1,721,130 research outputs found
Child poverty in English-speaking countries
Full text linkThe paper considers child poverty in rich English-speaking countries - the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Ireland. Do all these countries stand out from other OECD countries for their levels of child poverty, as is sometimes assumed? And what policies have they adopted to address the problem? 'Poverty' is interpreted broadly and hence the available cross-national evidence on educational disadvantage and teenage births is considered alongside that on low household income. Likewise, discussion of policy initiatives ranges across a number of areas of government activity
Education, inequality and transition
No full textI consider evidence on differences in access to education and in learning achievement within the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The situation inherited from the communist period is first summarized: there were some significant disparities with, for example, family background having a strong association with tertiary enrolments, as in Western countries. Analysis of the transition period focuses on differences in access and achievement associated with household income and geographic location. Disparities are not the same across the region; in some countries, such as Russia, there are clear grounds for serious concern, but it is unlikely that any country has cause for complacency
Targeting social assistance in a transition economy: The Mahallas in Uzbekistan
Full text linkFalling output and living standards have pushed countries in transition from the socialist system to re-consider how best to target public resources on those in need. The paper investigates the workings of a new social assistance benefit in Uzbekistan, the largest of the former Soviet Central Asian republics, administered by community organisations, the Mahallas. Household survey data are used to assess the scheme’s success in targeting to the most vulnerable households, using a variety of indicators including income, durable goods ownership, agricultural assets, employment status, and anthropometric status of children
Job search monitoring and unemployment duration in Hungary: evidence from a randomised control trial
Full text linkThe impact of the administration of unemployment benefits on time spent unemployed is a neglected issue in discussion of incentive effects in Central and Eastern Europe. We use Labour Force Survey data, administrative registers and inspection of benefit office practices to show that there is good reason to investigate this issue in Hungary. We then report on results from a field experiment of the impact of tightening the administration of benefits in which benefit claimants were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Treatment has quite a large effect on durations on benefit of women aged 30 and over while we find no effect for younger women or for men
Using international surveys of achievement and literacy: a view from the outside
No full textThe paper reports on experience of using three international surveys of learning achievement or functional literacy: TIMSS, PISA and IALS. The continued development of new surveys means that it is all the more important for users to share their knowledge of the sources. A range of issues are considered of which the most important are (i) the robustness of results to the method used for aggregating the answers for each individual into a single score; (ii) the methods that can be used for presenting summary statistics; and (iii) the need to systematically compare the basic results of the different surveys
Private donations for international development
Full text linkCharitable donations by private individuals and firms can help fund the Millennium Development Goals. What are the prospects for increasing donations for international development, whether from small scale donors, the super-rich (as in the recent gifts by Bill Gates and Ted Turner), or the corporate sector? The paper starts by reviewing how large are the sums currently given in OECD countries (including gifts of time) and the problems development has in competing with domestic causes. It then looks at possibilities for the future, including tax-deductions, the new 'global funds', corporate social responsibility and 'cause-related marketing', the use of the Internet, and long-term donor education
Is the well-being of children converging in the European Union?
No full textRecent discussion of convergence in the European Union has focused on macroeconomic indicators, in line with requirements for participation in the single currency. But it is reduction of disparities in living standards that is an ultimate goal of European integration – the greater 'economic and social cohesion' emphasised by the Treaty on Union. We assemble evidence on whether the well-being of children in Member States has been converging over the last two decades, taking a variety of indicators: poverty, household worklessness, youth unemployment, child mortality, youth suicide, educational enrolment, teenage fertility, and self-reported 'life satisfaction'
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