see the full article