Academic literature on the topic 'Welfare state – economic aspects'

Faced with a serious economic crisis in the early 1990s, Sweden was compelled to undertake a series of restructuring measures on its welfare state systems. For many, the economic pressure and welfare state restructuring were undoubtedly seen as firm proof of the decline of the welfare state, as had been predicted by globalization theorists. However, as the present study shows, many aspects of Sweden's welfare state systems, which underwent a formidable challenge in the early and mid-1990s, have fully recovered since the late 1990s. Several of them, in fact, are now in slightly better shape than they had been before the crisis. This shows the fundamental stability of Sweden's welfare state systems, in contrast to the fevered nature of the debate on their future. In conclusion, the globalization theory does not apply to Sweden's welfare state.

The rise of the welfare state has been a characteristic feature of Western European development after the second world war, despite quite different economic models in Western European countries. However, dynamic implications of the welfare state made a reform increasingly necessary. Therefore, since the 1980s the reform of the welfare state has been an important topic for Western European states. This paper describes the development of the welfare state and analyzes possible welfare reform strategies with special respect to the case of Germany. It focuses on the interdependence of political and economic aspects of welfare reform on the national as well as international level.

This paper argues that the concept of the liberal welfare state within welfare state regimes discourse fails to account for some important aspects of the historical development of liberalism. It is argued that two key aspects of liberalism have been neglected. First, that liberalism essentially arose in opposition to ascribed status, seeking to replace it with a form of “achieved” status. Second, that a major stream of historical liberalism sought to equalize individual opportunity by suggesting that the state should provide some basic social and economic supports to individuals in need. This paper uses OECD health data to identify welfare state clusters based on the measurement of welfare (rather than neo)liberalism. The emerging cluster model is then compared with other welfare state regime typologies with regard to its ability to predict important social and political outcomes. The paper concludes that the emerging “welfare-liberal” typology may be a better predictor of certain social and political outcomes than other regimes configurations, indicating the usefulness of considering alternative aspects of liberalism when examining welfare state regimes.

Indonesia is a state based on law and adopts welfare. Thus, the state has an obligation and responsibility to realize public welfare as stated in the fourth paragraph of Undang-Undang Dasar (UUD) Negara Republik Indonesia 1945. In achieving these objectives, the government must play an important role in various aspects of community life, especially in the economy. One form of government intervention, namely in fiscal policy by adjusting the state revenues and expenditures in the state budget. In Islamic economics, fiscal policy objective is to create economic stability, high economic growth and equitable distribution of income, coupled with the other objectives contained in the rules of Islam

This writing aims to look at the role of selective immigration policies in Indonesia in order to maintain state security and improve the nation's welfare. The implementation of selective policy in Indonesia is the most important thing that cannot be ignored, the principle of selective policy looks at security and welfare approaches. Two of the functions of immigration are state security and facilitator of community welfare development. Currently, indicators of state security and the economy of a nation have become important aspects of the state. Considering that currently the movement of people between countries is becoming easier and global economic development is becoming more widespread, there will be an impact on these two factors. Selective immigration policy is a form of legal product from immigration related to regulating the entry of foreigners into Indonesia with an approach to the principle of benefits for the nation and state. This research method uses normative legal research methods with a descriptive qualitative approach.Keywords: Selective Policy, State Security, WelfareÂ

The article examines the peculiarities of the welfare state model, which has been constantly changing, transforming, having different options for implementation, going through a crisis and post-crisis development. It is determined that only the state, in the policy of the welfare state, acts as a guarantor of social rights and opportunities for its citizens. The author reveals the types of welfare models and their main characteristics that determine the peculiarities of social policy implemented by countries. It is established that the model of the “welfare state” has experienced an economic, ideological and philosophical crisis, which has led to the need to update and modernize the conceptual foundations of its implementation. The author proves that changes in the country’s social policy allow for a clear distinction between programmatic retrenchment and systematic retrenchment, i.e., reduction of social programs or reduction of social expenditure financing in the welfare state model. The author reveals the typology of models of management of the state social policy, in particular: pluralistic, corporate, Marxist and elite models. It is proved that the main social task of the state’s economic policy is “not to distribute benefits, but to ensure the conditions of freedom and independence of individuals who are able to create these benefits and take care of themselves and their families on their own”. The modern version of the socio-economic model of the “welfare state” is to create conditions that will ensure the synergy of market self-regulation and state intervention, and can be implemented in the areas of economic freedom and personal development. In addition, the areas of development of the welfare state are: risks and innovations, social solidarity, social justice, lifelong support, distribution of difficulties between generations, which is part of the concept of sustainable development. It is established that the transformation of the welfare state model leads to a change in the mechanisms and instruments for its implementation, in particular: universalization of social expenditures; policy coherence between social, economic and environmental aspects of development; search for inclusive forms of its implementation and partnership between the State, civil society and business; identification of new directions in global and regional social policy. It is established that the choice of implementing the “welfare state” model depends on the historical, socio-cultural and economic conditions prevailing in a country and is determined by the type of its socio-political system, ideological and spiritual principles, and the peculiarities of the stage of development. Key words: welfare, state, models of the welfare state, social justice, social security.

The article analyzes the stages of formation of the principles of the welfare state, the development of its models. The basic model of a market economy does not deny the essential role of the state in socio-economic processes. It is shown that each of the stages is complementary to the fundamental characteristics of the phenomenon of the welfare state, based on new social practices. Historical evolution is represented by the enrichment functions of the state and business along the trajectory of the welfare state — social market economy — the welfare state. A central element of the social state is the social insurance institution, emerged in the socio-labor relations as a form of interaction of employees and employers with trade unions and the state. The dominant feature of the social market economy is to ensure free entrance of citizens in market activity and related functions of the state to ensure availability to markets of labor and capital, ensuring competition and private property rights. Welfare society based on a powerful upsurge of economic dynamics and productivity marks the transition to a new quality of life and overcoming social exclusion. Illustrates the emerging tendency to increase the share of the state in ensuring social economic dynamics. Identified positive and negative aspects of this process. For the practice of public administration in Russia proposed restructuring of the budget expenditures and insurance payments.

The rentier states of the Middle East face a combination of political and economic challenges as they seek to reduce their reliance on volatile oil and gas revenues and diversify their economies. This article examines how the political economy of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states remains heavily dependent on the hydrocarbon sector and analyses the policy responses to the fall in world oil prices since 2014. Sections in the article examine the definitional aspect of rentier state theory, nature of the redistributive welfare state that developed in the 1970s in each Gulf State, and the political aspect of economic measures that seek to reform aspects of the distinctive political economy that has underpinned socio-political and economic stability for the past five decades.

Introduction. Ukraine has achieved significant economic growth in recent decades, which is causally related to changes in the level of economic deprivation at the level of regions and communities. Welfare has no direct casual connection to economic growth, as it also considers aspects such as socioeconomic inequality, environmental degradation, and access to health and education services, and so on. Life satisfaction and other indicators of subjective well-being correlate with short-run income growth, but there is a moderate long-run relationship between well-being and financial determinants. Absolute income as a financial dominant has a central role in determining social welfare in the terms of economic growth. The purpose is to deepen the conceptual and methodological basis of the welfare’s study as a dominant economic growth. The novelty of the paper is based on the selection of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of the gradient ‘welfare-economic growth’ through the prism of financial dominants (income, savings, level of investment capacity, etc.). It has been proved welfare is a comprehensive indicator that reflects the appropriate level of support of the population on the material, financial, social, cultural, spiritual goods and so on. To use welfare as the dominant economic growth of the country, the need to regulate social standards and state guarantees groups (consumer, socio-infrastructural, social protection, financial, property) has been identified. There are five levels of well-being assessment: individual, household, community, region, state. It has been substantiated that the assessment of well-being based on GDP per capita, which is used in the vast majority of modern research, has significant shortcomings because it does not consider shadow incomes, migration transfers, household living conditions, leisure time, and household income inequality.

Introduction. In the modern system of statebuilding the welfare state, as a concept, the genesis of which is associated with the need to resolve the aggravated social contradictions, is a fundamental principle, destined to determine the content of state policy. Notwithstanding the fact that the most comprehensive view of the welfare state concept was formed relatively recently, the description of certain features of the welfare state as a specific phenomenon of social life is seen in the works of philosophers and lawyers of various historical schools and eras. It allows us to conclude that the institution of state immanently has the characteristic of “welfare”. The dynamism of the social relations development entails the permanent search for new approaches to the welfare state and the constant appeal to this principle in order to get the full and comprehensive disclosure of the constitutional provisions and ensure their direct action.Materials and methods. The theoretical basis of this work is the scientific works of philosophers and lawyers adhering to the legal positivism. The methodological basis of the research is the formal logical method, the method of system analysis, structural and functional method.Results. This article is devoted to basic propositions of the welfare state legal analysis; it includes analysis of the essence of the welfare state concept based on positivistic understanding of law in various historic periods; this article also analyzes some aspects of the welfare state concept regarding human rights protection and constitutional review.Discussion and conclusion. The principle of the welfare state is presented as the positive duty of the public authorities to ensure social and economic human rights and the balance of social interests. The implementation of the principle of the welfare state strongly depends on the constitutional review bodies’ activities, the main purpose of which is to specify the content of the relevant constitutional rules within the framework of specific social relations.

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Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq
The present study aims to analyze the end of the Wellfare State, and the emergence of the Neoliberal model and the withdrawal of various obligations of the State towards citizens, the legal order and government plans in the most several countries. Moving on to the Brazilian case, it can be seen that the Federal Constitution of 1988 was against Neoliberalism as far as social rights are concerned, establishing a series of devices that assure citizens of the basics necessary for their dignified existence. Thus, the present work verifies that a new model of state is needed that can reconcile the market freedom of the neoliberal model with the social rights of Welfare State, in order to comply with the constitutional precepts. To do so, it starts from the Concept of State, as well as its origins and evolution, from the absolutism to the Neoliberalism, passing through the Classic Liberal State and the Welfare State or Social State. Subsequently, the Social Constitutions, the Economic and Social Order in the Constitution of 1988, the principle of solidarity in the Constitution, solidarity capitalism in the economic view are discussed. Finally, the Brazilian oil sector, with its regulation and its importance in the development of the proposal of Solidary Capitalism
O presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar o fim do Estado do Bem-Estar Social (Wellfare State), e o surgimento do modelo Neoliberal e a retirada de diversas obrigações do Estado para com os cidadãos, do ordenamento jurídico e dos planos de governo nos mais diversos países. Adentrando no caso brasileiro, verifica-se que a Constituição Federal de 1988 foi na contramão do Neoliberalismo quanto aos direitos sociais, estabelecendo uma série de dispositivos que assegurem aos indivíduos todo o básico necessário para a sua existência digna. Assim, o presente trabalho verifica ser necessário um novo modelo de Estado que consiga compatibilizar a liberdade de mercado do modelo neoliberal com os direitos sociais do Welfare State, de modo a se cumprir com os preceitos constitucionais. Para tanto, parte-se do Conceito de Estado, bem como suas origens e evolução, desde o Absolutismo até o Neoliberalismo, passando pelo Estado Liberal Clássico e o Welfare State ou Estado Social. Posteriormente, são abordadas as Constituições Sociais, a Ordem Econômica e Social na Constituição de 1988, o princípio da solidariedade na Constituição, o capitalismo solidário na visão da economia. Por fim, apresenta-se o setor petrolífero brasileiro, com sua regulação e sua importância no desenvolvimento da proposta de Capitalismo Solidário

Bibliography: pages 242-256.
International redistribution studies vary in scope from those which investigate the full range of all benefits and costs of the fiscal system to others restricting their coverage to the distributive impact of a single expenditure or tax. In South Africa relatively little research has been directed to the distributive consequences of state spending and taxing policies. The few existing studies have mainly concentrated on race as an explanatory variable in analyzing budget incidence. This thesis adopted a new technique of measuring the incidence of benefits obtained from state spending and the burdens imposed by tax payments. The first step involved constructing household-level microdata files for sample households. Secondly, allocation routines were developed for selected expenditures and taxes whereby the benefits and costs of fiscal action could be assigned to households. Lastly these routines were applied separately to the files of each household. The distributive effects of the expenditures and taxes could then be analyzed with respect to any relevant household variable.

Defence Date: 29 September 2020 (Online)
Examining Board: Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Blossfeld, (EUI); Prof. Dr. Anton Hemerijck, (EUI); Prof. Dr. Melinda Mills, (University of Oxford); Prof. Dr. Jon Kvist, (Roskilde University)
This thesis explains differences in changes to family formation and stability in France, Norway, the FRG and the GDR based changes to family- and housing policy. Focus is on developments from the 1960s to the early 2000s. Previous research has focused on more recent developments from the 1980s onwards. A new conceptualization of family policy is introduced that enables a distinction between policy that alleviate the care giving role of mothers (de-familialization) and policies that intervene more directly in the caring responsibility within the family, aiming for a more equal share of childcare between women and men (de-genderization). Findings show that higher educated women are more likely of entry into marriage, when family policy provides more de-familalization (France, GDR) or de-genderization (Norway). But higher educated women are less likely of entry into marriage in the FRG where family policy remained conservative, forcing these women to choose between family and career. In the FRG where family policy remained conservative, with low support for female employment, married women with low levels of education became more likely of entry into divorce. A difference between women with different educational levels is not observed where family policy has included more de-familialziaiton and de-genderization. Findings for changes to housing policy are less convincing. Soft deregulation of rent control and tenure security has a positive effect on entry into consensual union in all countries, making a two person income household better equipped to cover the cost of rent increases that this change introduced. But results for the influence of support for home-ownership show little effect on entry into a marriage and divorce in all four countries. This may be because the full effect has not manifested itself yet. Extending the time period of analysis may provide more insights on the influence of these changes.

Given the increased interdependency caused by ongoing task differentiation and precarious formal employment, this thesis asks why the stigmatisation of unemployed citizens and the retraction of unemployment benefits have received such widespread support in Australia. I contend that the concepts of dependency and independence, as reflexive but mutually exclusive dual values, are increasingly used as a framework for welfare discourse. I argue that this framework has ethical ramifications for collective well-being in Australia since it discourages citizens from acknowledging their own social and economic vulnerability. Using a combination of critical theory and discursive analysis, this thesis analyses discourses relating to poverty, unemployment and social welfare. It tracks the contradictions of this value dualism through selected forms of policy and media discourse literature and will challenge the negative moral valence associated with dependency, offering possible alternatives in the areas of moral anthropology, welfare discourse and social provision in order to reverse the stigmatisation of unemployed citizens.

The research undertaken represents an in-depth study of gender and economics from a multi-disciplinary perspective. By drawing on economic, social policy and political science literature it makes an original contribution to the disciplines of economics and feminist economics by advancing ideas on a feminist theory of policy change and institutional design. Equally, the study develops a framework for a multi-method approach to feminist research with applied policy focus by establishing a pragmatic feminist research paradigm. By espousing multiple research philosophies, it extends understanding of gender differences in policy outcomes by connecting theories from feminist economics, feminist historical institutionalism and ideational processes. Jointly funded by the Economic and Social Research Council UK and the Scottish Government, this project attempts to answer three key questions: What is the relative position of men and women in the Scottish economy and how do childcare responsibilities influence these? Which institutions, structures and processes have been instrumental in embedding gender in Scottish economic policy? To what extent and how is the Scottish Government’s approach to economic policy gendered? Quantitative analysis reveals persistently disproportionate differences in men and women’s position in the labour market. Women remain over-represented in part-time employment and in the public sector in the 10years under investigation. Using panel data, the multinomial logistic regression estimation of patterns in labour market transitions equally reveal disproportionate gendered patterns, with families with dependent children 0-4years at a disadvantage to those without. Qualitative analysis indicates that these differences are partly explained by the fact that the unpaid economy still remains invisible to policymakers despite changes in the institutional design, policy processes and the approach to equality policymaking undertaken in Scotland. Unpaid childcare work is not represented as policy relevant and the way gender, equality and gender equality are conceptualised within institutional sites and on political agendas pose various challenges for policy development on unpaid childcare work and gender equality in general. Additionally, policymakers in Scotland do not integrate both the paid and unpaid economies in economic policy formulation since social policy and economic policy are designed separately. The study also establishes that the range of institutions and actors that make-up the institutional setting for regulating and promoting equality, influence how equality issues are treated within a national context. In Scotland, equality regulating institutions such as parliament, the Scottish Government, equality commission and the law are instrumental variables in determining the range of equality issues that are embedded in an equality infrastructure and the extent to which equality issues, including gender, are consequently embedded in public policy and government budgets. Significantly despite meeting all the attributes of an equality issue, unpaid care is not classified as a protected characteristic in the Equality legislation. These institutions can ameliorate, sustain or perpetuate the delivery of unequitable policy outcomes for men and women in the mutually dependent paid and unpaid economy. Thus, economic, social and political institutions are not independent from one another but are interrelated in complex ways that subsequently have material consequences on men and women in society. In summary, there are interlinkages between the law, labour market, the unpaid economy, the welfare state and gendered political institutions such that policy or institutional change in one will be dependent on or trigger change in another. These institutions are gendered, but are also interlinked and underpin the gender structure of other institutions to the extent that the gendered norms and ideas embedded in one institution, for example legislation or political institutions, structure the gendered dimensions of the labour market, welfare state, and the unpaid economy. By shedding light on institutional and political forces that regulate equality in addition to macroeconomic forces, the analysis reveals the important role of institutions, policy actors and their ideas as instrumental forces which constantly define, redefine and reconstruct the labour market experiences of men and women with significant material consequences.

Rawls emphasizes in his later writings that his theory of justice as fairness is not a defense of welfare-state capitalism. He argues that welfare-state capitalism cannot be an acceptable regime for justice as fairness because its ideal institutional description fails to satisfy the two principles of justice in various ways. Against Rawls, I argue in this thesis that his rejection of welfare-state capitalism is not justified. I begin by clarifying an ambiguity regarding what arrangements and policies according to Rawls are essential to satisfy the two principles of justice through closely studying the institutional arrangements of property-owning democracy and liberal socialism—the two regimes thought by Rawls as capable of fully satisfying the two principles of justice. After that, I show that the fundamental reason behind Rawls’s rejection of welfare-state capitalism is his assumption that welfare-state capitalism does not aim to realize justice as fairness. I argue that this assumption held by Rawls is not justified because the essential institutional features of welfare-state capitalism can be compatible with the arrangements and policies necessary to satisfy the principles of justice. I also argue that if Rawls’s assumption regarding the aim of welfare-state capitalism cannot stand, he should not rule out welfare-state capitalism as an acceptable regime for justice as fairness. Finally, I examine different arguments that provide alternative reasons to justify Rawls’s rejection of welfare-state capitalism. I argue that all of them are unsuccessful because they either are based on problematic interpretations of the two principles of justice or fail to conclusively rule out welfare-state capitalism. By showing that welfare-state capitalism can be an acceptable regime for justice as fairness, this thesis proves that a just society does not need to be the one that entitles every citizen to a substantive right to own real capital. Also, in the process of arguing for welfare-state capitalism, this thesis also indirectly contributes to the recent debates between Rawlsians on the left and right over the proper interpretations of the first principle of justice and the Difference Principle.
published_or_final_version
Politics and Public Administration
Master
Master of Philosophy

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the series of events and legislation that has led to the current system of welfare and wealth redistribution in the United State. I begin with a background of the origins of the welfare state in England and the United States, and discuss the social movements which gave rise to the modern welfare state. I discuss how wars, economic theories, and recessions have influenced policy, and how such policy has affected poverty and unemployment rates since the Great Depression. I have found that social welfare spending has steadily increased since the Great Depression, and that the current trend of deficit spending and expansion of the social safety-net is a product of the legislation passed during the Great Depression and the ‘Great Society’ of the 1960s. Although there have been many attempts to secure a minimum standard of living through social welfare spending, the problems of poverty and unemployment persist.

This study examines the relationship between economic and monetary integration culminating in Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and welfare state trajectories focusing on the cases of Belgium, Italy, and Greece in the 1990s. The conventional wisdom on this relationship expected that EMU would lead to across-the-board downsizing of the European welfare states through imposing macroeconomic austerity in general and budgetary restraint in particular. The study questions the validity of this prediction which is represented by the austerity hypothesis. Based on an analysis of social expenditure data in the run-up to EMU the study reveals that spending levels remained largely stable and therefore that the welfare states of the EMU-candidates largely escaped radical retrenchment. Avoiding significant and systematic expenditure retreat was possible not only in the face of powerful fiscal pressures but also during a period when policymakers had the opportunity to justify even the most draconian measures in the name of achieving EMU membership. Hence the study addresses the following puzzle: How could Europe's welfare states largely avert across-the-board downsizing during the 1990s despite fiscal pressures they faced on the road to EMU? Through an examination of episodes of welfare reform in three critical cases (Belgium, Italy, and Greece) which needed to go through drastic budgetary cutbacks for EMU membership, the study shows that the Maastricht criteria did compel successive governments in these member states to propose radical welfare reforms, vindicating the conventional wisdom's expectations. In episodes of welfare reform, however, governments discovered that their reform capacities were largely limited due to domestic opposition from an alliance of entrenched interests. The convergence period was marred with recurrent mass mobilization of unions against welfare reforms which forced governments to scale back their original ambitions or scrap them altogether. This shows that the expectations of the conventional wisdom that EMU would actually lead to massive retrenchment of Europe's welfare states, however, are not borne out by the evidence on welfare state trajectories in the 1990s.

In order to investigate issues somehow neglected, the paper tries to carefully outline both the economic and institutional aspect and the origins and development of the Florentine anti-fascist thought. Much has been written about Carlo Rosselli's liberal socialism; still interpretations are often based more on subjective views than on in-depth studies, and this is especially true when it is the current political situation which tries to interpret Rosselli’s thought. Several scholars approached Carlo Rosselli’s thought assuming that the adjective ‘liberal’ can be translated as ‘liberalistic’, that the noun ‘socialist’ can be replaced with ‘welfare’ (of a moderate sort in addition), and finally that the State he theorized proves little interventionist in social and economic life; but this does not seem to be a correct interpretative key.

Automation of cattle feeding and watering is an important aspect in modern livestock farming, which improves animal productivity and welfare. Automation of this process involves the use of specialized devices and technologies to ensure accurate and timely feeding and watering of animals. The article presents the economic characteristics of the use of automated watering and feeding systems, the equipment used, as well as the criteria for their use.

Background: The existing tradition of the state's extensive presence in the market for social services as a provider and guarantor of their minimum necessary amount has formed a set of corresponding consumer expectations, and this market is one of the most difficult objects for transformation, because it is a market where goods with very special properties are circulated. These goods are to be consumed by people regardless of their income. Liberalization of the market of social services forms an opportunity to organize competitive interaction between economic entities of all organizational and legal forms and forms of ownership in the process of meeting the basic needs of modern society, as well as initiates a dynamic expansion of the range of social services offered to consumers. Purpose: To analyze and evaluate the prerequisites and state of development of the social services market in Ukraine in the context of reforming the social service system. Methods: Theoretical method - to analyze the works of domestic and foreign scholars. Forecasting method - to develop forecasts for the development of the social services market and reform of the social services sector, to identify possible risks. Results: Having analyzed the reform of the social services system in Ukraine, we were able to identify the problems of creating a market for social services and highlight the main aspects of reforming this system. Conclusion: Conclusion: Thus, the results of the study confirmed the need to reform the system of social services provision by creating a market through the denationalization of the "budgetary sphere" and the involvement of socially oriented organizations and commercial structures. Keywords: Social services, social services market, risks of providing social services, administrative barriers.

Mathematical competence is one of the eight basic key competencies which are defined by EU Directives. Mathematical competence includes the skills of applying basic processes and principles of mathematics in everyday contexts. The aim of current research is to identify the role of adult mathematics education and mathematical competence in sustainable development in case of Baltic States. We are continuing the investigations that began in the Nordplus research project “Cooperation to strengthen the citizens' math skills in the context of sustainable development and welfare”. The main objective of the research is to highlight the role of mathematics in a lifelong context. We separate two aspects of mathematics role in sustainable development. The first considers mathematics as a tool in processional work, the second considers the role of mathematical competence in the development of person's intelligence and personality. Both aspects are widely discussed in the scientific literature and in the programmatic documents of United Nations, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organizationn, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Through combining insights of theoretical goals of leading international institutions and actual survey data we can show the value of mathematical competence in adults in the Baltic states.

In the first part of the paper are analyzed different views of the rule of law: liberaldemocratic, then positivistic view and, finally, defining of the rule of law as the rule of positive-law order of particular properities. In addition to these the three theoretic orientations, one more classification was pointed out - formal and materaialistic aspect of the rule of law. Besides, the principles and institutions of the rule of law were analyzed: legitimacy of power, division of power, independent judiciary, legitimacy expressed in terms of the ideas of constitution and lawfulness, constitutional guarantees of human and civil rights, existence of free economy and economic activities. The subject of the second part of this paper are services. Nowadays, services are the motor of economic growth and include, especially in developed countries of EU, more then 70% of EDP, employees, new economic subjects, and service activities also make up over 70% of all the activities. The service sector includes different, heterogenic services the number of which is getting higher and higher. The service activities are numerous and performed in various sectors such as trading, communications, financing, government administration, health department, social welfare, media, education, tourism, catering, sport and others. We are all witness to the constant growth of service sector in view of continuous broadening of the range of services and the influence upon the economic development of the state. Law regulations of the services in the Republic of Serbia were analized as well as its harmonization with the law regulations at the level of EU and the need for its further upgrading and improvement.

Given the demographic situation in Latvia, the decline in the working-age population and the increase in the number of persons with disabilities (PwD), it is necessary to address the employment issues for disabled people. Therefore, it is relevant to integrate the factors affecting the employment of people with disabilities into a coherent system to address the employment problem. Only 47.2% of the working-age population with disabilities were employed in Latvia in 2021, while the employment rate in the general age group between 15 and 64 was 69.9% as stated in Ministry of Welfare reports. The aim of this study is to develop employment ecosystem for persons with disabilities in Latvia in order to reduce the gap between the employment rate of PwD and those without disabilities. This is done by undertaking the following research tasks: 1) to analyse the employment situation with regards to PwD in Latvia; 2) to study methodologies of ecosystem approach; 3) to analyse the factors influencing employment ecosystem for PwD, and 4) to identify the most critical aspects of the ecosystem. Employment of people with disabilities is affected by various socio-economic and legal, subjective and objective factors. Various stakeholders with their own interests are involved in promoting employment. The analysis, grouping and interpretation of statistical data of public administration institutions was employed. The study is based on previous researches done by the authors: legal system affected employment of persons with disabilities studied, survey of persons with disabilities analysed, exploration of the interests of those involved in employment issues. As the result, methodological approach for employment ecosystem of PwD in Latvia was developed.

Within the historical framework the public sector has attached a special importance at presenting health services which have priority in cultural and economic areas of society. Being healthy of each citizen in the society contributes to progress and development of the society. It is well known that one of the fields of activities of public sector is to increase welfare of its citizens. States are adopting policies within their own economic structure to realize social welfare. Particularly after II. World War, these policies have gained a new dimension with the developing understanding of welfare state. The concept of welfare state is based on active and comprehensive interferences of state to economy with the aim of providing social prosperity to its citizens with maximum advantage. The welfare state, with its institutionalizing structure, has been an important instrument for social politicises towards social services and combating against poverty. The fundamental chracter of a social welfare state is to present circumtances which enhance life conditions of each citizens and to provide full employment with expenses on social security, health and education. In this study it is aimed to analyze health expenditures of countries, known as transition economies and they are still in their transition period, within the framework of public services providing by a welfare state. A comparison will be made the data on health expenditures in developed economies and evaluating the results.

Welfare Economics (WE) is an important scientific subject because can be a goal of the socio-economic policy of modern states. Although the relation between business successes and social development is not always obvious but can be similar to the process of seeking a balance between challenges and opportunities. An increasing number of enterprises understand the importance of socially responsible activities and their role in building a common WE based state. The result of such an approach is the fact that enterprises take into account all stakeholders’ interests and this became a permanent element of their strategies. This paper presents the literature review of fundamental concepts for the WE. Then two ideas the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Creating Shared Values (CSV) as the key elements of WE are presented and compared. Finally, scientific consideration is supported by an illustrative case study of a Japanese company operating in Poland, which leads towards conclusions. The main finding of this paper is a recommendation for companies to treat CSV as the next stage of development after they implemented CSR oriented strategies.

Banco de la República is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. This is a very significant anniversary and one that provides an opportunity to highlight the contribution the Bank has made to the country’s development. Its track record as guarantor of monetary stability has established it as the one independent state institution that generates the greatest confidence among Colombians due to its transparency, management capabilities, and effective compliance with the central banking and cultural responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Law. On a date as important as this, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) pays tribute to the generations of governors and officers whose commitment and dedication have contributed to the growth of this institution.1 Banco de la República’s mandate was confirmed in the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991 where the citizens had the opportunity to elect the seventy people who would have the task of drafting a new constitution. The leaders of the three political movements with the most votes were elected as chairs to the Assembly, and this tripartite presidency reflected the plurality and the need for consensus among the different political groups to move the reform forward. Among the issues considered, the National Constitutional Assembly gave special importance to monetary stability. That is why they decided to include central banking and to provide Banco de la República with the necessary autonomy to use the instruments for which they are responsible without interference from other authorities. The constituent members understood that ensuring price stability is a state duty and that the entity responsible for this task must be enshrined in the Constitution and have the technical capability and institutional autonomy necessary to adopt the decisions they deem appropriate to achieve this fundamental objective in coordination with the general economic policy. In particular, Article 373 established that “the State, through Banco de la República, shall ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency,” a provision that coincided with the central banking system adopted by countries that have been successful in controlling inflation. In 1999, in Ruling 481, the Constitutional Court stated that “the duty to maintain the purchasing power of the currency applies to not only the monetary, credit, and exchange authority, i.e., the Board of Banco de la República, but also those who have responsibilities in the formulation and implementation of the general economic policy of the country” and that “the basic constitutional purpose of Banco de la República is the protection of a sound currency. However, this authority must take the other economic objectives of state intervention such as full employment into consideration in their decisions since these functions must be coordinated with the general economic policy.” The reforms to Banco de la República agreed upon in the Constitutional Assembly of 1991 and in Act 31/1992 can be summarized in the following aspects: i) the Bank was assigned a specific mandate: to maintain the purchasing power of the currency in coordination with the general economic policy; ii) the BDBR was designatedas the monetary, foreign exchange, and credit authority; iii) the Bank and its Board of Directors were granted a significant degree of independence from the government; iv) the Bank was prohibited from granting credit to the private sector except in the case of the financial sector; v) established that in order to grant credit to the government, the unanimous vote of its Board of Directors was required except in the case of open market transactions; vi) determined that the legislature may, in no case, order credit quotas in favor of the State or individuals; vii) Congress was appointed, on behalf of society, as the main addressee of the Bank’s reporting exercise; and viii) the responsibility for inspection, surveillance, and control over Banco de la República was delegated to the President of the Republic. The members of the National Constitutional Assembly clearly understood that the benefits of low and stable inflation extend to the whole of society and contribute mto the smooth functioning of the economic system. Among the most important of these is that low inflation promotes the efficient use of productive resources by allowing relative prices to better guide the allocation of resources since this promotes economic growth and increases the welfare of the population. Likewise, low inflation reduces uncertainty about the expected return on investment and future asset prices. This increases the confidence of economic agents, facilitates long-term financing, and stimulates investment. Since the low-income population is unable to protect itself from inflation by diversifying its assets, and a high proportion of its income is concentrated in the purchase of food and other basic goods that are generally the most affected by inflationary shocks, low inflation avoids arbitrary redistribution of income and wealth.2 Moreover, low inflation facilitates wage negotiations, creates a good labor climate, and reduces the volatility of employment levels. Finally, low inflation helps to make the tax system more transparent and equitable by avoiding the distortions that inflation introduces into the value of assets and income that make up the tax base. From the monetary authority’s point of view, one of the most relevant benefits of low inflation is the credibility that economic agents acquire in inflation targeting, which turns it into an effective nominal anchor on price levels. Upon receiving its mandate, and using its autonomy, Banco de la República began to announce specific annual inflation targets as of 1992. Although the proposed inflation targets were not met precisely during this first stage, a downward trend in inflation was achieved that took it from 32.4% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1998. At that time, the exchange rate was kept within a band. This limited the effectiveness of monetary policy, which simultaneously sought to meet an inflation target and an exchange rate target. The Asian crisis spread to emerging economies and significantly affected the Colombian economy. The exchange rate came under strong pressure to depreciate as access to foreign financing was cut off under conditions of a high foreign imbalance. This, together with the lack of exchange rate flexibility, prevented a countercyclical monetary policy and led to a 4.2% contraction in GDP that year. In this context of economic slowdown, annual inflation fell to 9.2% at the end of 1999, thus falling below the 15% target set for that year. This episode fully revealed how costly it could be, in terms of economic activity, to have inflation and exchange rate targets simultaneously. Towards the end of 1999, Banco de la República announced the adoption of a new monetary policy regime called the Inflation Targeting Plan. This regime, known internationally as ‘Inflation Targeting,’ has been gaining increasing acceptance in developed countries, having been adopted in 1991 by New Zealand, Canada, and England, among others, and has achieved significant advances in the management of inflation without incurring costs in terms of economic activity. In Latin America, Brazil and Chile also adopted it in 1999. In the case of Colombia, the last remaining requirement to be fulfilled in order to adopt said policy was exchange rate flexibility. This was realized around September 1999, when the BDBR decided to abandon the exchange-rate bands to allow the exchange rate to be freely determined in the market.Consistent with the constitutional mandate, the fundamental objective of this new policy approach was “the achievement of an inflation target that contributes to maintaining output growth around its potential.”3 This potential capacity was understood as the GDP growth that the economy can obtain if it fully utilizes its productive resources. To meet this objective, monetary policy must of necessity play a countercyclical role in the economy. This is because when economic activity is below its potential and there are idle resources, the monetary authority can reduce the interest rate in the absence of inflationary pressure to stimulate the economy and, when output exceeds its potential capacity, raise it. This policy principle, which is immersed in the models for guiding the monetary policy stance, makes the following two objectives fully compatible in the medium term: meeting the inflation target and achieving a level of economic activity that is consistent with its productive capacity. To achieve this purpose, the inflation targeting system uses the money market interest rate (at which the central bank supplies primary liquidity to commercial banks) as the primary policy instrument. This replaced the quantity of money as an intermediate monetary policy target that Banco de la República, like several other central banks, had used for a long time. In the case of Colombia, the objective of the new monetary policy approach implied, in practical terms, that the recovery of the economy after the 1999 contraction should be achieved while complying with the decreasing inflation targets established by the BDBR. The accomplishment of this purpose was remarkable. In the first half of the first decade of the 2000s, economic activity recovered significantly and reached a growth rate of 6.8% in 2006. Meanwhile, inflation gradually declined in line with inflation targets. That was how the inflation rate went from 9.2% in 1999 to 4.5% in 2006, thus meeting the inflation target established for that year while GDP reached its potential level. After this balance was achieved in 2006, inflation rebounded to 5.7% in 2007, above the 4.0% target for that year due to the fact that the 7.5% GDP growth exceeded the potential capacity of the economy.4 After proving the effectiveness of the inflation targeting system in its first years of operation, this policy regime continued to consolidate as the BDBR and the technical staff gained experience in its management and state-of-the-art economic models were incorporated to diagnose the present and future state of the economy and to assess the persistence of inflation deviations and expectations with respect to the inflation target. Beginning in 2010, the BDBR established the long-term 3.0% annual inflation target, which remains in effect today. Lower inflation has contributed to making the macroeconomic environment more stable, and this has favored sustained economic growth, financial stability, capital market development, and the functioning of payment systems. As a result, reductions in the inflationary risk premia and lower TES and credit interest rates were achieved. At the same time, the duration of public domestic debt increased significantly going from 2.27 years in December 2002 to 5.86 years in December 2022, and financial deepening, measured as the level of the portfolio as a percentage of GDP, went from around 20% in the mid-1990s to values above 45% in recent years in a healthy context for credit institutions.Having been granted autonomy by the Constitution to fulfill the mandate of preserving the purchasing power of the currency, the tangible achievements made by Banco de la República in managing inflation together with the significant benefits derived from the process of bringing inflation to its long-term target, make the BDBR’s current challenge to return inflation to the 3.0% target even more demanding and pressing. As is well known, starting in 2021, and especially in 2022, inflation in Colombia once again became a serious economic problem with high welfare costs. The inflationary phenomenon has not been exclusive to Colombia and many other developed and emerging countries have seen their inflation rates move away from the targets proposed by their central banks.5 The reasons for this phenomenon have been analyzed in recent Reports to Congress, and this new edition delves deeper into the subject with updated information. The solid institutional and technical base that supports the inflation targeting approach under which the monetary policy strategy operates gives the BDBR the necessary elements to face this difficult challenge with confidence. In this regard, the BDBR reiterated its commitment to the 3.0% inflation target in its November 25 communiqué and expects it to be reached by the end of 2024.6 Monetary policy will continue to focus on meeting this objective while ensuring the sustainability of economic activity, as mandated by the Constitution. Analyst surveys done in March showed a significant increase (from 32.3% in January to 48.5% in March) in the percentage of responses placing inflation expectations two years or more ahead in a range between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is a clear indication of the recovery of credibility in the medium-term inflation target and is consistent with the BDBR’s announcement made in November 2022. The moderation of the upward trend in inflation seen in January, and especially in February, will help to reinforce this revision of inflation expectations and will help to meet the proposed targets. After reaching 5.6% at the end of 2021, inflation maintained an upward trend throughout 2022 due to inflationary pressures from both external sources, associated with the aftermath of the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and domestic sources, resulting from: strengthening of local demand; price indexation processes stimulated by the increase in inflation expectations; the impact on food production caused by the mid-2021 strike; and the pass-through of depreciation to prices. The 10% increase in the minimum wage in 2021 and the 16% increase in 2022, both of which exceeded the actual inflation and the increase in productivity, accentuated the indexation processes by establishing a high nominal adjustment benchmark. Thus, total inflation went to 13.1% by the end of 2022. The annual change in food prices, which went from 17.2% to 27.8% between those two years, was the most influential factor in the surge in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Another segment that contributed significantly to price increases was regulated products, which saw the annual change go from 7.1% in December 2021 to 11.8% by the end of 2022. The measure of core inflation excluding food and regulated items, in turn, went from 2.5% to 9.5% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The substantial increase in core inflation shows that inflationary pressure has spread to most of the items in the household basket, which is characteristic of inflationary processes with generalized price indexation as is the case in Colombia. Monetary policy began to react early to this inflationary pressure. Thus, starting with its September 2021 session, the BDBR began a progressive change in the monetary policy stance moving away from the historical low of a 1.75% policy rate that had intended to stimulate the recovery of the economy. This adjustment process continued without interruption throughout 2022 and into the beginning of 2023 when the monetary policy rate reached 12.75% last January, thus accumulating an increase of 11 percentage points (pp). The public and the markets have been surprised that inflation continued to rise despite significant interest rate increases. However, as the BDBR has explained in its various communiqués, monetary policy works with a lag. Just as in 2022 economic activity recovered to a level above the pre-pandemic level, driven, along with other factors, by the monetary stimulus granted during the pandemic period and subsequent months, so too the effects of the current restrictive monetary policy will gradually take effect. This will allow us to expect the inflation rate to converge to 3.0% by the end of 2024 as is the BDBR’s purpose.Inflation results for January and February of this year showed declining marginal increases (13 bp and 3 bp respectively) compared to the change seen in December (59 bp). This suggests that a turning point in the inflation trend is approaching. In other Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Perú, and Mexico, inflation has peaked and has begun to decline slowly, albeit with some ups and downs. It is to be expected that a similar process will take place in Colombia in the coming months. The expected decline in inflation in 2023 will be due, along with other factors, to lower cost pressure from abroad as a result of the gradual normalization of supply chains, the overcoming of supply shocks caused by the weather, and road blockades in previous years. This will be reflected in lower adjustments in food prices, as has already been seen in the first two months of the year and, of course, the lagged effect of monetary policy. The process of inflation convergence to the target will be gradual and will extend beyond 2023. This process will be facilitated if devaluation pressure is reversed. To this end, it is essential to continue consolidating fiscal sustainability and avoid messages on different public policy fronts that generate uncertainty and distrust. 1 This Report to Congress includes Box 1, which summarizes the trajectory of Banco de la República over the past 100 years. In addition, under the Bank’s auspices, several books that delve into various aspects of the history of this institution have been published in recent years. See, for example: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República: 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 This is why lower inflation has been reflected in a reduction of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient that went from 58.7 in 1998 to 51.3 in the year prior to the pandemic. 3 See Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borradores de Economía, No. 202, March, available at: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 See López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando and Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “The inflation targeting strategy in Colombia. An historical view.” Borradores de Economía, No. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 According to the IMF, the percentage change in consumer prices between 2021 and 2022 went from 3.1% to 7.3% for advanced economies, and from 5.9% to 9.9% for emerging market and developing economies. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3

The funding of social protection initiatives is especially complex in times of crisis. While social protection is critical as a means of redistributing income, delivering relief to those in particular need, and building economic resilience, crises severely limit states’ abilities to fund these efforts. Immediate pandemic relief efforts have prompted renewed attention to this dynamic. While state-driven social protection efforts around the pandemic have been studied extensively, little attention has been paid to non-state welfare provision in a context of crisis. There has been particularly little analysis of the role and implications of what is likely the world’s largest system of non-state welfare provision – zakat. Summary of Working Paper 163.

Around the world, pandemic relief efforts saw renewed attention to state social protection and its limitations. Less attention has been paid to alternative forms of welfare provision, including zakat in Muslim countries. We ask how states and citizens engage with zakat during a crisis through a case study of the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan, Egypt and Morocco, drawing on novel and nationally representative survey data from 5,484 respondents. While we might expect citizens to be less motivated to pay zakat at times of personal economic hardship, we find that a large majority of the general population and of zakat contributors perceive zakat as particularly important in the Covid context, and were also more likely to make other charitable contributions. We argue that zakat may play an important role in supplementing state social protection and redistribution in times of crisis. While we find evidence for zakat’s redistributive nature, the diversity of practice and common reliance on social relations need to be considered when looking at its redistributive impact and function in times of crisis.

This study assesses the medium-term recovery of women at the village level after the 2016 Aceh earthquake and explains how satellite and administrative data can be used to better identify how to target assistance after a disaster. The study finds that, in the medium term, some aspects of women’s welfare can significantly deteriorate after a disaster even when the affected villages have generally made economic progress. The authors explain how they developed the Women’s Welfare after Disaster Index and how they used nighttime radiance imaging data to gauge the broader economic recovery. They outline an easily replicable way of combining datasets of high and low frequency to assess medium-term recovery more accurately at the village level.

The effect of electrification on economic outcomes is a major new area of study in environment and development economics. Almost a billion people in the world do not have access to grid electricity. Providing them a grid connection will be costly and polluting as well, even if powered by cleaner fossil fuels such as natural gas, instead of coal. However, the economic benefits of electricity are not well understood. Some studies find large effects on economic development in the long run, while others find small or negligible impacts on households in the short run. These benefits may also depend on household characteristics such as credit constraints that prevent them from consuming power or investing in complimentary assets. This paper highlights the state of current knowledge on the costs and benefits of electrification by reviewing the recent empirical literature. We discuss the identification strategies employed and evaluate the effect of electrification on a variety of household-level outcomes such as income, employment and education.

Symbiotic bacteria have been shown to influence host reproduction and defense against biotic and abiotic stressors, and this relates to possible development of a symbiont-based control strategy. This project was based on the hypothesis that symbionts have a significant impact on Culicoides fitness and vector competence for animal viruses. The original objectives in our proposal were: 1. Molecular identification and localization of the newly-discovered symbiotic bacteria within C. imicola and C. schultzei in Israel and C. sonorensis in California. 2. Determination of the prevalence of symbiotic bacteria within different vector Culicoides populations. 3. Documentation of specific symbiont effects on vector reproduction and defense: 3a) test for cytoplasmic incompatibility in Cardinium-infected species; 3b) experimentally evaluate the role of the symbiont on infection or parasitism by key Culicoides natural enemies (iridescent virus and mermithid nematode). 4. Testing the role(s) of the symbionts in possible protection against infection of vector Culicoides by BTV. According to preliminary findings and difficulties in performing experimental procedures performed in other insect symbiosis systems where insect host cultures are easily maintained, we modified the last two objectives as follows: Obj. 3, we tested how symbionts affected general fitness of Israeli Culicoides species, and thoroughly described and evaluated the correlation between American Culicoides and their bacterial communities in the field. We also tried alternative methods to test symbiont-Culicoides interactions and launched studies to characterize low-temperature stress tolerances of the main US vector, which may be related to symbionts. Obj. 4, we tested the correlation between EHDV (instead of BTV) aquisition and Cardinium infection. Culicoides-bornearboviral diseases are emerging or re-emerging worldwide, causing direct and indirect economic losses as well as reduction in animal welfare. One novel strategy to reduce insects’ vectorial capacity is by manipulating specific symbionts to affect vector fitness or performance of the disease agent within. Little was known on the bacterial tenants occupying various Culicoides species, and thus, this project was initiated with the above aims. During this project, we were able to describe the symbiont Cardinium and whole bacterial communities in Israeli and American Culicoides species respectively. We showed that Cardinium infection prevalence is determined by land surface temperature, and this may be important to the larval stage. We also showed no patent significant effect of Cardinium on adult fitness parameters. We showed that the bacterial community in C. sonorensis varies significantly with the host’s developmental stage, but it varies little across multiple wastewater pond environments. This may indicate some specific biological interactions and allowed us to describe a “core microbiome” for C. sonorensis. The final set of analyses that include habitat sample is currently done, in order to separate the more intimately-associated bacteria from those inhabiting the gut contents or cuticle surface (which also could be important). We were also able to carefully study other biological aspects of Culicoides and were able to discriminate two species in C. schultzei group in Israel, and to investigate low temperature tolerances of C. sonorensis that may be related to symbionts. Scientific implications include the establishment of bacterial identification and interactions in Culicoides (our work is cited in other bacteria-Culicoides studies), the development molecular identification of C. schultzei group, and the detailed description of the microbiome of the immature and matched adult stages of C. sonorensis. Agricultural implications include understanding of intrinsic factors that govern Culicoides biology and population regulation, which may be relevant for vector control or reduction in pathogen transmission. Being able to precisely identify Culicoides species is central to understanding Culicoides borne disease epidemiology.

Objectives: (1) Preparing panel data sets for both the United States and Israel that contain a rich set of farm attributes, such as size, specialization, and output composition, and farmers’ characteristics such as off-farm employment status, education, and family composition. (2) Developing an empirical framework for the joint analysis of all the endogenous variables of interest in a dynamic setting. (3) Estimating simultaneous equations of the endogenous variables using the panel data sets from both countries. (4) Analyzing, using the empirical results, the possible effects of economic policies and institutional changes on the dynamics of the farm sector. An added objective is analyzing structural changes in farm sectors in additional countries. Background: Farm sectors in developed countries, including the U.S. and Israel, have experienced a sharp decline in their size and importance during the second half of the 20th century. The overall trend is towards fewer and larger farms that rely less on family labor. These structural changes have been a reaction to changes in technology, in government policies, and in market conditions: decreasing terms of trade, increasing alternative opportunities, and urbanization pressures. As these factors continue to change, so does the structure of the agricultural sector. Conclusions: We have shown that all major dimensions of structural changes in agriculture are closely interlinked. These include farm efficiency, farm scale, farm scope (diversification), and off-farm labor. We have also shown that these conclusions hold and perhaps even become stronger whenever dynamic aspects of structural adjustments are explicitly modeled using longitudinal data. While the results vary somewhat in the different applications, several common features are observed for both the U.S. and Israel. First, the trend towards the concentration of farm production in a smaller number of larger farm enterprises is likely to continue. Second, at the micro level, increased farm size is negatively associated with increased off-farm labor, with the causality going both ways. Third, the increase in farm size is mostly achieved by diversifying farm production into additional activities (crops or livestock). All these imply that the farm sector converges towards a bi-modal farm distribution, with some farms becoming commercial while the remaining farm households either exit farming altogether or continue producing but rely heavily on off-farm income. Implications: The primary scientific implication of this project is that one should not analyze a specific farm attribute in isolation. We have shown that controlling for the joint determination of the various farm and household attributes is crucial for obtaining meaningful empirical results. The policy implications are to some extent general but could be different in the two countries. The general implication is that farm policy is an important determinant of structural changes in the farm sector. For the U.S., we have shown the different effects of coupled and decoupled (direct) farm payments on the various farm attributes, and also shown that it is important to take into account the joint farm-household decisions in order to conduct a meaningful policy analysis. Only this kind of analysis explains the indirect effect of direct farm payments on farm production decisions. For Israel, we concluded that farm policy (or lack of farm policy) has contributed to the fast structural changes we observed over the last 25 years. The sharp change of direction in farm policy that started in the early 1980s has accelerated structural changes that could have been smoother otherwise. These accelerated structural changes most likely lead to welfare losses in rural areas.

The present study describes the changes in the traditional European model of higher education, its successes as well as failures. The remarkable expansion of higher education in Europe during the postwar period was the result of a shared belief in the virtue of higher education per se. The traditional model of higher education assumes a stable relationship of fair exchange between the State and the academics: the State gives power to the academics in the belief that in this way it will receive in return the forms of knowledge, basic research, and advanced education that will be of most value to itself. In Europe-as was the case in Latin America-the policy of developing the higher education sector was supported by the elite and by the middle classes, both of whom considered higher education to be a means for training professional workers and a way to enhance economic development and social mobility. The 1980s marked the beginning of some radical changes on the two continents in terms of higher education. This evolution can be associated with a shift from a more interventionist, Keynesian welfare state to a more neoliberal and supervisory State. This shift meant diminution of the belief that bureaucratic institutions could respond correctly to society's needs and increased currency of the belief in the virtues of markets or quasi-markets. The aim of the study is not to compare trends in Europe with those in Latin America. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that from the beginning of the 1970s radical changes were also introduced into the Latin American systems of higher education, partially for economic and political reasons.

It is conventional wisdom that: Continued fast growth in the BRICS will result in a rapid catch-up to match and even surpass Western income levels in the next few decades The crisis in Europe will soon be over and normal growth will then resume as if nothing had happened The tax competition resulting from globalization means a race to the bottom in which corporate tax rates fall dramatically everywhere The best way to escape the poverty trap is to give the poor more money Losers from globalization can be ignored by politicians in western democracies because they do not matter for electoral outcomes The adjustment problems for developing countries arising from the crisis are quite minor and easy to deal with Actually, as Reversals of Fortune shows, all of these beliefs are highly questionable. The research findings reported here provide economic analysis and evidence that challenge these claims. In the report, Nicholas Crafts asks: "What Difference does the Crisis make to Long-term West European Growth?" Vera Troeger considers "The Impact of Globalisation and Global Economic Crises on Social Cohesion and Attitudes towards Welfare State Policies in Developed Western Democracies." Stephen Broadberry looks at "The BRICs: What does Economic History say about their Growth Prospects?" Sharun Mukand takes "The View from the Developing World: Institutions, Global Shocks and Economic Adjustment." Finally, Sayantan Ghosal has a new perspective on "The Design of Pro-poor Policies."