Search Results

Allocating reparation benefits to victims of civil rights abuses with a lasting effect on their well-being is a tremendous challenge. By converting benefit payments into shares and beneficiaries into shareholders of microfinance institutions (MFIs), the former victims become active partners of aid and owners of local institutions. In many countries, indigenous savings and credit associations are the only civil society institutions which have survived the breakdown of society, representing the social capital for the reconstruction of local financial institutions. In other countries, such institutions have to be newly built. In either case, experienced international NGOs may be instrumental in building or reconstructing MFIs owned by recipients of reparation payments. Part of the funding in a reparation program may thus be allocated directly to the victims-turned-shareholders, the other part to institution-building. Based on satisfactory performance of the MFI, the share capital may be augmented by donor grants and bank borrowings to increase the volume of loans to the user-owners for income-generating activities. In terms of sustainable impact, there is no alternative to institution-building.

This chapter provides a broad overview of contemporary minimum-income transfers in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. It starts out by proposing a simple typology for situating different types of minimum-income benefits as elements of the overall redistribution system. The third section summarizes the generosity of benefit payments and the structure of health care-related support measures that complement them. The fourth section describes the limited available comparative data on the number of benefit claimants and considers to what extent they matter when assessing the relevance of social assistance measures as safety nets. The fifth section provides a condensed overview of the “mutual obligations” debate, discussing, in turn, the rationale of back-to-work and other activation measures and the main results from the evaluation literature. The last section concludes by highlighting some challenges for minimum-income programs posed by the recent economic downturn.

From October 2013, the UK government is introducing a new ‘super’ means-tested benefit, universal credit, bringing together various payments for those in and out of work. Its main goals are to simplify the benefits system, improve work incentives and combat ‘welfare dependency’. This chapter outlines the main provisions of the proposed scheme and reactions to it. The core of the chapter is an examination of universal credit from a gender perspective, in particular in relation to access to income for individuals in couples. Specific features discussed include the effects on ‘second earners’ and the arrangements for payment. The author argues for ‘welfare reform’ such as this to be analysed in terms of not only the numbers of men and women affected in terms of resources, but also what impact it may have on gender roles and relationships; the potential for individuals to achieve financial autonomy; and gender inequalities within the household, both immediately and in the longer term.

This chapter examines price indexes for medical care, focusing on heart attacks (acute myocardial infarction). It first describes several conceptual issues related to medical care price indexes and considers some basic descriptive information on changes in the treatment of heart attacks over time. It then treats formally two types of medical care price indexes, a service price index and a cost-of-living index. A key practical problem in estimating both types of indexes is measurement: list prices (“charges”) and harder-to-measure transaction prices have diverged increasingly, the development of new or modified medical treatments complicates the comparison of “like” goods over time, and determining the effects of medical treatment on important health outcomes is confounded by many intervening factors. The chapter summarizes the results for heart attack price indexes and extends them to include quality of life and more recent time periods. It also discusses inflation rates and benefit payments.