Related Research Articles
Welfare reforms are changes in the operation of a given welfare system aimed at improving the efficiency, equity and administration of government assistance programs. Reform programs may have a various aims, sometimes the focus is on reducing the number of individuals receiving government assistance and welfare system expenditure, at other times reforms may aim to ensure greater fairness, effectiveness and allocation of welfare for those in need. Classical liberals, libertarians, and conservatives generally argue that welfare and other tax-funded services reduce incentives to work, exacerbate the free-rider problem, and intensify poverty. On the other hand social democrats and socialists generally criticize welfare reforms that minimize the public safety net and strengthens the capitalist economic system. Welfare reform is constantly debated because of the varying opinions on a government's need to balance providing guaranteed welfare benefits and promoting self-sufficiency.
Guaranteed minimum income (GMI), also called minimum income, is a social-welfare system that guarantees all citizens or families an income sufficient to live on, provided that certain eligibility conditions are met, typically: citizenship; a means test; and either availability to participate in the labor market, or willingness to perform community services.
Fome Zero is a program of the Government of Brazil introduced by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2003, with the goal to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty in the country.
Bolsa Família is the current social welfare program of the Government of Brazil, part of the Fome Zero network of federal assistance programs. Bolsa Família provided financial aid to poor Brazilian families. In order to be eligible, families had to ensure that children attend school and get vaccinated. If they exceeded the total of permitted school absences, they were dropped from the program and their funds were suspended. The program attempted to both reduce short-term poverty by direct cash transfers and fight long-term poverty by increasing human capital among the poor through conditional cash transfers. It also worked to give free education to children who couldn't afford to go to school, to show the importance of education. In 2008, The Economist described Bolsa Família as an "anti-poverty scheme invented in Latin America [which] is winning converts worldwide." The program was a centerpiece of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's social policy and is reputed to have played a role in his victory in the general election of 2006. Bolsa Família was the largest conditional cash transfer program in the world, though the Mexican Oportunidades was the first nationwide program of this kind.
Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs aim to reduce poverty by making welfare programs conditional upon the receivers' actions. The government only transfers the money to persons who meet certain criteria. These criteria may include enrolling children into public schools, getting regular check-ups at the doctor's office, receiving vaccinations, or the like. CCTs seek to help the current generation in poverty, as well as breaking the cycle of poverty for the next through the development of human capital. Conditional cash transfers could help reduce feminization of poverty.
Oportunidades is a government social assistance program in Mexico founded in 2002, based on a previous program called Progresa, created in 1997. It is designed to target poverty by providing cash payments to families in exchange for regular school attendance, health clinic visits, and nutrition support. Oportunidades is credited with decreasing poverty and improving health and educational attainment in regions where it has been deployed. Key features of Oportunidades include:
Brazil ranks 49.3 in the Gini coefficient index, with the richest 10% of Brazilians earning 43% of the nation's income, the poorest 34% earn less than 1.2%.
Impact evaluation assesses the changes that can be attributed to a particular intervention, such as a project, program or policy, both the intended ones, as well as ideally the unintended ones. In contrast to outcome monitoring, which examines whether targets have been achieved, impact evaluation is structured to answer the question: how would outcomes such as participants' well-being have changed if the intervention had not been undertaken? This involves counterfactual analysis, that is, "a comparison between what actually happened and what would have happened in the absence of the intervention." Impact evaluations seek to answer cause-and-effect questions. In other words, they look for the changes in outcome that are directly attributable to a program.
Education policy in Brazil has been given importance by the federal and local governments since 1995. At that time, the government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and the Brazilian Ministry of Education began to pursue three areas of national education policy:
The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is a federal unconditional cash transfer poverty reduction program in Pakistan. Launched in July 2008, it was the largest single social safety net program in the country with nearly Rs. 90 billion distributed to 5.4 million beneficiaries in 2016.
In Brazil, universal basic income has been discussed at least since the 1980s. In 2001 a law was introduced by Senator Eduardo Suplicy of the Brazilian Workers Party which mandated the progressive institution of such a welfare system. By this move Brazil became the first country in the world to pass such a law. Suplicy had previously introduced a bill to create a negative income tax, but that bill failed to pass. The new bill called for a national and universal basic income to be instituted, beginning with those most in need. The bill was approved by the Senate in 2002 and by the Chamber of Deputies in 2003. President Lula da Silva signed it into law in 2004, and according to the bill it is the president's responsibility to gradually implement the reform. Since then Brazil has started to implement the bill through the Bolsa Família program, which was a centerpiece of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's social policy, and is reputed to have played a role in his victory in the Brazilian presidential election, 2006.
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, also known as 4Ps and formerly Bangon Pamilyang Pilipino, is a conditional cash transfer program of the Philippine government under the Department of Social Welfare and Development. It aims to eradicate extreme poverty in the Philippines by investing in health and education particularly in ages 0–18. It is patterned on programs in other developing countries like Brazil and Mexico (Oportunidades). The 4Ps program now operates in 17 regions, 79 provinces and 1,484 municipalities and 143 key cities covering 4,090,667 household beneficiaries as of June 25, 2014.
Social determinants of health in Mexico are factors that influence the status of health among certain populations in Mexico. These factors consist of circumstances in which people grow, live, work, and age, as well as the systems put in place to deal with illnesses.
Unconditional cash transfer (UCT) programs are philanthropic programs aim to reduce poverty by providing financial welfare without any conditions upon the receivers' actions. This differentiates them from conditional cash transfers where the government only transfers the money to persons who meet certain criteria. Unconditional cash transfers have developed on the premise that giving cash to citizens allows them to have autonomy over their own lives.
Wealth inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean refers to economic discrepancies among people of the region. A report release in 2013 by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs entitled Inequality Matters. Report of the World Social Situation, observed that: ‘Declines in the wage share have been attributed to the impact of labour-saving technological change and to a general weakening of labour market regulations and institutions. Such declines are likely to affect individuals in the middle and bottom of the income distribution disproportionately, since they rely mostly on labour income.’ In addition, the report noted that ‘highly-unequal land distribution has created social and political tensions and is a source of economic inefficiency, as small landholders frequently lack access to credit and other resources to increase productivity, while big owners may not have had enough incentive to do so.
Tereza Helena Gabrielli Barreto Campello is a Brazilian economist graduated from the Federal University of Uberlândia and Doctor in Public Health from FioCruz. She was the minister of Social Development and Fight against Hunger during the government of President Dilma Rousseff. She is international consultant on social development and social protection, visiting fellow in the Future Food Beacon of Excellence at University of Nottingham (UK) University of Nottingham (UK) and professor and research associate at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation
Welfare in Peru began on a base of democratic views. Its political system is a multi-party system that includes having a President and Prime Minister. The economy of Peru has expanded substantially throughout the years making it one of the fastest growing economies. As described by Gøsta Esping-Andersen, in his book The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, the Peruvian welfare system would most commonly fit in with the liberal model, since Peru mostly attempts to emancipate the less fortunate from poverty, through means of state-cultivated programs. In accordance, the welfare system has shown great expansion, with the focus primarily on education, healthcare, and the creation of a social safety net.
Mexico offers social welfare assistance designed to meet needs of the Mexican population including assistance for low-income populations, young people, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Mexico has been offering social welfare since 1999. Despite the fact that Mexico offers welfare to its citizens through various programs, the poverty level in Mexico is currently at 46.2%. More than 10% of those living in poverty are living in extreme poverty, earning $1.25/ day or less.
Petra Elisabeth (Crockett) Todd is an American economist whose research interests include labor economics, development economics, microeconomics, and econometrics. She is the Edward J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, and is also affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania Population Studies Center, the Human Capital and Equal Opportunity Global Working Group (HCEO), the IZA Institute of Labor Economics and the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Auxílio Brasil was the social welfare program of the Government of Brazil, created during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. Announced in October 2021, the provisional measure was sanctioned by Bolsonaro after passing through both legislative houses on 30 December 2021, replacing Bolsa Família. However, after Lula's reelection as president of Brazil in 2022, he declared that he would rename the program to Bolsa Família, putting an end to Auxílio Brasil.
References
- ↑ Opportunity NYC Press Release, New York: News from the Blue Room. NYC.gov, 18 June 2007
- ↑ Bolsa Família: Changing the Lives of Millions in Brazil. The World Bank, Aug. 22 2007
- 1 2 "Opportunity NYC." Opportunity NYC. Web. 7 Apr. 2011. <http://opportunitynyc.net/>.
- ↑ LINDERT, Kathy. Bolsa Familia Program – Scaling-up Cash Transfers for the Poor. in MfDR Principles in Action: Sourcebook on Emerging Good Practices, pp. 67-74, World Bank Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine Kathy Lindert is the chief economist at the World Bank.
- ↑ "McMAHON, Colin. NYC program will try to buy good parenting. Chicago: Chicago Tribune, 27 May 2007". Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 27 September 2007.
- 1 2 Miller, Cynthia, James Riccio, and Jared Smith. A Preliminary Look at Early Educational Results of the Opportunity NYC – Family Rewards Program A Research Note for Funders. Rep. MDRC, 2009. Print.
- 1 2 Riccio, James. "Sharing Lessons from the First Conditional Cash Transfer Program in the United States." Policybrief22.pdf. National Poverty Center, Sept. 2010. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. <http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief22/policybrief22.pdf>.