This article analyses the pre-reform Polish healthcare system, the theory of the recent reform, the early experiences, and the likely future developments. The reform aims to preserve a state-guaranteed egalitarian healthcare system while ensuring optimal use of resources by the introduction of market-type mechanisms. These mechanisms cannot function as intended while sub-national governments, which have little incentive to support restructuring, remain a vital part of the system. An even greater impediment to the proper functioning of the system is the practice of informal payments. Therefore, smaller than expected gains in efficiency and equity, together with demographic and technological pressures on health costs and a political and economic climate which is unlikely to deliver large increases in public spending, are likely to result in a more privatised and unequal health system than is intended.

The paper examines social protection for older people in three middle-income countries: Argentina, Thailand and South Africa. It focuses on income support, health services and the provision of care, as well as considering the effects of these policies on social exclusion. The paper locates each country's different social protection programmes within a broader welfare regime model. It finds an interesting variety of approaches to pension and health provision, which range from generous universalism to minimal means-testing. However, it finds much less innovation in areas such as long-term care and intermediary services. The paper challenges generalisations about old age social protection in developing countries, and argues that the different experiences of these three countries could provide useful lessons for social protection in many parts of the world.

Which societies are prone to be compliant with tax laws? Who is willing to pay more for social solidarity? Based on recent surveys in Argentina and Chile, this research paper contrasts two similar countries that show remarkable differences in tax compliance and commitment to social policies. The analysis of the data supports the hypothesis that social variables associated with trust and legitimacy have an independent effect on social solidarity. By extending standard economic models, I argue that paying taxes is also partially contingent on social values, and on the perceived institutional performance of the public sector.

The triumph of George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election is further evidence of the waning viability of the American welfare state. Since 1980 various strains of conservatism have vied for control of domestic policy through the Republican party, the most recent variant being ‘compassionate conservatism’. Democrats have responded by disavowing their liberal heritage and moving toward the centre. This reflects the replacement of a ‘social model’ with an ‘economic model’ for social policy. The Left can be rejuvenated by adopting three themes for domestic policy: mobility, empowerment and restructuring. These are consistent with the ‘third way’ in social policy, as centrists have advocated in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Contents

1 Social security and income maintenance

2 Health

3 Education

4 Housing and environment

5 Personal social services

6 Law and the treatment of the offender

7 Unemployment and the labour market

8 Race relations

9 The voluntary sector

10 Government

11 Gender

12 Demography

Contents

1 Social security and income maintenance

2 Health (formerly Health care)

3 Education

4 Housing and environment

5 Personal social services

6 Law and the treatment of the offender

7 Unemployment and the labour market

8 Race relations

9 The voluntary sector

10 Government (formerly Local government)

11 Gender

12 Demography

1 Social security and income maintenance

2 Health

3 Education

4 Housing and environment

5 Personal social services

6 Law and the treatment of the offender

7 Unemployment and the labour market

8 Race relations

9 Voluntary sector

10 Government

11 Gender and sexuality

12 Demography

Contents

1 Social security and income maintenance

2 Health

3 Education

4 Housing and environment

5 Personal social services

6 Law and the treatment of the offender

7 Unemployment and the labour market

8 Race relations

9 The voluntary sector

10 Government

11 Gender and sexuality

12 Demography

David Reisman, Richard Titmuss: Welfare and Society (2nd edn), Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001, vii+307 pp., £50.00.

Peter Alcock, Howard Glennerster, Ann Oakley & Adrian Sinfield (eds.), Welfare and Well-Being: Richard Titmuss's Contribution to Social Policy, Bristol: Policy, 2001, vi+249 pp., £16.99 pbk.