Retirement is being ‘reconstructed’, with the UK following the US path of abolishing mandatory retirement and increasing state pension ages. This timely book assesses prospects for work and retirement at age 65-plus in the UK and US.Part 1 explores the shifting ‘policy logics’ in both countries that increase both the need and opportunities to work past age 65. Part 2 presents an original comparative statistical analysis on the wide range of factors influencing employment at this ag...

When low-income city dwellers lack access to mainstream banking services, many end up turning to ‘fringe banks,’ such as cheque-cashers and pawnshops, for some or all of their financial transactions. This predicament of ‘financial exclusion’ – faced by those underserved by conventional financial institutions – is comprehensively examined in Jerry Buckland's powerful study, Hard Choices.The first account of the nature and causes of financial exclusion in Canada, Hard Ch...

Written under the shadow of the global financial crisis, this book charts the current shape of global finance and tries to explain why the crisis arose – and what can be done about it. Economics alone cannot fully explain how global finance operates, and why it is so crisis prone. Global Finance offers a wider approach in three key ways, by:setting markets and financial market failure in a historical contextbringing politics and culture back into the analys...

First published in 1964, this is a study of the extreme inequalities in the ownership of property, in economies across the globe. Professor Meade examines in depth the economic, demographic and social factors which lead to such inequalities. He considers a wide range of remedial policies – educational development, reformed death duties and capital taxes, demographic policies, trade union action, the socialization of property, the development of a property-owning democracy, the expansion of...

Over the last fifteen years, the deregulation of Britain's labour market has led to economic growth, employment opportunities, and a more diverse workforce: the 'fat years'. However, now as Britain faces its lean years with job cuts, rising unemployment, income insecurity, and related social strains, how can and should the government and key labour market policy makers ensure the labour market provides job opportunities and reasonable levels of social justice?The fundamental changes that h...

There are fewer people living in extreme poverty in the world today than 30 years ago. While that is an achievement, continuing progress for poor people is far from assured. Inequalities in access to key resources threaten to stall growth and poverty reduction in many places. The world's poorest have made only a small absolute gain over those 30 years. Progress has been slow against relative poverty as judged by the standards of the country and time one lives in, and a great many people in...

Why have Americans severely limited the estate and gift tax - ostensibly targeted at only the very wealthy - but greatly expanded the subsidies to low-wage workers through the Earned Income Tax Credit, now the single largest poverty program in the country? Why do people hate the property tax so much, yet seemingly revolt against it only during periods of economic change? Why are some groups of taxpayers more obedient to the tax authorities than others, even when they face the same enforcem...

Outcome in the management of public services refers to the impact of a particular public sector activity. This book provides a critical assessment of the way outcome is measured, exploring the need to balance objective and subjective forms of

Social Security forms a major area of government policy and social expenditure. Government activity in this area impacts directly on all citizens, and consequently social security policy is the focus for much debate. People are affected by social security whether by funding it through taxation, or using it when claiming unemployment or other benefits. Introduction to Social Security is an up-to-date text on this important and complex social policy issue. It provides a second intr...

Social Policy in a Cold Climate offers a data-rich, evidence-based analysis of the impact Labour and coalition government policies have had on inequality and on the delivery of services such as health, education, adult social care, housing and employment in the wake of the greatest recession of our time.The authors provide an authoritative and unflinching analysis of recent approaches to social policy and their outcomes following the financial crisis, with particular focus on pover...

This primer explains why macroeconomists need to be concerned with issues of health policy and elaborates the essential information that a macroeconomist should know in providing inputs to discussions on health sector policy. The primer illustrates how these issues and the range of appropriate policy options may differ depending on the state of development of an economy and the particular approach taken by a country in structuring its health system. The primer also highlights the appropria...

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.