The Marketization of Social Security

by John C. Dixon (Editor), Mark Hyde (Editor)

Overview

Much could be gained from the privatization of social security—but can the gains actually be delivered? Dixon, Hyde, and their contributing authors take a balanced look at where we are now, and where we seem to be moving, on the issues of social security privatization and come up skeptical. There will be tradeoffs, but will the benefits outweigh the costs? Their volume examines a variety of settings in Latin America, Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa, where the marketization of social security appears most hotly contested. As a contribution to this new, energetic gobal policy discourse, the book will be of special interest to policymakers in the public and private sectors, and particularly in organizations where concerns about the growing cost of employee benefits have become critical.

Dixon, Hyde, and the others start by showing how the concept of social security has changed dramatically over the last 20 years—not just in the United States but throughout the world. The collectivist ideology that has long underpinned social security policy has been challenged by the emergence of an ideology of individualism. But can one presume that the desires of government to privatize are driven purely by the need to achieve neoliberal policy goals by that means? Too simplistic, say the contributors. Marketization offers the promise of reduced dependency on the state, reduced public expenditure and thus lower taxes, enhanced competitiveness internationally, more efficient delivery of social security services, and other advantages—but whether these promises would be kept seems to depend on a variety of factors. Among them, explored in this volume, are the level of development and sophistication of the capital markets, the degree of market competition that can be achieved and sustained, and the capacity of the state to develop and implement governance mechanisms to ensure that private providers act in the public interest. The volume also examines two daunting challenges to governments: how to design a set of regulations that can protect the public interest in perpetuity, and how to resist the calls for government subsidies to support the economic rent expectations of privatized providers. The contributors and editors develop these and other points concisely and readably, and in doing so offer important lessons from the experiences of others worldwide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781567203257
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/30/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)
Lexile:	1420L (what's this?)

About the Author

JOHN DIXON is Professor of International Social Policy, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Plymouth, United Kingdom./e A former recipient of a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Fellowship, he has held other faculty positions at universities in Hong Kong and Australia, and honorary professorships in the U.S. and China. He has published 26 books, research monographs, and other lengthy works, and more than 100 academic papers.

MARK HYDE is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Plymouth, where he teaches courses in welfare theory, social security, and disability studies./e He has conducted research on a variety of related topics, such as social security reform in the United Kingdom and the ideological foundations of contemporary welfare reforms, and his findings have been widely published in the jourbanals.

Table of Contents

Preface
Welfare Ideology, the Market and Social Security: Toward a Typology of Market-Oriented Reform by Mark Hyde and John Dixon
The Market Appropriation of Statutory Social Security: Global Experiences and Governance Issues by John Dixon and Alexander Kouzmin
Chile's Pioneering Privatization by Silvia Borzutzky
The Market Orientation of Social Security: The Brazilian Case by Sônia Mirian Draibe and Milko Matijascic
Marketization of Sickness and Disability Insurance in the Netherlands: A Review of the Polder Route by Ruud Muffels and Henk-Jan Dirven
The Forms of Privatization of Social Security in Britain by Carol Walker
A Hydra-Like Creature? The Marketization of Social Security in New Zealand by Michael O'Brien
"Almost 12 People an Hour Leaving Welfare": The Marketization of Welfare in Ontario and the Decline of the Public Good by Hugh Shewell
Why Privatization Is Not on the United States' Social Security Policy Agenda by Max J. Skidmore
An Assessment of the Marketization of Social Security in Zimbabwe by Edwin Kaseke
Index

Editorial Reviews

Thirteen international contributors present ten articles on recent shifts from public social security systems towards systems requiring greater individual responsibility, using examples from Chile, Brazil,The Netherlands, Britain, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S. and Zimbabwe. Topics include the ideological basis of social security; the economic underpinnings of marketization; the political contexts within which reforms have taken/are taking place; the role of the private sector in the provision and administration of social security; the marketization of government; counterforces to the movements toward privatization; and assessments of how well the marketization of social security can live up to its promises. Scholarly, yet clearly written and accessible to the interested non-specialist. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews