The purpose of this study is to reexamine two empirical regularities in the Japanese labor market : the constant labor share and Okun's law. The former law relates to the price of labor in the labor market while the latter is a quantity law; they represent suitable benchmarks for judging the...

The current global economic crisis has led to greater prominence for the issue of strengthening social protection systems in Asia. This paper analyzes the key factors determining and the possible avenues for strengthening social protection systems in Asia. The choice of an appropriate...

An examination of the public pension and social security schemes in Pakistan reveals that the provision of regular pensions is limited to formal sector employees only. A number of social security schemes that are operational in the public and private sectors cover a small proportion of old-age...

With a declining birthrate and an aging population, Japan is increasingly finding itself in deeper financial difficulties. Recognizing these conditions, the government is now examining a framework for maintaining fiscal sustainability, mainly at the Council of Economic and Fiscal Policy. The...

This paper reviews the development of the social security system and trends in the urban labor market in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). Despite its remarkable economic achievement, the PRC faces a difficult path before it can reform and improve its social security system and provide basic...

The paper examines the impact of recent inflation and financial shocks on the vulnerable, and explores policy design to reduce both future shocks and vulnerability to shocks. Inflation affects the typical savings cum pension portfolio and the specific consumption basket of the old, as prices of...

In the past few years, public policy towards the elderly has become an emerging policy issue for Indonesia. With one-third of all Indonesians predicted to be elderly (i.e. aged 60 years or older) in the year 2050, millions of citizens are vulnerable to old age poverty, since many of them will...

Social safety net is a measure taken by the government in order to prevent the vulnerable section of its population to fall beyond a certain level of poverty. Social safety net programmes (SSNPs) are designed to provide support for the vulnerable section of the society. With a vision to prevent...

The aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007–08 underlined the importance of maintaining fiscal space and fiscal sustainability. Even though many Asian economies implemented fiscal stimulus policies during the crisis period, their fiscal conditions generally improved rapidly...

The aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007–08 underlined the importance of maintaining fiscal space and fiscal sustainability. Even though many Asian economies implemented fiscal stimulus policies during the crisis period, their fiscal conditions generally improved rapidly...