Browsing by Author "Kruger, Johannes Jacob"

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    State provision of social security : some theoretical, comparative and historical perspectives with reference to South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1992-12) Kruger, Johannes Jacob; Van der Berg, Servaas; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Economics.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Societies are imaginative when setting up non-marl\et responses to deal v1ith insecurity and deprivation. The result is that there are many different services (such as income support, personal welfare services, education, health care and housing) catering for the very general objective of providing security. In addition, a variety of institutions can, and do, provide these services. While the traditional theory of public goods and e::...1ernalities does not provide clear justification for increased state provision of these services (in contrast to market, family, community and employer provision), increased state provision and coordination do seem to be a clear trend both from historical and comparative perspectives. Furthermore, this increased role of the state can be interpreted as representing a reassignment of the traditional roles of other institutions (noted above) to the state. The above trend can be rationalized on economic grounds as being the result of the changing nature of societies which affects the viability of different institutions In the provision of social services. Economic devt~lopment affects the cost of production of social services by different institutions differently. Taking a more in depth view of the costs of production, there are grounds to believe that the comparative advantage of the state in the provision of these_ services grows- a-s economic development takes place. "Nationalization" of the provision of services providing social security as economic development takes place can thus be seen as a stylized fact of economic development, and as representing an adjustment which can be efficiency enhancing. lt is from this perspective that the issue of the affordabiiity of increased social provision in developing countries should be approached. The South African experience provides further evidence of the increasing pressures, over time, for greater state provision of social security. The experience also, how . .:wer, furnishes examples of how in a specific situation these forces can be obstructed by speciric political institutions and how social policy can fail to adjust to changing circumstances. This resulted in the current unequal access to social services, the inequality of benefit levels and the incomplete coverage of risks faced by people in the South African economy. In spite of the incompleteness of the South African social safety net and the inequality which it reflects, fiscal and macroeconomic constraints seem to limit the possibilities for eAtending the safety net and for making it more just These constraints imply, and have resultoo in, the lowering of benefits to the previously privileged _;-( and an adjustment in the nature of benefits, leading to a focus on lower cost services which offer high rates of return. Current demands and envisaged changes in the spht?re of social policy, especially those surrounding a national pension system with universal coverage and G:ยท.tensive speci31 employm.3nt programmes, however, indicate the strength of the forces making for increase:d "nationali:ation" of income support and other social services. How the perceived fiscal constraints can be reconciled with the alleged rationality of a growing role for the South African state in social provision remains a question. The very general response of this study needs to be evaluated by looking in more d.:.tail at specific programmes and specific aspects of insecurity.