Institutions whose goal is to help those at the margins have been a feature of social life for centuries. Today, social assistance institutions have integration and encouragement as their goal. They seek to avoid exclusion and stigmatisation.Poverty can tear at the fabric of society. However,...

Social policy is often disparaged as being a burden on society, but this book shows that well-designed social protection can be an asset that is critical for sustaining social development. To fulfill its potential, however, social protection now needs to recognise new needs of individuals and...

This study catalogues the treatment of farmers within the tax and social security systems of a large number of OECD countries – knowledge of which has been very scarce up to now. The conceptual basis for deciding what constitutes a concession conferring financial benefit to the farmer is...

This seminar proceedings examines whether the current designs of social protection systems in OECD societies are well-suited to contemporary life-course realities. It looks in detail at recent policy developments in OECD countries to develop more flexible time-based social policies, as well as...

Romania, one of the poorest nations in Europe, faces critical challenges in its efforts to implement labour market and social programmes similar to those found in more developed countries. Poverty is widespread and the economy requires major restructuring while a substantial number of households...

The Asian financial crisis and its social aftermath triggered a fundamental reappraisal of the role of social protection in Asia. Existing social protection programmes in many Asian countries were found to be insufficient and not well designed. It is now widely agreed that considerable effort is...

This book examines a wide array of labour market and social protection programmes aimed at people with disabilities and analyses the relationship between policies and outcomes across twenty OECD countries.

This review analyses the key issues facing each of the Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - given its specific economic and social trends. It provides detailed information and policy recommendations in five topical areas: labour law; "active" and "passive" labour market policies;...

This book explores the interface between environmental and social elements of water pricing policies in OECD countries. It focuses on affordability of water services and social measures aimed at resolving these affordability problems. The book considers how environmental and social safeguards...