Comparative social protection systems

Teacher(s)

Marchal Sarah; Merla Laura; Vanderborght Yannick;

Language

English

Main themes

An examination of various models: universality or professionalisation, insurance-assistance, individualisation-household, funding, and management. - A comparative analysis of the macro-economic and macro-social elements of systems: public finances, deduc-tions and re-distribution, consumption, and populations covered. - A comparative analysis of methods of financing and management, and of the revenue and expenditure of typi-cal systems. - A comparative analysis of the main policies and mechanisms of social protection: replace income and guaran-tees in respect of health, old age, family and disability.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	- To help students understand the various models of social protection. - To help them understand the key elements of 'typical' models of social protection in Europe. - To help them identify, and make a comparative analysis of, the main differences between these models, and their specific effects.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Content

The main aim of this course is to give an extensive overview of the comparative literature about contemporary welfare states in developed countries. This will be done through:

• An examination of contributory vs. noncontributory, universality vs. targeting, insurance vs. assistance, individualization vs. household-based, etc.
• A comparative analysis of the macroeconomic and macro-social components of social protection systems: public finances, taxation and redistribution, consumption, and populations covered.
• A comparative analysis of methods of financing and management, and of the revenue and expenditure of the main systems.
• A comparative analysis of the main policies and mechanisms of social protection: unemployement, social assistance, health care, oldage pensions, family and disability, etc.
• An examination of new trends (such as social investment) and prospective ideas (such as the unconditional basic income).
• A short discussion of the social dimension of European integration

Teaching methods

Face-to-face, first term, 30 hours of theory. The class is given in English, with a powerpoint presentation. Students also have to complete assigned readings.

Evaluation methods

The written examination includes questions on the course material itself, as well as questions on the assigned readings.

Other information

This course forms part of a study programme that takes place in the evenings and on Saturday mornings.
Students will have access to a syllabus which includes summaries of the lessons, as well as to a PDF version of the powerpoint presentation. Assigned readings will be made available through Moodle.

Online resources

Online resources for this course are available via Moodle.

Bibliography

Les références bibliographiques utiles sont reprises dans le syllabus du cours.
References for further reading are made available in the syllabus.

Faculty or entity

TRAV