Canada - nation-building in a federal welfare state

"Drei unterschiedliche Föderalismusmodelle charakterisieren Kanadas Sozialpolitik: Politikverflechtung, klassischer (dualer) Föderalismus und 'shared costs federalism'. Jedes dieser Modelle generiert unterschiedliche Entscheidungsregeln, Akteurs- und Machtkonstellationen sowie Konsensschwellen für politisches Handeln und hat folglich sowohl die Expansion des kanadischen Wohlfahrtsstaates als auch dessen Rückbau unterschiedlich beeinflusst. Während die Politikverflechtung auf dem Gebiet der beitragsfinanzierten Renten sowohl den Programmausbau als auch den -rückbau gebremst hat, wurden die ausschließlich vom Bund regulierten Programme sowohl in der Expansions- als auch in der Konsolidierungsphase maßgeblich von den politischen Kräfteverhältnissen auf der nationalen Ebene bestimmt. Der in der Gesundheitspolitik praktizierte shared costs federalism bot in der Expansionsphase Raum für sozialpolitische Innovationen auf der Provinzebene, die einem sozialdemokratischen Gesundheitssystem Vorschub leisteten. Dieses Modell blieb in seinen Grundzügen in der Rückbauphase zwar bestehen, gleichzeitig zog sich Ottawa jedoch aus der Finanzierung des Gesundheitswesens zurück." (Autorenreferat)"In Canada, three distinct models of federalism govern different social programmes: classical federalism, with programmes run exclusively by one level of government; shared costs federalism, with the federal government financially supporting provincial programmes; and joint-decision federalism, where formal approval by both levels of government is mandatory before any action can take place. Each of these models creates different decision rules, altering the mix of governments and ideologies at the bargaining table, redistributing power among those who have a seat at the table, and requiring different levels of consensus for action. The result has been three separate kinds of interactions between institutions and policy during the postwar era of welfare state expansion. As in the era of expansion, the new politics of social policy in the 'silver age' had to flow through the three distinctive institutional filters created by federal institutions, helping to explain the uneven impact of retrenchment in Canada. Exclusively federal programmes were unprotected by intergovernmental relations and fully exposed to shifts in national politics, with dramatic cuts especially in unemployment benefits. In contrast, joint-decision federalism helped protect contributory pensions from radical restructuring; while shared cost federalism made it possible to preserve the basic model of the health care system, at least in respect of hospital, physician and diagnostic services, if not always in respect of the generosity of funding." (author's abstract

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s

The 1990s was a long decade in Canada. It was a period of transitions and turbulence, of seismic shifts in the Canadian economy and dramatic changes in many longstanding public programs. It was also a decade in which Canadians' attitudes toward their economic future and their expectations of government seemed to evolve in new and uncharted directions. The decade began with a deep, prolonged recession yet it ended with the return of strong economic growth. The basic structure of the Canadian economy was being reshaped by forces felt around the world, such as trade liberalization, globalization and technological change. The 1990s also saw major changes in public policy. Most importantly, the basic strategy guiding macroeconomic policy shifted dramatically. Monetary authorities adopted price stability as their primary objective, producing restrictive inflation targets and high interest rates compared to many other countries. Fiscal policy was also tightened sharply, as federal and provincial governments moved aggressively to eliminate longstanding deficits, mainly through deep cuts to public expenditures. The purpose of this introduction is twofold. First, it provides a synthesis of what the editors see as the main themes that emerge from the different chapters, including a discussion of the implications for public policy and second, it provides a detailed overview of the main findings of all chapters in the volume. The chapters are written by leading experts in the field and provide more detailed views of specific dimensions of the economic and social developments of the 1990s. The chapters are organized into four sections dealing with basic concepts, the public view of economic and social trends, changes in key public policies, and the outcomes in terms of the economic, social and environmental record of the 1990s.

Les politiques de multiculturalisme nuisent-elles à l’État-providence ?

La diversité ethnique est parfois perçue comme un danger pour la stabilité politique. Pourtant, les immigrants, les minorités nationales et les peuples autochtones bénéficient en certains pays d’une attitude d’ouverture qui a mené à l’adoption de politiques de multiculturalisme et à la reconnaissance de certains droits en matière de langue et d’autonomie territoriale et politique. Aux yeux de certains analystes, ces mesures ne peuvent que fragiliser l’État-providence. Ayant procédé à une vérification empirique de cette thèse, les auteurs ne constatent aucune relation systématique entre l’existence de politiques de multiculturalisme dans un pays et l’érosion de son État-providence. Il apparaît plutôt que des affirmations sans autre fondement que la peur ne font pas avancer le débat sur la pertinence des politiques de multiculturalisme.Ethnic diversity is often seen as a threat to political stability. But some countries have adopted a more accommodating approach, reflected in the adoption of multiculturalism policies for immigrant groups, the acceptance of territorial autonomy and language rights for national minorities, and the recognition of land claims and self-government rights for indigenous peoples. Such “multiculturalism policies” have been criticised, however, as making it more difficult to sustain a robust welfare state. This paper examines empirically whether this effect exists. We find no evidence of a consistent relationship between the adoption of multiculturalism policies and the erosion of the welfare state. The evidence in this paper suggests that debates over the appropriateness of multiculturalism policies should not be pre-empted by unsupported fears about their impact on the welfare state

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s

In this chapter, Lars Osberg has the daunting task of examining the conceptual issues involved in defining and measuring social progress. As he highlights in his introduction, while much had been made of the fact that Canada in 2000 earned first place in the United Nations' Human Development Index, other indices have produced much less brilliant results. Modern pluralist societies, however, have no common benchmark from which to define the "good" society. As a result, Osberg argues, "social progress" in a liberal society must be measured in the "enabling" sense that a society progresses when it enables more of its citizens to achieve the kind of life they personally value. Some of the empirical difficulties involved in constructing a measure of the attainment of social and economic rights are discussed and several quantitative indices of social progress are examined using the prism of human rights.Well-being, Wellbeing, Well Being, Social Progress, Social, Societal, Society, Values, Rights, Economic Rights, Social Rights, Human Rights, Index, Indexes, Indices, Indicator, Indicators

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s

In this chapter, John Helliwell sets the scene for many of the papers that follow by providing an up-to-date and lucid survey of the literature on the impact of social capital on both the economy or economic performance and well-being. This latter term is closely related to the concept of social progress used in this volume. He begins by defining social capital as the networks and norms that facilitate cooperative activities within groups (bonding social capital) and between groups (bridging social capital). Helliwell documents a number of studies that show that social capital actually saves lives. He surveys the literature on subjective well-being, pointing out that unemployment lowers subjective well-being by more than the usual measure of economic cost and certainly more than inflation.Well-being, Wellbeing, Well Being, Social Progress, Social, Societal, Society, Values, Index, Indexes, Indices, Indicator, Indicators, Social Capital, Happiness, Life Satisfaction, Subjective Well-being, Subjective

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s

In this chapter, Daniel Schwanen addresses the impact of the major trade liberalization efforts undertaken by Canada and its trading partners beginning with the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 1989. The author focuses in particular on the question of whether liberalized trade could have been a factor behind the emergence of greater inequalities in Canada in the 1990s. The author divides Canadian manufacturing industries into five groups according to their sensitivity to trade liberalization in the 1990s and to the direction taken by exports and imports following the opening of trade. Schwanen concludes from this exercise that more open trade may have contributed to inequalities in Canada, by favoring certain groups already doing relatively well, while being unfavourable to many less-skilled and lesser-paid groups.Trade, Inequality, Manufacturing, Canada, FTA, NAFTA, Free Trade, Free-trade, Trade Liberalization, Free Trade Agreements, United States, US, U.S.

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity

Skills, innovation and human capital as they feature prominently on the policy agenda of industrialized countries concerned with productivity and competitiveness issues. Not surprisingly, formal education is the preferred and most conventional policy instrument of governments in pursuing these objectives. Indeed, "more is better" is often the guiding principle here. The actual linkages, however, are not as straightforward as they may appear. Certainly, there are gains to be achieved through a better understanding of the relationship between the skills developed through formal education and their causal impact on productivity, as well as a more nuanced approach to policy in this area. In this chapter, Arthur Sweetman points out, "the issue is not whether education has benefits but, rather, the magnitude of its 'true' benefits, the benefits relative to costs, and the distribution of costs and benefits. Sweetman examines three different sets of evidence, focusing on the impact of education on earnings at the individual level and on productivity at the macroeconomic level, and on issues related to the operation of the Canadian educational system.Education, Skills, Growth, Productivity, Labour Productivity, Labor Productivity, Educational Attainment, Human Capital, Knowledge, Quality, Education Quality, Private Benefit, Social Benefit, Value, Investment

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity

The issue of sustainability of natural capital and implications for economic growth ranks high in the interests of both policy makers and the general public, as manifested by the intense debate on Canada's ratification of the Kyoto accord. In this chapter, Nancy Olewiler makes an important contribution to the debate on natural resource sustainability by exploring the crucial, but often ignored, role of productivity in the maintenance of natural capital sustainability. Olewiler defines sustainability as the ability of the economy to maintain the flow of production necessary to ensure non-decreasing per capita consumption indefinitely, so future generations can have a standard of living equal to or better than that of the present generation. She makes a critical distinction between the concepts of strong and weak sustainability.Natural Resources, Resources, Non-renewable, Renewable, Productivity, Sustainability, Growth, Labour Productivity, Labor Productivity, Technology, Technological Change, Environment, Environmental, Environmental Services, Multifactor Productivity, Multi-factor Productivity, Total Factor Productivity, Pollution, Emissions

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s

In this chapter, Don Drummond makes the case that with large deficits there was little room for the Bank of Canada to reduce interest rates to stimulate the economy and generate revenues. It was imperative that the deficit be eliminated. Tax rates were already high so the government had no choice but to cut program spending. Drummond recognizes that the cuts caused hardship for some Canadians, but feels that the suffering was relatively limited and temporary in nature. Drummond argues that the elimination of the deficit has reduced risk premia and allowed the Bank of Canada to bring interest rates down.Monetary Policy, Inflation, Inflation Reduction, Inflation Policy, Growth, Recession, Well-being, Wellbeing, Well Being, Unemployment, Expenditure, Taxation, Fiscal Policy, Deficit, Canada

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s

One of the most (if not the most) highly charged public debates in this country over the past decade has been about the role of economic imperatives in dismantling the foundations of the welfare state set out in the universalist model adopted in the post-war years. Ken Battle in his chapter is critical of the ongoing public discourse on this issue, which he considers as lacking both in substance and subtlety. He argues that this has led to a polarization of views and produced persistent mythologies which in his estimation have served to insulate government from effective criticism and prevented the occurrence of a truly needed, open and informed public debate on the present and future course of social policy. Battle describes the overall process of reform and developments in social policy in the last two decades as one of "relentless incrementalism" where cumulative, purposeful and patterned change has produced a substantial shift in the structure of the Canadian income security system. He concludes that on the whole the emerging post-welfare state will better serve Canada's evolving social, economic and political needs and sees little cause for continuing nostalgia over the fading universalist welfare state, which in his estimation never worked all that well.Social Policy, Income Support, Income Security, Economic Security, Welfare State, Welfare System, Social Safet Net, Welfare Policy, Social Security, Canada