Social Assistance in the New EU Member States : Strengthening Performance and Labor Market Incentives

Ringold, Dena ; Kasek, Leszek

Washington, DC:World Bank

关键词: ABSOLUTE POVERTY;    ACCESS TO SERVICES;    ACCOUNTING;    ACTIVE LABOR MARKET PROGRAMS;    ADDITIONAL FINANCING;   

DOI  :  10.1596/978-0-8213-7159-6
RP-ID  :  40541

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This report looks at safety nets in thenew member states from the perspective of fiscal impact andeffectiveness. Given the limited budgets for socialassistance, ensuring that resources are spent well, reachthose who need them, and optimize welfare gains and labormarket outcomes. This also requires attention to the balancebetween spending on means-tested antipoverty programs andfamily benefits and social insurance programs. Because ofhigh levels of pension spending and rapidly agingpopulations, there is a risk that contributory socialinsurance spending will crowd out spending on socialassistance. Managing the long-term fiscal sustainability ofthese programs to meet emerging needs is a priority. Thispaper looks at social assistance within the broader contextof social protection. The main focus of the policydiscussion is on the guaranteed minimum income programs,which comprise the centerpiece of the social assistancesystems in each of the EU8 countries. Child allowances arealso discussed, which are the most important programs fromthe perspective of spending levels. The first Chapterreviews the datasets and approach. Chapter 2 looks at thecontext of poverty and social exclusion in the EU8 and theimplications for safety nets. Chapter 3 analyses socialprotection spending. Chapter 4 reviews the performance ofsocial assistance and social protection based on householdsurvey data for six of the countries. Chapter 5 discussespolicy design issues including administration,decentralization and activation measures. Chapter 6 looks atthe labor market incentives of combined taxes and benefits,and discusses in-work benefits. Chapter 7 concludes.