Poverty & Public Policy

Poverty of Culture

Brij Mohan — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:26:19 PST

The author presents research in progress, exploring the Poverty of Culture as a refutation of the mythical 'cycle of poverty' sustained by the older Culture of Poverty.

Health Care in America, and Everywhere Else: A Review Essay

Max J. Skidmore — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:26:18 PST

Max J. Skidmore analyzes the history of health care policies in America, and reviews T. R Reid's (2009) The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care.

What Can Be Done about Homelessness and Society's Nimby Attitude?--America Needs a Way to Eliminate the Stigma of Public Housing

Victoria A. Redd — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:26:17 PST

America needs a way to eliminate the stigma of public housing. Lawrence Vale suggests some solutions for America's public housing woes in From the Puritans to the Projects: Public Housing and Public Neighbors. If we provide the public housing, what select few of the poor will be allowed to live there? What types of dwellings will be provided as public housing for the poor? And, will this public housing for the poor be near my neighborhood? More importantly, Vale explains what he believes that housing policymakers need to do to improve on the public housing system. The need of housing is downplayed, and instead, there is a focus on what the purpose behind public housing should be. (Congress intervened and called for public housing authorities "to attract a greater mix of incomes.") Vale's view of the public housing system is enlightening, realistic, and thought-provoking.

Book Review of Lessons from the Poor: Triumph of the Entrepreneurial Spirit

Marshall Carter-Tripp — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:26:16 PST

Marshall Carter-Tripp reviews this collection of essays and assesses its value as an addition to the economic development literature already in place.

Book Review of Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

Max J. Skidmore — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:26:14 PST

Editor-in-Chief Max J. Skidmore reviews Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream and uncovers possible insights into the president's upcoming poverty agenda both at home and abroad.

Devolution as a Policy Crucible: The Case of Universal Free School Meals

Carlo J. Morelli — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:26:11 PST

The election of the Scottish government, in May 2007, raised expectations that devolution may at last give rise to a sea change in the development of welfare policy. Certainly, in the areas of education and health the newly elected Scottish National Party (SNP) Scottish government, despite its minority control of the parliament, lost no time in announcing significant changes to previous policies in the areas of hospital closures and primary school class sizes. The proposals to introduce universal free school meals in all primary schools for school children in years one to three from 2010, following a pilot in selected local authorities, was one of these changes. This policy shift is of significance for three reasons. First, the previous executive had explicitly rejected proposals for universal free school meals on two previous occasions. Second, it represented a movement towards universality and away from the strategy of targeting and means-testing welfare adhered to by both the Westminster UK government and the previous Scottish Executive. As such, therefore, the introduction of universal free school meals marks a significant victory for the campaigning groups behind the move. Finally, and perhaps of still greater significance, the introduction of a pilot scheme for universal provision in England, announced by the Westminster government in September 2008, further highlights one other goal of devolution: that of a potential for policy experimentation and divergence. Universal free school provision may be the first example of devolution providing a crucible for welfare policy for the wider United Kingdom.This paper assesses the extent to which an extension of the entitlement to free school meals is likely to improve the access of free school meals to children from the poorest of households and the extent to which changes in free school meal provision leads to a regionally specific impact on child poverty due to variations of household composition within the English regions and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In doing so we suggest that evidence for the advantages of universal provision provides a positive example of devolution's potential for acting as a welfare policy crucible.

Microfinance, Commercialization and Ethics

Reinhard H. Schmidt — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:26:09 PST

This paper discusses the so-called commercial approach to microfinance under economic and ethical aspects. It first shows how microfinance has developed from a purely welfare-oriented activity to a commercially relevant line of banking business. The background of this stunning success is the almost universal adoption of the commercial approach to microfinance in the course of the last decade. The author argues that this commercial approach is the only sound approach to adopt if microfinance is to have any social and developmental impact. Therefore, the wide-spread "moralistic" criticism of the commercial approach, which was expressed again and again in the 1990s, is ill-placed from an economic and an ethical perspective. However, some recent events in microfinance raise questions as to whether the commercial approach, in a number of cases, has gone too far. The evident example for such a development is Compartamos, the Mexican microfinance institution which recently undertook a financially extremely successful IPO. Therefore it seems that some microfinance institutions have become so radically commercial that the social and developmental considerations, which have traditionally motivated microfinance, may have lost their importance. Thus there is clearly a conflict between commercial and developmental aspirations. However, this conflict is not inevitable. The paper concludes by showing how a microfinance institution can try to use the strengths of the capital market while maintaining its developmental focus and importance.

Poverty and Deprivation in Young and Old: A Comparative Study of Australia and Japan

Peter Saunders — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:26:06 PST

This paper compares the well-being of children and older people within and between Australia and Japan using as of indicators of disadvantage income poverty rates, deprivation (defined as an enforced lack of socially perceived necessities) and consistent poverty (the combination of poverty and deprivation). Information on these three indicators is derived from two national surveys that were used to generate a set of comparable measures. The results indicate that conclusions about the extent of disadvantage and the ranking of children and older people within each country (and between them) are heavily dependent on the choice of indicator. The deprivation results confirm that the approach can be applied comparatively and is capable of producing credible and robust findings. Whether viewed in isolation or in combination with conventional poverty measures, the results indicate that the main factor that determines the risk of deprivation is living alone (or as a sole parent) rather than age or the presence of children. The results also imply that the findings and implications of studies of policy impact will be sensitive to the choice of indicator used to identify disadvantage.

Ideas, Institutions, and Welfare Program Typologies: An Analysis of Pensions and Old Age Income Protection Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Michael W. Kpessa — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:26:04 PST

Since the 1980s, social policy research shifted attention from institutional development of welfare programs to what were described as crises of the welfare state in an era of austerity. Much of the scholarly debate in this area had focused on the maturation of welfare programs, especially the post-war old age income support programs in the advanced industrialized countries to the neglect of social protection in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. This paper is intended to bring the dynamics of social policy in SSA countries into the comparative welfare dialogue and into the global social security debate in particular. Using a historical institutionalist approach, this study analyzes the trajectories of old age income support development in SSA countries through a careful study of old age income security or protection strategies in the region across time and space. The paper develops ideal typologies for understandings variations and transformations of pensions and old age income provision programs in the region. In doing this, it argues that the ideas and institutions around which recent rounds of pension reforms revolves have always been at both the foreground and background of old age income protection thinking and practices in SSA countries since the pre-colonial era.

Cancer Care of American Indians and Alaska Natives and Other Racial Groups Enrolled in Public and Private Insurance Plans

Scott D. Ramsey — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:26:02 PST

Objectives. To compare cancer care among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) patients with other racial groups. Methods. We used Washington State cancer registry records to identify 33,624 patients < age 65 diagnosed with local and regional stage breast, colorectal, and lung cancer from 1997 to 2003. Records were linked with regional tribal registry and Medicaid records to identify AIAN.Results. Enrollment in Medicaid at or after diagnosis was 50% for AIAN, 34% for Hispanic, 33% for black, and 18% for Asian/Pacific Islander compared to 13% of white cancer patients. AIAN were equally as likely as whites and other minority groups to receive surgery for breast and colorectal cancer, but significantly less likely (OR = 0.67) to receive surgery for lung cancer. Medicaid patients in general were less likely to receive surgery within 2 months of diagnosis, but AIAN were no less likely to receive timely surgery compared to other racial groups.Conclusion. AIAN rely more heavily than other racial groups on Medicaid for insurance after they are diagnosed with cancer. Issues associated with Medicaid enrollment, as well as non-insurance related factors may account for delays in time to surgery and lower rates of lung cancer surgery among AIAN.

Demystifying Social Security Financing and the General Fund

Nancy J. Altman — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:20:16 PST

Warning of the danger from the unified budget approach, the distinguished analyst of Social Security, Nancy J. Altman, last December issued a statement to the National Academy of Social Insurance. Poverty and Public Poverty now presents her cogent explanation of the issues and clarification of the threat on the following pages.