Organizer: Joyce K. Kallgren, University of California, Berkeley
Chair: Elizabeth J. Perry, University of California, Berkeley
Discussants: Joyce K. Kallgren, University of California, Berkeley; Mark Selden,
SUNY, Binghampton
In their continued emphasis on sustained development, Chinese authorities have increasingly been concerned about potential social problems that may occur in the aftermath of State owned enterprise (SOE) restructuring, as well as the conditions in the proliferating joint enterprises. Discussions of the problem of unemployed workers, limited benefits available to new (contract workers), and the growing demands that can be predicted for assistance by retired workers or their aged relatives in the countryside are commonplace.
This panel addresses important components of the problem and assess results of experiments that Chinese authorities have been conducting to cope with difficulties.
Dr. Linda Wong considers the problem of unemployment insurance as a mechanism for those who have been cut adrift from their SOE. The number categorized as unemployed, though currently small, is likely to grow if the authorities really do sustain their vow of forced restructuring and improved efficiency.
At present though, emphasis is not upon unemployment but rather alternative means of assisting "redundant" workers through more effective use of neighborhood family and enterprise contributions both in the urban and rural areas. This is the major theme of the next paper which draws upon the substantial field experience of the three authors Chow, Chan and Fong, as well as the extensive ties of HKU with Civil Affairs as well as Labor Ministry officials. In essence this paper emphasizes non-state interventions during the economic transition.
Professor K. L. Tang's paper draws on Hong Kong experience based upon a statistical analysis of the costs of social spending and economic growth. It is particularly instructive because when Hong Kong reverts to China in 1997 it will formally be a part of the most rapidly developing and freewheeling part of the Chinese economy, but also because Tang's statistical analysis suggests that both American students and Chinese authorities would do well to look closely at their database information in addition to the insightful but anecdotal reports of provincial and local experiments that are so commonly part of Chinese studies.
The two discussants (Kallgren and Selden) have both worked in local communities and also participated in the training of social work doctoral students who have studied Chinese efforts. They are both familiar with other third world countries whose efforts, while similar to the Chinese experience, will be focused on smaller populations.
Social Welfare as Inhibitor of Economic Growth? A Multivariate Analysis of the
Relationship Between Economic Growth and Social Spending of Hong Kong
Kwong-leung Tang, University of Northern British Columbia
Social programs have been blasted by the neo-conservatives as inimical to economic development and modernization. Theyfurther contend that the economic success of the East Asia Newly Industrializing Countries provides empirical evidence forneoclassical theoretical claims of the modernization theory.
In essence, the modernization approach argues that laissez-faire policies, industrialization, social modernization, and political liberalization reinforce one another and produce a cycle of self-reinforcing growth and modernization. More important, neoclassical economic theory strongly predicts that governmental attempts to promote social welfare can only come at the expense of economic performance. State interference in the political economy would produce inefficiencies and hold back economic development.
Hong Kong's developmental history would appear to provide a good case study for studying the relationship between economic growth and social spending. Using a multivariate analysis, this study examines longitudinally (1966-1991) the impact of social welfare spending on economic development and finds that there is little evidence to suggest that social welfare is a hindrance. Results from this study will be of relevance to China (and the Third World) which has embarked on a market-conforming strategy and demoted social development in its growth agenda.
Indigenization and Private Initiatives of Welfare in China
Nelson Chow, Hong Kong University; Law Wai Fong, Hong Kong University; Cecilia
Chan, Hong Kong University
For over forty years, welfare provided at the work place has been the only form of social support available to Chinese urban workers and their families. Enterprise reform, especially letting go of surplus staff and plant bankruptcies, endangers the social survival of the urban work force unless non-work based social protection systems are available.
This paper evaluates existing experiments in social security and social welfare aimed at delinking employment and welfare. The institutional relationships between social welfare and the state enterprise system will be analyzed. Existing attempts to reform unemployment insurance and other forms of social security will be assessed. Focus will also be placed on the capability of community agencies, philanthropy and state welfare agencies (civil affairs departments) in taking over the welfare functions of enterprises. Our initial analysis suggests that the social insurance approach to solving the problems of labor shedding is inadequate. A notable blind spot exists in locating non-monetary alternatives. Existing agencies are still incapable of offloading the service burden from hard-pressed enterprises.