Understanding the Impact of the Economic Crisis on Child and Maternal Health among the Poor: Opportunities for South Asia

The economic crisis hit many countries in 2007 and the effects are still being felt, especially in poorer developing nations. Much of the debate surrounding the economic crisis and its impacts has focused on the financial and economic aspects—import/export impacts, economic growth losses, labor force cutbacks, and fiscal imbalances. The social impact, especially on poor and vulnerable groups, has received less mention. Yet, if countries are to address the overall impacts of the economic crisis, it is vital that they also consider investing time and money to deal with social impacts more effectively. There are fears, however, that a reduction in spending on vital sectors (including the healthcare sector) to ensure economic recovery could affect poor and vulnerable populations and, in turn, erase the progress that has been made thus far. The decision to reduce such spending could also come from donors, who tend to favor a market-led recovery process in economic crises, thereby neglecting vital social service sectors that cater to the needs of poor populations. This spending can supplement government services or fill resource gaps and as a result reductions could have negative impacts on beneficiary populations, particularly the poor and vulnerable. Addressing child and maternal health issues within the context of the economic crisis is one key area to consider given its short, medium, and long-term effects on populations in developing countries. In South Asian countries, child and maternal health-related indicators tend to be disturbing despite the rapid growth rates in many of these countries. The number of infant deaths is still quite high, nutrition of children and women continues to be problematic, and maternal health and pre/post natal care remains poor. This paper presents an overview of child and maternal health in the South Asia region, but also recommends that interventions take into account a series of factors if the impacts of the economic crisis are to be minimized: There is a need for more information and research on the impacts of the crisis; Investing in social protection and safety nets is imperative; Food security should be integrated into social protection; Vulnerable households require support to cope with the crisis despite their own efforts and coping strategies; State investments that support vulnerable populations should be protected in times of crisis.poverty reduction; economic crisis impact; social impact; child maternal health; south asia poverty; social protection

On the Impact of Social Spending on Long-term Economic Performance in the USA

This paper analyzes the dynamics of social spending and long-term economic performance in the United States from 1949-2019 using vector autoregression models. It breaks down social spending into six disaggregate programs to identify if different social programs have similar effects on the economy. Overall, the study finds that social spending increases private savings and the unemployment rate. Due to its dominant distortionary effects on the labor market, social spending decreases GDP. These effects are mostly short-term effects. The economic effects of the different social spending programs on the economy are similar in direction but different in magnitude. The effects of social security and medical care on GDP are not significant. In turn, the adverse effects of veteran benefits and unemployment insurance on GDP are dominated by the short-term impact, while the effects of public assistance are more evenly distributed, and the adverse effects of other social assistance are exclusively long-term

Tax competition and income inequality : why did the welfare state survive?

Contrary to the belief of many, tax competition did not undermine the foundations of the welfare state and did not even abolish the taxation of capital. Instead, tax competition caused governments to shift the tax burden from capital to labor, thereby increasing income inequality in liberal market economies that traditionally redistribute income by relatively high effective capital taxes and relatively low effective labor taxes. In contrast, income inequality did increase little or not at all in social welfare states that dominantly use social security transfers to redistribute income. Governments in social welfare states found it easy to maintain high social expenditures because they increasingly taxed labor, which is relatively immobile, to finance social security transfers. We test the predictions of this theory using a simultaneous equation approach that accounts for the endogeneity of tax policies, fiscal policies, and deficits

Social Europe. ENEPRI Occasional Paper No. 5, November 2003

[From the Introduction and Summary]. Building a Social Europe has received due attention since the founding of the European Community in Rome. The European summit in Lisbon in 2000 was an important milestone in this process. European leaders committed themselves to working together through the 'open coordination' method to develop a policy to combat poverty and social exclusion. The open coordination approach means that countries exchange information and encourage each other to pursue policies geared to their social objectives. The European Union does not itself play an active role in the way in which individual member states set about achieving those objectives. It has however been agreed that member states will draw up a National Action Plan every two years setting out the way in which they plan to realise their objectives

On Cyber Risk Management of Blockchain Networks: A Game Theoretic Approach

Open-access blockchains based on proof-of-work protocols have gained tremendous popularity for their capabilities of providing decentralized tamper-proof ledgers and platforms for data-driven autonomous organization. Nevertheless, the proof-of-work based consensus protocols are vulnerable to cyber-attacks such as double-spending. In this paper, we propose a novel approach of cyber risk management for blockchain-based service. In particular, we adopt the cyber-insurance as an economic tool for neutralizing cyber risks due to attacks in blockchain networks. We consider a blockchain service market, which is composed of the infrastructure provider, the blockchain provider, the cyber-insurer, and the users. The blockchain provider purchases from the infrastructure provider, e.g., a cloud, the computing resources to maintain the blockchain consensus, and then offers blockchain services to the users. The blockchain provider strategizes its investment in the infrastructure and the service price charged to the users, in order to improve the security of the blockchain and thus optimize its profit. Meanwhile, the blockchain provider also purchases a cyber-insurance from the cyber-insurer to protect itself from the potential damage due to the attacks. In return, the cyber-insurer adjusts the insurance premium according to the perceived risk level of the blockchain service. Based on the assumption of rationality for the market entities, we model the interaction among the blockchain provider, the users, and the cyber-insurer as a two-level Stackelberg game. Namely, the blockchain provider and the cyber-insurer lead to set their pricing/investment strategies, and then the users follow to determine their demand of the blockchain service. Specifically, we consider the scenario of double-spending attacks and provide a series of analytical results about the Stackelberg equilibrium in the market game

Budgeting for Growth and Prosperity: A Long-Term Plan to Balance the Budget, Grow the Economy, and Strengthen the Middle Class

Proposes reducing the deficit by investing in education, infrastructure, and technology; spending more efficiently; bolstering the social safety net; containing healthcare costs; simplifying the tax code; and raising gas and financial transaction taxes

The Labor Market Impact of Employer Health Benefit Mandates: Evidence from San Francisco's Health Care Security Ordinance

Examines the impact of a policy requiring employers to provide employee health benefits or contribute to a public option health plan on employment, earnings, and customer surcharges by industry and county

(WP 2013-05) Future Implications of Debt and Deleveraging in the United States Economy

This paper will take a broad based approach in analyzing the structure of the U.S. economy with a particular emphasis on the disruptive U.S. recession and financial crisis which began circa 2008. The role of the U.S. government and the implications high levels of fiscal debt have on the projected growth path of the U.S. economy will be the primary focus of the paper. The discussion will show that the U.S. has likely entered a new, much more difficult stage in its history of economic growth. The short to medium term growth potential of the U.S. economy has fallen below the trend level established since WWII. The flexibility of the U.S. economy will help foster the necessary adjustments; however, this new era will force difficult fiscal and monetary policy choices that have different implications for different section of the population. The policy makers must recognize the changing dynamics of the U.S. economy and they must be prudent in drafting policy that establishes a stronger foundation for future growth. Younger generations in particular will need to take notice of the decisions being made and plan accordingly as it relates to their spending, saving and investment habits

UK energy in a global context: synthesis report

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