109 research outputs found
Pre-analysis plan for study on 'The Deservingness of Disability Benefit Claimants'
No full textThis is a pre-analysis plan for a factorial survey experiment in the UK & Norway on the deservingness of disability benefit claimants. The study aims to look at both the factors that influence deservingness, and the extent to which political polarisation and country differences vary according to the level of deservingness of the vignette claimant
Pre-analysis plan for study on 'The Deservingness of Disability Benefit Claimants'
No full textThis is a pre-analysis plan for a factorial survey experiment in the UK & Norway on the deservingness of disability benefit claimants. The study aims to look at both the factors that influence deservingness, and the extent to which political polarisation and country differences vary according to the level of deservingness of the vignette claimant
The fall of anti-welfare attitudes
No full textRecent research based on data looking at British attitudes to welfare suggests policy-makers may be out of step with public opinion in this area. Kate Summers, Ben Baumberg Geiger, Robert de Vries, and Tom O’Grady explain what has happened to public attitudes to welfare over the past 15 years, and why
How will alcohol sales in the UK be affected if drinkers follow government guidelines?
Get PDFAims: The proportion of alcohol consumption that is above government guidelines ('risky drinking') has been estimated in several countries, suggesting that reductions in risky drinking would lead to significant declines in total alcohol consumption. However, this has not previously been conducted transparently in the UK. Furthermore, existing studies have under-explored the importance of several methodological decisions, as well as not closely examining the meaning of these figures for debates on 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR). Methods: Secondary analysis of the amount of alcohol consumption above various government guidelines in four British datasets for 2000-2002: the National Diet and Nutrition Survey; the General Household Survey; Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People; and the March 2002 ONS Omnibus Survey. Results: Risky drinking accounts for 55-82% of the total consumption by 18- to 64-year olds, depending on the definition of risky drinking used. If only alcohol above the government guidelines is counted, this falls to 22-475. Consumption by underage drinkers accounts for 4.5% of the total consumption, while consumption by drink-drivers accounts for 0.5-8.0% depending on the assumptions made. Conclusions: Methodologically, the study shows that at least two decisions have considerable importance: the definition of risky drinking used and whether we count all drinking (as in most previous studies) or only drinking above guidelines. Substantively, these studies do not directly show that drink companies' profitability would be affected by declines in risky drinking. Nevertheless, they are valuable for present debate in themselves and form the basis of a more complex analysis of alcohol CSR
Despite the suspension of conditionality, benefit claimants are already looking for work
No full textThe unique challenges that COVID-19 presents have meant a ‘pause’ in overt work-related requirements. Despite this, and the dire job prospects facing many, the majority of the new COVID-19 cohort of benefit claimants who do not have a job are actively looking for work, find Daniel Edmiston, Ben Baumberg Geiger, Lisa Scullion, Jo Ingold and Kate Summers. This questions many of the assumptions that underpin our increasingly conditional social security system and should encourage policymakers to rethink what income and employment support might look like as we move beyond this pandemic
Cost benefit analyses of alcohol policy - a primer
No full textAlcohol is no ordinary commodity (Babor et al 2010). In health terms, it is a toxic substance. In legalterms, it is a licit drug whose sale and consumption are highly regulated. In economic terms, its useresults in major external costs (consumption externalities), and its use leads to both short-termirrationality (i.e., intoxication) and long-term irrationality, and to information failures (MarsdenJacob Associates 2009).Alcohol is a cause of considerable health and social burden to the European Union. Alcohol is a causeof over some 60 conditions and disorders (Rehm et al 2010), and is the third leading risk factor for ill-health and premature death in the European Union after hypertension and tobacco use (Anderson &Baumberg 2006). The harm done by alcohol is exacerbated by health inequalities (Anderson &Baumberg 2006), and alcohol is a major cause itself of health inequalities within and betweencountries. It has been calculated that some 25% of the differences in middle aged life expectancybetween eastern and western Europe is due to alcohol (Zatonksi et al 2008). It is estimated that theoverall social cost of alcohol to the Union is some €125billion each year (Anderson& Baumberg2006).There is a very extensive evidence base for the impact of policies in reducing the harm done byalcohol (WHO 2009a; Anderson et al 2009; Babor et al 2010). Systematic reviews and meta-analysesshow that policies that regulate the environment in which alcohol is marketed (particularly its priceand availability) are effective in reducing alcohol-related harm. Enforced legislative measures toreduce drinking and driving and individually-directed interventions to already at-risk drinkers arealso effective. On the contrary, school-based education is found not to reduce alcohol-related harm,although public information and education type programmes have a role in providing information,and in increasing attention and acceptance of alcohol on the political and public agendas
Corporate social responsibility and conflicts of interest in the alcohol and gambling industries: A post-political discourse?
Get PDFThe corporate pursuit of social goals - known as Corporate Social Responsibility or 'CSR' - has been subject to critique on a number of grounds. However, a hitherto underexplored potential consequence of CSR has been suggested in a recent paper by C. Garsten and K. Jacobsson ('Post-Political Regulation: Soft Power and Post-political Visions in Global Governance' (2013), Critical Sociology 39: 421-37). They suggest that CSR is part of an international trend towards 'post-political' governance discourses, where an emphasis on different actors' common goals obscures conflicts of interest, subverting the open political conflict necessary for a well-functioning democracy. This paper examines whether such post-political discourses - including an outright denial of conflict of interest - can be found within the alcohol and gambling industries, where conflicts of interest are likely to be particularly acute given the addictive nature of the goods/services in question. Based on interviews with CSR professionals in these industries in Italy, the UK, and at EU-level, we do indeed find evidence of a post-political discourse. In these discourses, alcohol/gambling industry staff deny potential conflicts of interest on the basis that any small benefits from sales to a small number of addicts are seen to be outweighed by the reputational damage that addicts cause. Crucially, however, this coexists with another, less post-political discourse, where addictions CSR professionals emphasize 'common ground' as a basis for CSR, while accepting some instances of possible conflict of interest. Here interviewees make considerable efforts to differentiate good (sustainable) from bad (short-term) self-interest in order to stress the genuineness of their own actions. We conclude the paper by considering whether CSR embedded within a 'common ground' discourse still hides conflicts of interests and subverts democratic debate, or overcomes the problems identified by Garsten and Jacobsson
Best practice in estimating the costs of alcohol – Recommendations for future studies
Get PDFThis report aims to summarize best practice in estimating the attributable and avoidable costs of alcohol,
and to make recommendations for making such estimates in future studies. It discusses the conceptual
basis for such cost studies, and then goes through the conceptual and methodological challenges for each
type of cost in turn. It recommends (i) changes in the terminology used; (ii) the consistent and explicit
consideration of ‘external’ costs (i.e. costs to others); (iii) more sophisticated modelling of the effect of
policy interventions on costs; (iv) more robust attempts to quantify alcohol’s causal effect on harms and
costs; (v) a demonstration project using new methodologies; (vi) the use of scenarios rather than existing
sensitivity analyses; (vii) importing data from other studies rather than simply missing out certain types of
cost; (viii) taking account of future health and resource costs; and (ix) not using the ‘human capital’
method for valuing the labour costs of premature mortality within the main estimates
Rethinking the work capability assessment
Get PDFThis report is part of a wider three-year research project looking at how non-medical factors are tangled up in the real world of incapacity. The project has four strands of work: · international comparisons of how incapacity assessment works in other countries · perceived legitimacy: a new survey and series of deliberative workshops to look at what people think a fair test looks like · better data so that we get figures we can trust about the employment rate of disabled people across time and place · unequal incapacity: new research into how non-medical factors in incapacity actually work in practice The project is led by Ben Baumberg and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), with some strands also involving collaborations with Demos and a team at the University of Durham led by Professor Clare Bambra – all of whom have been involved in this report. For more information, please see www.rethinkingincapacity.org
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