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1 – 10 of over 96000Social security is one of the most significant political‐economic issues in America. It is loaded with controversy and is of deep concern to millions of Americans, both the…
Abstract
Social security is one of the most significant political‐economic issues in America. It is loaded with controversy and is of deep concern to millions of Americans, both the elderly, who have been receiving benefits since they became payable in the late 1930s, and also younger people, who are deeply concerned and troubled about two problems. The first has to do with the increasing costs, that is, the amount of the so‐called “contributions” being required in order to finance social security. Their second worry grows out of their decreasing confidence in the social security system. Will benefits be available to them when they reach age 65? Is the system sound? Is it bankrupt? If not now, is it likely to go broke?
The present social security system has reached a point where it has outgrown its traditional structures. The system envisaged for the future is one in which the state decides what…
Abstract
The present social security system has reached a point where it has outgrown its traditional structures. The system envisaged for the future is one in which the state decides what minimum protection everyone must receive and how much tax this entails, and in which a body representing all workers decides on how much of their income they will pay to insure themselves. Policy recommendations for restructuring social security systems in Europe should take into account the fact that social security benefits enjoy a privileged status within the context of public spending; that every country adopts a minimum level of expenditure in line with its considered minimum standard of social protection; and that greater efficiency of social security budgets should be aimed at, through rationalisation of choices, structures, means and services.
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Seyed Hadi Arabi, Mohammad Hasan Maleki and Hamed Ansari
The purpose of this study is to identify the drivers and future scenarios of Iran’s Social Security Organization.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the drivers and future scenarios of Iran’s Social Security Organization.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is applied in terms of orientation and mixed in terms of methodology. In this research, the methods of theme analysis, root definitions, fuzzy Delphi and Cocoso were used. The theoretical population is the managers and senior experts of the social security organization, and the sampling method was done in a judgmental way. The tools of data collection were interviews and questionnaires. The interview tool was used to extract the main and subdrivers of the research and develop the scenarios.
Findings
Through theme analysis, 35 subdrivers were extracted in the form of economic, sociocultural, financial and investment, policy, marketing, environmental and legal themes. Due to the large number of subdrivers, these factors were screened with fuzzy Delphi. Eleven drivers had defuzzied coefficient higher than 0.7 and were selected for final prioritization. The final drivers were prioritized with the CoCoSo technique, and the two drivers of social security holdings governance and state of government revenues had the highest priority. Based on these two drivers, four scenarios of prosperity, resilient social security, unstable development and collapse have been developed.
Originality/value
Some of the suggestions of the research are: using the capacity of FinTechs and financial startups to invest the government revenues of the organization, using digital technologies such as business intelligence for more efficient decisions and developing corporate governance in the organization.
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Cynthia M. Jackson, James J. Maroney and Timothy J. Rupert
Increased life expectancies and decreased birthrates have placed enormous financial pressure on the Social Security system. Because significant reforms are needed to ensure its…
Abstract
Increased life expectancies and decreased birthrates have placed enormous financial pressure on the Social Security system. Because significant reforms are needed to ensure its financial solvency, our study examines the acceptability of proposals to reform the system. Given the potentially divergent views suggested by prior research, we selected participants from the following four groups (1) younger black taxpayers, (2) younger white taxpayers, (3) older black taxpayers, and (4) older white taxpayers. While there was agreement among the groups on several of the proposals, in general, the differences between the generations were more pronounced than the differences between the racial groups.
Chien‐Chiang Lee and Chun‐Ping Chang
The purpose of this paper is to re‐examine the long‐run co‐movement and causal relationship between GDP and social security expenditures.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to re‐examine the long‐run co‐movement and causal relationship between GDP and social security expenditures.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses panel data unit root tests and panel cointegration tests, as well as estimation techniques appropriate for heterogeneous panels such as fully modified OLS. Data are employed on 12 Asian countries from 1972 to 2000.
Findings
The cointegration test results show strong evidence in favor of the existence of a long‐run equilibrium cointegrating relationship between GDP, capital stock and social security expenditures after allowing for heterogeneous country effects. Regarding the panel‐based error correction model and the Granger causality test, there are long‐run, bi‐directional causal linkages between social security expenditures and economic growth. In addition to the robust test, they display similar results.
Originality/value
The paper shows that in every moment, economic growth must be based in the social welfare policy contiguously, and the economic growth process can allow the social welfare policy to proceed contiguously
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the causality between social security policies and farmland reallocation in rural China.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the causality between social security policies and farmland reallocation in rural China.
Design/methodology/approach
It quantitatively analyzes the impact of each ongoing social security policy on farmland reallocation based on a data set from the 2011 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS, 2011).
Findings
The study finds that the inclination of a village farmers’ collective to reallocate farmland due to changes in the village population increased if social security policies do not effectively cover the village because farmers rely primarily on income from farmland to cover their basic living expenses. However, if social security policies provide adequate coverage, then farmers do not rely entirely on on-farm income and the likelihood of farmland reallocation decreases. Furthermore, the effectiveness of social security policies includes not only coverage but also the sufficiency of the security policies provided.
Research limitations/implications
First, the authors use only cross-sectional data in this study, which may result in biased estimation and also limit temporal examination of the impact of social security systems, farmland reallocation and related policy variables. This limitation may be especially important in China because the country is undergoing a rapid socioeconomic transition. However, the research is constrained by the available data. Furthermore, there could be endogeneity problems that are difficult to address, given the current data set. These problems could involve the impacts of village-level economic, natural and social variables, the implementation of related public policies (land development and consolidation, land expropriation, etc.) and other economic variables.
Practical implications
These findings may provide implications for related policy reform in the near future.
Originality/value
These findings may facilitate a recognition and understanding of the causality between social security policies and farmland reallocation in rural China.
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The Social Security Administration publishes a series of pamphlets and leaflets designed to distribute information about Social Security programs and policies. In general these…
Abstract
The Social Security Administration publishes a series of pamphlets and leaflets designed to distribute information about Social Security programs and policies. In general these publications are of high quality: succinct, well‐written, informative, and highly readable. Most of these publications are frequently revised, many on an annual basis.
Ferry Koster and Maria Fleischmann
Previous research leads to contrasting hypotheses about the relationship between extra effort of employees and the level of job security. According to agency theory, job security…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research leads to contrasting hypotheses about the relationship between extra effort of employees and the level of job security. According to agency theory, job security leads to lower levels of extra effort and social exchange theory argues that extra effort requires job security. The purpose of this paper is to formulate a set of hypotheses based on these theories. Besides considering them as mutually exclusive, they are integrated into a single theoretical framework that argues that both theories can apply, depending on the conditions and social context (in terms of the social security system).
Design/methodology/approach
Data from the International Social Survey Program (2005) including 22 countries from around the globe are analyzed using multilevel analysis.
Findings
The study provides evidence that social security moderates the relationship between job security and extra effort.
Originality/value
This study differs from previous research as it focuses on two sides of insecurity in the workplace and because it analyzes a large data set to include institutional factors.
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Jianqiang Hao and Hongying Dai
Security breaches have been arising issues that cast a large amount of financial losses and social problems to society and people. Little is known about how social media could be…
Abstract
Purpose
Security breaches have been arising issues that cast a large amount of financial losses and social problems to society and people. Little is known about how social media could be used a surveillance tool to track messages related to security breaches. This paper aims to fill the gap by proposing a framework in studying the social media surveillance on security breaches along with an empirical study to shed light on public attitudes and concerns.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors propose a framework for real-time monitoring of public perception to security breach events using social media metadata. Then, an empirical study was conducted on a sample of 1,13,340 related tweets collected in August 2015 on Twitter. By text mining a large number of unstructured, real-time information, the authors extracted topics, opinions and knowledge about security breaches from the general public. The time series analysis suggests significant trends for multiple topics and the results from sentiment analysis show a significant difference among topics.
Findings
The study confirms that social media monitoring provides a supplementary tool for the traditional surveys which are costly and time-consuming to track security breaches. Sentiment score and impact factors are good predictors of real-time public opinions and attitudes to security breaches. Unusual patterns/events of security breaches can be detected in the early stage, which could prevent further destruction by raising public awareness.
Research limitations/implications
The sample data were collected from a short period of time on Twitter. Future study could extend the research to a longer period of time or expand key words search to observe the sentiment trend, especially before and after large security breaches, and to track various topics across time.
Practical implications
The findings could be useful to inform public policy and guide companies responding to consumer security breaches in shaping public perception.
Originality/value
This study is the first of its kind to undertake the analysis of social media (Twitter) content and sentiment on public perception to security breaches.
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Xuan Huo and Mingang Lin
This paper aims to review the institutional evolution of China's rural social security system in the past 35 years, focusing on major policy transformations of the rural social…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the institutional evolution of China's rural social security system in the past 35 years, focusing on major policy transformations of the rural social security system in a large country, and extract the Chinese experience on developing rural social security.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper systematically reviews the evolution of rural social security system via organizing policy documents, key events and research literature on the construction of rural social security since the Reform and Opening-up.
Findings
First, institutional transformation is a profound change in China's rural social security system; second, policy transformation has taken place in the main areas of China's rural social security system, including rural endowment insurance, medical insurance and social assistance; third, the policy evolution of China's rural social security system has a unique experience in a large country.
Originality/value
China is the country with the largest rural population in the world. The process and experience of transforming the social security system in the vast rural areas of China have important value and reference significance for other developing countries.
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