What's Wrong with Social Policy and How to Fix It
What's Wrong with Social Policy and How to Fix It

Author: Bill Jordan

Publisher: Polity

Published: 2010-04-26

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0745647405

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This book argues that the financial crash of 2008-9 has exposed the disastrous consequences of applying economic theory to the collective life of societies. In seeking to manage social relationships through incentives for individual gain, market-like menus of choices and business-style sets of interlocking contracts, the model adopted by the governments of the UK and USA has subverted the basis for social policy in mutuality and membership. This has been demonstrated by growing inequalities, by failures and scandals in the social services, by the flat-lining of measured well-being (even during the boom years), by increases in a wide range of social problems, and by public disillusion over the effectiveness of policy programmes. In the post-crash world, the political culture needs to enable the expression of collective action for the benefits of interdependence, and to overcome the threats of ecological catastrophe and divisive ideology. Only in this way can social policy be part of an inclusive global movement to restore faith in a politics of social justice. Bill Jordan's up-to-date, passionate and engaging argument forges convincing links between a wide range of the troubling phenomena in the public life of our times.

Global Capital and National Politics
Global Capital and National Politics

Author: Timothy Kessler

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 1999-11-30

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0313390355

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Kessler shows how political considerations distorted the liberalization process in Mexico, leading to inconsistent and unsustainable patterns of financial policy. Although market reform is promoted in developing countries to improve economic efficiency and stimulate growth, in Mexico financial liberalization provided rent-seeking opportunities for privileged groups and increased the states' ability to finance politically inspired obligations. The research examines four periods: the populist administrations of EcheverrÍa and Lopez Portillo, during which the foundations of modern financial markets were paradoxically laid; the debt-crisis years of de la Madrid, who reversed his party's political strategy by favoring the business class with financial opportunities; the economic transformation undertaken by Carlos Salinas, who mixed genuine reform with destabilizing anti-market measures; and the political watershed of the Zedillo administration, whose unpopular bank rescue gave opposition parties unprecedented power within Mexico's policy making process. Kessler also provides a comparison of financial collapse in two other emerging markets, South Korea and Russia, and examines the political roots of crisis in both countries. He concludes by suggesting how greater attention to questions of power, social organization, and challenges to state authority can help the policy-making community avoid giving well-meaning advice that is unlikely to be implemented in a sustainable way.

Globalization and Social Stress
Globalization and Social Stress

Author: Grzegorz W. Kołodko

Publisher: Nova Publishers

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9781594541940

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Globalisation, like no other term, has gained in recent years a prominent position in nearly all branches of social science. Consequently, its definitions abound, also in economics -- a discipline to which it has a special relevance. In economic terms, Globalisation is the historical process of gradual, yet persistent liberalisation followed by the coalescence of the hitherto largely fragmented markets of goods, capital and labour into a single global market. The concurrent regional integration processes, should by no means be seen as a trend opposed to Globalisation, which they may even facilitate in some circumstances by moving integration to a higher level: from that of national economics up to that of international organisations, for instance, the EU integrating with NAFTA, ASEAN with CIS or Mercosur with Caricom. Thus defined Globalisation depends on a variety of circumstances and has numerous implications. It is an extremely dynamic and complex process which, therefore, allows of no unambiguous assessment. Globalisation is an irreversible process, although -- as the experience of the last two or three years has shown -- its progress can be significantly impeded in the short run by various kinds of political and economic shocks. So the idea is to follow an enlightened and wise development strategy and a well-co-ordinated policy -- in this case, on the international and global scale -- that would minimise the attendant problems and eliminate, as far as possible, the concomitant social stress. How to achieve this goal is the question the authors address in this volume.

The Stock Market as a Source of Finance
The Stock Market as a Source of Finance

Author: Cherian Samuel

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13:

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April 1996 Internal finance is less important for Indian firms than U.S. firms, and external debt more -- but for neither is the stockmarket an important source. In seeking funding, a firm's main choice is between external and internal financing. And, says Samuel, the evidence suggests that the stock market plays only a limited role providing finance for both U.S. and Indian firms. Samuel finds that internal finance plays less of a role for Indian firms than for U.S. firms -- and external debt a bigger role. This is consistent with theoretical predictions, given that information and agency problems are less severe for Indian firms than for U.S. firms. (India's financial system is predominantly bank-oriented, more like German and Japanese financial systems than like American and British systems.) Samuel's estimate of the role of the stock market as a source of finance is lower than other estimates, partly because of methodological approach: He studied sources and uses of funds, rather than the financing of net asset growth and capital expenditures. To the extent that these findings for India are generalizable to other developing countries -- analysis was restricted to the stock market's role in providing finance -- Samuel concludes that the development of stock markets is unlikely to spur corporate growth in developing countries. (Why, then, he wonders, do firm managers worry so much about share prices?) And there's a caveat: Foreign investors have played only a limited role in the slow-paced privatization of India's state-owned enterprises -- although in recent years, despite delayed reform of the securities market, foreign institutional investors have begun to invest more. In emerging markets in Eastern Europe and Latin America, foreign investors have played a much more active role in privatization, chiefly by investing in those stock markets. This paper is a product of the Operations Policy Group, Operations Policy Department. The author may be contacted at [email protected].

A New Theory Concerning the Origin of the Miracle Play . .
A New Theory Concerning the Origin of the Miracle Play . .

Author: George Raleigh Coffman

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2022-10-27

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 1019200715

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Rural Finance for Growth and Poverty Alleviation
Rural Finance for Growth and Poverty Alleviation

Author: Saeed Ahmad Qureshi

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 76

ISBN-13:

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To promote agricultural -- and hence economic -- growth, Pakistan must make more credit available to agricultural smallholders, the rural nonfarm sector, and women. Subsidizing interest rates is not the way to help marginal borrowers. Instead, they can be helped through fixed-cost subsidies and self-selected targeting. Pakistan's rural sector accounts for more than 70 percent of employment, and roughly two-thirds of rural employment is in agriculture. Less than a third of rural households get loans, only 10 percent of which are from institutional sources. Pakistan's credit institutions are not helping the country accelerate agricultural growth and reduce poverty. To improve performance in the rural economy and efficiency in financial institutions, rural credit markets must be liberalized. The government needs to initiate the following reforms: * Produce and price controls must be replaced by prudent regulation and supervision, combined with policies to stabilize the economy. * Commercial banks must operate in a competitive environment. They must be allowed to set interest rates for rural lending that cover their transaction costs. * Credit must be made available to support productivity growth for agricultural smallholders and small producers of the rural nonfarm sector, where Pakistan's growth potential lies. * Credit must be made available to women and to the rural poor for consumption-smoothing and for sustainable income-generating activities. Policy should be directed at developing a market-based financial system for rural finance, but because of market failures to support disadvantaged groups, a special-priority program may be needed to get credit to women, smallholders (with 10 acres or less), and the rural nonfarm sector (small-scale nonfarm activities such as livestock, fishery, forestry, and rangelands, and industrial microenterprises). Subsidizing interest rates is not the way to help marginal borrowers. Instead, they can be helped through fixed-cost subsidies and self-selected targeting. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) should be encouraged to help, keeping in mind such NGO success stories as the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and Badan Kredit Kecaratan (BKK) in Indonesia. Commercial banks should be encouraged to lend on other bases than the mortgage and passbook system. They could experiment with wholesaling credit through input suppliers, marketing agents, and NGOs. They should consider lending for such downstream agricultural activities as agroprocessing. The biggest challenge facing rural finance is the restructuring of cooperatives. The next important step for the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan would be a portfolio audit -- the results of which will determine next steps, such as major restructuring of its portfolio and changing its ownership. To improve rural financing, the system of property rights, title, and default enforcement must also be strengthened, among other reforms. This paper -- a product of the Agricultural and Natural Resources Division, South Asia, Country Department I -- is part of a larger effort in the region to analyze major issues of agricultural growth and rural development in Pakistan and working with the government in developing a strategy to address those issues.