Across the EU, populations are shrinking and ageing. An increasing burden is being placed on a smaller working population to generate the taxes required for pensions and care costs. Welfare states are weakening in many countries and across Europe, households are being increasingly expected to plan for their retirement and future care needs within this risky environment. At the same time, the proportion of people buying their own home in most countries has risen, so that some two-thirds of ...

The implications of population ageing have long concerned politicians, policy makers and governmental and non-governmental organizations in the welfare states of Europe. However, an ageing workforce is increasingly a matter of concern for the developed and fast-developing countries of Asia. Japan leads the field in this respect on account of the speed of its postwar economic development. But the little tigers of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are poised to catch up, and Malay...

This title was first published in 2000: An exploration of the ways in which social welfare in two countries, half a world apart, may have similarities. Through identification of the differences and similarities of social welfare in Britain and Malaysia, the editors hope that we may be able to learn from one another as well as to contribute to debates both in our countries about how to respond to globalization and about global social policy. Accordingly, the contributors arranged themselves...

Social protection is fast becoming an important theme in development policy. This book examines the political processes shaping social protection policies; compares the key conceptual frameworks available for analyzing social protection; and provides a comparative discussion on social protection policies focused on the poor and the poorest.

There is growing dissatisfaction with the economic policies advocated by the IMF and other international financial institutions - policies that have often resulted in stagnating growth, crises, and recessions for client countries. This book presents an alternative to "Washington Consensus" neo-liberal economic policies by showing that both macro-economic and liberalization policy must be sensitive to the particular circumstances of developing countries. One-size-fits-all policy prescriptio...

A century ago, the average Canadian lifespan was 60; today, we can expect to live 20 years longer than that. And recent generations have witnessed other major social shifts in Canada, from women entering the workforce to alterations in traditional career patterns, from evolutions in the once-inviolable nuclear family to the decline of employer pension schemes. As the arc of our lives continues to change, so too will the experience of our retirement. An important factor in the changing real...

The book aims to give non-economists a detailed understanding of how macroeconomic policy works in modern economies, and the issues it faces. The world has recently been through a huge economic crisis and thinking people everywhere have reason to wonder whether something is not seriously wrong with the policy regimes underlying these dramatic events in the major economies, and whether changes should be made. The author reviews the history of the successive regimes tried and found wanting i...

China's economic growth has transformed the country from one of the poorest in the world to its second largest economy. Understanding the drivers of growth remains elusive as the country is affected by both its transition from central planning and the challenges of a developing country. This book examines the main themes of growth, offering micro level evidence to shed light on the macro drivers of the economy. It also focuses on law and informal institutions of the economy to highlight th...

Europe is suffering from a bipolar economic disorder. Financial journalists divide the continent into two groups of nations - centre and periphery - not by geography but by credit rating. Europe on the Brink is a critical investigation of the root causes of this sovereign debt crisis, and the often misguided policy choices made to resolve it.Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, together with two other finance experts, compares debt contagion in Europe with regional financial crises else...

The 2007-09 global financial crisis was predictable and avoidable but American and British regulators chose not to intervene. They failed to enforce legislation or implement their own policies because of an Anglo-American “regulatory culture” of non-intervention that came to dominate financial regulation worldwide. Hong Kong — the international financial centre of an increasingly prosperous China — defied world opinion and made stability its priority, even where that meant extensive govern...

In June 2016, the United Kingdom shocked the world by voting to leave the European Union. As this book reveals, the historic vote for Brexit marked the culmination of trends in domestic politics and in the UK's relationship with the EU that have been building over many years. Drawing on a wealth of survey evidence collected over more than ten years, this book explains why most people decided to ignore much of the national and international community and vote for Brexit. Drawing on past res...

The activities of central banks are relevant to everyone in society. This book starts by considering how and why in general central banks evolved and specifically the special aspects of the contribution of the Northern European Central Banking Tradition. With that foundation, the book will then turn to a series of contemporary themes. Firstly, this book looks at independence, how central banks can actually influence their respective economies, goals, responsibilities and governance.