Neil Gilbert - Targeting Social Benefits: International Perspectives and Trends

Edited by Neil Gilbert

International Social Security Series
Volume 1

The International Social Security Association (ISSA) was founded in 1927. It is a nonprofit international organization bringing together institutions and administrative bodies from countries all over the world dealing with all forms of compulsory social protection. The objective of the ISSA is to cooperate at the international level, in the promotion and development of social security throughout the world, primarily by improving techniques and administration in order to advance peoples social and economic conditions on the basis of social justice.

The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies, and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Social Security Association of the opinions expressed by them.

First published 2001 by Transaction Publishers

Published 2017 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Copyright 2001 by Taylor & Francis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 99-055950

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Targeting social benefits : international perspectives and trends / edited by Neil Gilbert.
p. cm.(International social security ; v. 1)
Originally published: New York : Harper & Row, 1971.
In cooperation with the International Social Security Association.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7658-0625-8 (pbk. : acid-free paper)
1. Public welfareCase studies. 2. Welfare stateCase studies. 3. Social policyCase studies. I. Gilbert, Neil 1940-II. International Social Security Association. III. Series.

HV51.T37 2000
361dc21

99-055950
CIP

ISBN 13: 978-0-7658-0625-3 (pbk)

ROSS MACKAY

PIET K. KEIZER

KEN JUDGE

ABRAHAM DORON

JILL DUERR BERRICK

MAURIZIO FERRERA

SVEN HORT

NEIL GILBERT

In cooperation with the
International Social Security Association (ISSA)
Neil Gilbert, Series Editor

Targeting Social Benefits:
International Perspectives and Trends
Neil Gilbert, editor

Social Security at the Dawn of the
21st Century: Topical Issues and New Approaches
Dalmer D. Hoskins, Donate Dobbemack, and
Christiane Kuptsch, editors

Activating the Unemployed: A Comparative
Appraisal of Work-Oriented Policies
Neil Gilbert and Rebecca Van Voorhis, editors

Recent Health Policy Innovations in
Social Security
Aviva Ron and Xenia Scheil-Adlung, editors

Who Returns to Work and Why: A Six-Country
Study on Work Incapacity and Reintegration
Frank S. Bloch and Rienk Prins, editors

This book is the outgrowth of a cross-national project on trends and methods in targeting social welfare benefits sponsored by the International Social Security Association in collaboration with the Center for Comparative Study of Family Welfare and Poverty at the School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley. Generous support for various stages of this project was provided from several sources. I owe special gratitude to the family members who established the Milton and Gertrude Chernin Chair in Social Services and Social Welfare, which allowed me the time and resources to plan this project while on sabbatical in 1997 as a visiting scholar at the International Social Security Association (ISSA). The ISSA facilitated efforts to organize the research team for this study and furnished support, which was supplemented by a foundation grant, for members of this group to meet and discuss the project in 1998, during the Second International Research Conference on Social Security in Jerusalem. Two special sessions of the conference were devoted to this project, at which members of the research team presented their initial findings.

As the first volume in the International Social Security Series, which is being published in cooperation with the International Social Security Association, this project benefited from the spirited discourse and valuable insights of my colleagues at the ISSA. Special thanks are due to Dalmer Hoskins for his steadfast support and sensitive guidance, without which this project would not have come to fruition; my work at ISSA profited from the intellectual stimulation and good advice of Warren McGillivray and Robert Bedard; much appreciation is owed to Roland Sigg, who led the ISSA research unit in helping to plan the project and organize the research meeting; and Xenia Scheil-Adlung, Mike Gautrey, and Donate Dobbemack were there when needed to offer friendly suggestions. Although the project was well served by their encouragement and counsel, it should be noted that the ISSA bears no responsibility for any of the results and interpretations reported in this book, which rests entirely with the contributors.

An edited volume of this sort is a collaborative work that heavily relies on the cooperation of all involved. It has been a delight working with a research group of such lively intelligence and good cheer. I am grateful to my Berkeley colleagues, Dean Jim Midgley, Assistant Dean for Administration Jim Steele, and Jill Duerr Berrick for their animated discourse on academic matters and on-going support of the Center for Comparative Study of Family Welfare and Poverty. Finally, the meticulous care that Molly Kaplowitz s invested in the preparation of the manuscript is gratefully acknowledged.

Jill Deurr Berrick is Associate Adjunct Professor and Director of the Center for Social Service Research at the School of Social Welfare, U.C. Berkeley.

Abraham Doron is Professor at the Paul Berwald School of Social Work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His main field of research is social security policy in Israel and in cross-national comparative perspective. His recent publications include In Defense of Universality [(Hebrew), Magnes Press, Jerusalem].

Maurizio Ferrera is Professor of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Pavia. In 1998-99 he was co-director of the European Forum on Recasting the Welfare State at the European University Institute in Florence. He has written several articles in English on Italian and comparative social policy. His most recent book in Italian is Le trappole del welfare (Bologna, II Mulino, 1998).

Neil Gilbert is Chernin Professor of Social Services and Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley and Director of the Center for Comparative Study of Family Welfare and Poverty.