ECLAC Notes No 31

Special Issue Social Panorama of Latin America 2002-2003   Op Ed by Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC's Deputy Executive Secretary: Struggling Against Hunger and Poverty  Hunger Declines in Latin America and the Caribbean   Fome Zero: Anti-Hunger Drive in Brazil   The Invisibility of Women's Poverty  Social Spending Rises and Becomes Better Focused In Latin America Labor Regulations Are Not Followed   Statistical Appendix  Recent Titles  Calendar

Os cadernos de física: algumas inquietações sobre o currículo oficial do Estado de São Paulo

The assumptions of Marxist philosophy helps us understand the inherent contradictions of the historical process. The category mode of production is understood as the means and the ends for which mankind produces and reproduces reality objectively and subjectively. The temporal evolution of the mode of production has spurred antagonistic social classes, which are the world capitalist bourgeoisie and proletariat. At the rise of the current mode of production each class produced a pedagogy according to your interests. The proposal of the workers is centered on unity between teaching and non-alienated labor, enabling the development of human potential and building a new social order. The last historical period was marked by the implementation of the neoliberal agenda to reduce social spending and market liberalization. The educational reforms of the state of São Paulo followed the same goals. From the program São Paulo Faz Escola, São Paulo School Curriculum was introduced in the State of São Paulo, which integrates several documents. The Student Notebook, separated by discipline and delivered bimonthly to students of public schools, is one of those publications. Specifically, the physics notebook brings a content with no depth, where theories are presented by minimizing the mathematical formalism for a broad education that meets the needs for dynamize the economy

Democratization, Education Reform, and the Mexican Teachers' Union

This study examines the effect of democratization on a key education reform across three Mexican states. Previous scholarship has found a positive effect of electoral competition on social spending, as leaders seek to improve their reelection prospects by delivering services to voters. However, the evidence presented here indicates that more money has not meant better educational outcomes in Mexico. Rather, new and vulnerable elected leaders are especially susceptible to the demands of powerful interest groups at the expense of accountability to constituents. In this case, the dominant teachers' union has used its leverage to exact greater control over the country's resource-rich merit pay program for teachers. It has exploited this control to increase salaries and decrease standards for advancement up the remuneration ladder. The evidence suggests that increased electoral competition has led to the empowerment of entrenched interests rather than voters, with an overall negative effect on education.

Choosing the Path of Austerity: How Policy Coalitions Shape Welfare-policy Choices in Periods of Fiscal Consolidation

In general, fiscal adjustments are associated with significant reductions in social spending. Hence, the welfare state is not spared from austerity. Because the welfare state is still central to party competition, this is electorally risky. The paper addresses the following questions: Do left parties differ from their centrist and rightist competitors in the design of austerity measures? And does government type has an impact on the extent to which austerity policies rely on social spending cuts? By comparing 17 OECD countries between 1982 and 2009 we show that if governments embark on a path to austerity, their ideology does not have a significant effect on the magnitude of welfare state retrenchment. However, if major opposition parties and interest groups rally against social spending cuts, a broad pro-reform coalition is a crucial precondition for large fiscal consolidation programs to rely on substantial cuts to social security.

Choosing the path of austerity: how parties and policy coalitions influence welfare state retrenchment in periods of fiscal consolidation

What are the conditions under which some austerity programmes rely on substantial cuts to social spending? More specifically, do the partisan complexion and the type of government condition the extent to which austerity policies imply welfare state retrenchment? This article demonstrates that large budget consolidations tend to be associated with welfare state retrenchment. The findings support a partisan and a politico-institutionalist argument: (i) in periods of fiscal consolidation, welfare state retrenchment tends to be more pronounced under left-wing governments; (ii) since welfare state retrenchment is electorally and politically risky, it also tends to be more pronounced when pursued by a broad pro-reform coalition government. Therefore, the article shows that during budget consolidations implemented by left-wing broad coalition governments, welfare state retrenchment is greatest. Using long-run multipliers from autoregressive distributed lag models on 17 OECD countries during the 1982–2009 period, substantial support is found for these expectations.

Learning from the Nordic welfare model: what and how? EU Centre Singapore Working Paper No. 16, September 2013

This paper posits that the Nordic countries were able to ensure good standards of equality for its citizens, while at the same time maintaining decent levels of economic growth. This can be attributed to the Nordic countries’ more holistic approach towards social spending and their focus on uplifting the skill levels of its workforce. Thus, the notion that there must be a trade-off between economic performance and a more aggressive welfare regime should be examined more thoroughly. The debate for policy makers should perhaps be framed with regard to where the balance should be between growth and equity rather than a trade-off. Firstly, the paper will elaborate on what exactly the “Nordic model” is, based on a broad literature review. Next, the paper will unpack the key characteristics of the Nordic model and analyse if indeed expansive welfare provided through state support erodes work ethic and impact the economic competitiveness of countries. Next, the paper will provide an explanation for how the balance between economic and social objectives is maintained, in some of the Nordic countries. Lastly, the paper discusses whether the same balance can be achieved in Singapore.

Defense Expenditure: Central America and The Dominican Republic

It is often speculated that the high allocation of funds to retirement pension systems has influenced the capacity of Central American and Dominican Republic military to modernize. Yet, the comparative study of the allocation of pension and social funds in these particular countries suggest that there is not direct linkage between the poor funding of military modernization plans and the allocation of funds to military pension systems. The research conducted on this subject shows the following results: 1. The Dominican Republic is the only country that has embarked on a considerable procurement of modern equipment and still reports the largest proportion of social expenditures. 2. El Salvador’s defense budget allocates minimal funding to Social Welfare Institute, which as alternative sources of funding. In 2009, El Salvador increased 15 percent funding to the military to respond to increased role in domestic security issues. 3. The Guatemalan defense expenditure on social programs is fairly low, but it has grown during the past six years due to processes of demobilization. However, the Military Social Welfare Institute is administered by a decentralized institution funded directly by the Ministry of Finance. If it were to be considered as a part of the defense budget, its social expenses would account for almost 16% of it. 4. The Honduran Defense Budget has faced a considerable enlargement during the past four years, with social spending expenses taken precedence over modernization efforts. 2 5. The Nicaraguan system of military pensions is administered by a decentralized entity (IPSM) through a system of salary deductions. Information on the funding of this entity is inconclusive. The Nicaraguan Defense spending on social services has reported a drastic 90% drop since the year 2007.

Inequality, the Welfare State, and Demographic Change

This dissertation is a three-part analysis examining how the welfare state in advanced Western democracies has responded to recent demographic changes. Specifically, this dissertation investigates two primary relationships, beginning with the influence of government spending on poverty. I analyze two at-risk populations in particular: immigrants and children of single mothers. Next, attention is turned to the influence of individual and environmental traits on preferences for social spending. I focus specifically on religiosity, religious beliefs and religious identity. I pool data from a number of international macro- and micro-data sources including the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), International Social Survey Program (ISSP), the World Bank Databank, and the OECD Databank. Analyses highlight the power of the welfare state to reduce poverty, but also the effectiveness of specific areas of spending focused on addressing new social risks. While previous research has touted the strength of the welfare state, my analyses highlight the need to consider new social risks and encourage closer attention to how social position affects preferences for the welfare state.

Do Multiculturalism Policies Erode the Welfare State (Working Paper 33)

The past 30 years have witnessed a dramatic change in the way Western democracies deal with ethnic minorities. In the past, ethnic diversity was often seen as a threat to political stability, and minorities were subject to a range of policies intended to assimilate or marginalize them. Today, many Western democracies have adopted a more accommodating approach. This is reflected in the widespread adoption of multiculturalism policies for immigrant groups, the acceptance of territorial autonomy and language rights for national minorities, and the recognition of land claims and selfgovernment rights for indigenous peoples. We refer to these policies as “multiculturalism policies” or MCPs. The adoption of MCPs has been controversial, for two reasons. The first is a philosophical critique, which argues that MCPs are inherently inconsistent with basic liberal-democratic principles. Since the mid-1990s, however, this philosophical debate has been supplemented by a second argument: namely, that MCPs make it more difficult to sustain a robust Welfare State (hereafter WS). Critics worry that such policies erode the interpersonal trust, social solidarity and political coalitions that sustain a strongly redistributive WS. This paper reviews the reasons why critics believe that MCPs weaken political support for redistribution, and then examines empirically whether the adoption of MCPs has, in fact, been associated with erosion of the WS. This examination involves two steps: we develop a taxonomy of MCPs and classify Western democracies as “strong”, “modest” or “weak” in their level of MCPs. We then examine whether the strength of MCPs is associated with the erosion of the WS during the 1980s and 1990s. The evolution of the WS is measured through change in four indicators: social spending as a percentage of GDP; the redistributive impact of taxes and transfers; levels of child poverty; and the level of income inequality. We find no evidence of a consistent relationship between the adoption of MCPs and the erosion of the WS. Our analysis has limits, and we hope it stimulates further research. Nevertheless, the preliminary evidence presented here is clear: the case advanced by critics of MCPs is not supported. The growing ethnic diversity of Western societies has generated pressures for the construction of new and more inclusive forms of citizenship and national identity. The evidence in this paper suggests that debates over the appropriateness of multiculturalism policies as one response to this diversity should not be pre-empted by unsupported fears about their impact on the WS.

Una Estimación del Impacto del Gasto en Atención a la Dependencia en Andalucía

La atención a la dependencia es, sin lugar a dudas, uno de los grandes retos de futuro de las sociedades que envejecen aceleradamente, al que España y Andalucía no sólo no son ajenos, sino que presentan rasgos que lo amplifican. Sin embargo, es un fenómeno que adolece de importantes lagunas de información, fundamentalmente la carencia de una perspectiva integral que conecte la realidad social, el cambio económico, y la necesidad de transformación de los modelos de bienestar en general y de cuidados en particular, el gasto necesario para su desarrollo y el impacto económico asociado; enfoque holístico que se adopta en este trabajo. Dentro del marco expuesto el objetivo principal del trabajo es cuantificar el impacto en términos de actividad, empleo y retorno fiscal, así como la relación entre la prestación recibida y las características de los dependientes, que permita avanzar en la consideración de este gasto social como una inversión. Para la estimación de los impactos se ha utilizado el Marco Input-Output de Andalucía (MIOAN) de 2010. No obstante, para calcular los incrementos de renta generados por los requerimientos producidos, se ha endogeneizado la demanda de consumo, esto ha implicado construir expresamente para este cálculo una matriz ampliada de Leontief, procediendo a una estimación especifica de la fila adicional ampliada. Finalmente para estimar la relación entre prestación y características de los dependientes se han construido distintos modelos logísticos binarios, y un modelo multinomial. Desarrollado el trabajo de investigación y cuantificado el impacto, la conclusión fundamental no es sólo fuerte efecto arrastre del gasto en dependencia en la actividad y el empleo , sino que se produce en el marco de un cambio irreversible que sitúa a los Cuidados de Larga Duración asociados a la dependencia con un papel central en el contexto de la evolución del Estado el Bienestar. En concreto se ha verificado que: • Andalucía realiza un elevado gasto en atención a la dependencia, 1314 millones de euros, un 85 % del cual total es público y un 15 % privado, y que este gasto genera un fuerte impacto en la economía andaluza, pues su contribución a los grandes agregados macroeconómicos de Andalucía es de un 0,9 % del PIB, superior al impulso de demanda que supone el gasto en atención a la dependencia. • La atención a la dependencia ha mostrado una elevada capacidad de generación de empleo, más de 40.000 empleos, muy concentrado además en personas de difícil inserción en el mercado laboral, mujeres maduras de cualificación media-baja y con poca experiencia acreditable en sector formal de la atención. • La relación entre usuarios, gasto, e impacto para las trasferencias y los servicios muestra un modelo en escalera que caracteriza un sistema de universalización de coste medio con impacto moderado. Un modelo en el que las transferencias suponen el 50 % de los atendidos, el 30 % del gasto y el 20 % del impacto. • El retorno fiscal generado por la dependencia es muy elevado, casi del 45%. • El esfuerzo financiero, tanto bruto como neto, descontado el retorno vía impuestos que obtiene de cada administración, es muy asimétrico lo que puede generar un efecto desincentivador del desarrollo de un modelo con más servicios frente a transferencias. • Las características de los dependientes condicionan la prestación que parece ajustarse a los la características personales y de grado de discapacidad más que las socioeconómicas.

Réconcilier universalisme et ciblage : l’évolution du paradoxe de la redistribution depuis la fin des années 1980

Le Paradoxe de la redistribution de Walter Korpi et Joakim Palme (1998) postule que les États-providences qui ont des dépenses sociales moins ciblées redistribuent davantage. Ive Marx, Lina Salanauskaite et Gerlinde Verbist (2013) ont toutefois constaté que le paradoxe démontré grâce à une corrélation entre un indice de redistribution et un indice de ciblage des dépenses sociales n'était plus valide dans les années 2000. En reproduisant les corrélations, il apparaît que l'augmentation importante du ciblage dans des pays qui redistribuent beaucoup comme le Danemark et la Suède est la principale cause de la disparition de la corrélation entre redistribution et ciblage. Lors des crises économiques dans les années 1980 et 1990, les prestations maximales déjà relativement faibles ainsi que la volonté de maintenir les prestations minimums et les taux de remplacement de la part des partis sociaux-démocrates ont poussé les gouvernements danois et suédois à réduire les prestations maximales afin de limiter l’augmentation des dépenses, augmentant ainsi le ciblage des dépenses sociales tout en préservant le caractère universel des programmes. L’augmentation du ciblage des dépenses sociales n’a pas eu d’effets négatifs sur la redistribution particulièrement au Danemark où la redistribution a augmenté et les inégalités diminué entre la fin des années 80 et le milieu des années 2000.

Réconcilier universalisme et ciblage : l’évolution du paradoxe de la redistribution depuis la fin des années 1980

Le Paradoxe de la redistribution de Walter Korpi et Joakim Palme (1998) postule que les États-providences qui ont des dépenses sociales moins ciblées redistribuent davantage. Ive Marx, Lina Salanauskaite et Gerlinde Verbist (2013) ont toutefois constaté que le paradoxe démontré grâce à une corrélation entre un indice de redistribution et un indice de ciblage des dépenses sociales n'était plus valide dans les années 2000. En reproduisant les corrélations, il apparaît que l'augmentation importante du ciblage dans des pays qui redistribuent beaucoup comme le Danemark et la Suède est la principale cause de la disparition de la corrélation entre redistribution et ciblage. Lors des crises économiques dans les années 1980 et 1990, les prestations maximales déjà relativement faibles ainsi que la volonté de maintenir les prestations minimums et les taux de remplacement de la part des partis sociaux-démocrates ont poussé les gouvernements danois et suédois à réduire les prestations maximales afin de limiter l’augmentation des dépenses, augmentant ainsi le ciblage des dépenses sociales tout en préservant le caractère universel des programmes. L’augmentation du ciblage des dépenses sociales n’a pas eu d’effets négatifs sur la redistribution particulièrement au Danemark où la redistribution a augmenté et les inégalités diminué entre la fin des années 80 et le milieu des années 2000.

Social Risk of Public Spending Cuts in Scotland: Local Authority Experiences

This paper relates to work supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which examines the way Scottish Local Authorities have approached budget cuts (Asenova, et. al., 2013). Starting with a discussion of notions of social risk, we discuss the heightened challenges faced by local authorities. We note that the literature on public sector innovation predict such pressures would cause local authorities to engage in short term decision making and adopt a static coping approach to risk mitigation which is likely to stifle innovation and obstruct the creation of more coherent and resilient localities. Although we find this to have happened in some areas, we discuss two cases where these challenges have promoted innovative and inclusive approaches to service re-design and delivery.

Poverty and income distribution in Latin America: on the complementarities between trade policy and social public spending

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