Preface; List of Contributors; Part I: Europe and the US; 1. Europe's (Halfway) Social Investment Turn; Introduction; Welfare States Under Siege; Changing Welfare Regimes; Nordic "Dual Earner" Normalization; Reversing the Continental "Welfare Without Work" Syndrome; Southern Welfare Modernization Progress and Setbacks; Anglo-Irish 'Third Ways'; Welfare System Transformation in Europe's New Member States; Toward Social Investment?; From Fighting Unemployment to Raising Employment over the Life Course; Toward Capacitating Social Services.

From Social Insurance to (Affordable) Fiscal FinancingSocial Investment Futures; Social Investment Lessons for China; References; 2. Shifting Reform Strategies in European Welfare States; Introduction; Retrenchment; From Retrenchment to Negotiated Reforms; Activation and the Social Investment Strategy; Dualization; Discussion and Conclusion; References; 3. The 21st Century Enabling State: Public Support for Private Responsibility in the US; Work-oriented Reforms; Welfare Reform; Unemployment Policy Reforms; Targeted Benefits: Through Income Testing; Privatization of Social Welfare.

Implications for Chinese Social PolicyReferences; Part II: Developed Economies in Asia; 4. Exploring the Japanese Welfare Experience: Toward a Model and a Framework; Japanese Welfare Experience: Two Dilemmas; The Aging Population; The Low Fertility Rate; Familism: The Peculiarity of Japan's Welfare Regime; East Asia and its Commonality of Welfare Experience; Historical Roots of the East Asian Welfare Experience; The Implications for the Future; References; 5. Social Policy in Korea: Theory and Practice; The Political/Institutional School in Explanatory Social Policy Theory.

The Development of Social Welfare PolicyThe Political Context, Political Determinants; The Politics of Social Policy; The Future of Korean Social Welfare Policy; The Current State of the Welfare State in East Asia; The Future of the Welfare State in East Asia; Comparison with Mainland China: By Way of Conclusion; References; 6. The Role of Mandatory Retirement Savings in Protecting the Aged in Singapore; Salient Features of CPF; Assessment; Conclusion and Lessons for China; References; 7. Singapore's Social Policy: Transition and Rebalancing.

Singapore and the "Productivist Welfare Capitalism"Public Housing; Health Care; Social Security and the Safety Net; Transition and Rebalancing; Discussion and Conclusion; References; 8. Social Welfare Expansion and National Health Insurance in Taiwan; Emerging Financial Crisis in Taiwan's Social Welfare System; From the Selective to the Inclusive Developmental Welfare State; Achievements and Predicament of Taiwan's Social Welfare System; Taiwan's 2G National Health Insurance Criticized by the Public; Achievements of Taiwan's National Health Insurance.

Social policy reforms driven by profound social changes have been a popular and pressing topic worldwide in recent years in both policy and academic circles. In this book, prominent social policy scholars from Europe, North America, and Asia discuss the history of social policies, compare different social development models, and analyze the challenges facing these economies'social policy reforms. The book provides comprehensive and comparative perspectives and updated data on social development and social policy reforms in the world's major economies, and particularly, in mainland China.

Print version record.

Master record variable field(s) change: 050