Suchergebnisse

Yang Y, Williamson JB, Shen C. Social security for China's rural aged: a proposal based on a universal non‐contributory pensionInt J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 236–245 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare.China's relative lack of social security coverage for rural elders exacerbates the already severe rural–urban economic disparity, slows the rate of rural poverty reduction, and raises social justice concerns. Our analysis draws on evidence from a number of sources including interviews with experts on China, Chinese government documents, Chinese newspaper accounts, and other sources from other countries. Based on our analysis of what has been tried in other countries and the current situation in rural China, we offer some suggestions for Chinese policy makers. We suggest that, for rural China, a universal non‐contributory old‐age pension deserves serious consideration, and refer to our proposed model as a Rural Old‐Age Social Pension. It will reduce the level of poverty in rural areas and the degree of income inequality between rural and urban areas while simultaneously promoting social and political stability.

Faced with concerns about how to finance pensions for present and particularly future retirees, Chinese policy makers concluded that their traditional defined benefit pension scheme was not going to be sustainable. They, like pension policy makers around the world, have been looking for alternatives and have tentatively decided to go with a multi-pillar scheme that includes a major funded defined contribution pillar. We question the wisdom of that choice and explore two alternatives, one for urban workers based on the notional defined contribution (NDC) model and one for rural workers based on the universal social pension model.

Rapid industrialization and urbanization in China have led to a rapid increase in the number of brownfields, however there is a lack of identification of the spatial extent of brownfields in cities and accurate assessment of brownfield redevelopment. Based on the relationship between brownfields and urban complex ecosystems, this paper defines brownfields in China and constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system including socio-economic and ecological subsystems. Using Wuhu City as empirical evidence, 19 brownfields were identified using remote sensing data and field surveys. Based on the detection of soil contaminants in brownfields, a fuzzy integrated evaluation method was used to suggest their redevelopment direction. It is found that the government's planned land use types and the brownfield redevelopment evaluation results match to a large extent, but social, economic and ecological environmental factors should be more fully considered. At the same time, the identification and redevelopment of brownfield sites in the city as a whole need to be carried out by the government's professional forces in order to obtain more effective and scientific conclusions.