27 - 29 APRIL 2000
LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE, BELGIUM
Social Security in Asia and Europe
The objectives of the conference, 'Building Social Safety Nets for Asian Societies in Transition', was to bring together specialists on social security from Asia and Western Europe to describe the main characteristics of the social security institutions within their societies and to identify the main policy in the coming years. Specific emphasis was reserved for pension systems in Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, India, Taiwan, Hong-Kong, China, Belgium, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom.
By RONALD ANDERSON
As the participants and audience included economists, demographers, political scientists, and sociologists, the conference certainly achieved its objective of bringing together a group of scholars from countries representing a wide range of experiences. While the discussion was quite broad, interest mostly revolved around issues of pension system reform. One issue that came out very clearly is that the dire need for Asian experts to gain understanding of what might be called the 'continental European' point-of-view on the subject, for most Asian experts have already been heavily exposed to a dominant view represented by North American academics and multi-lateral institutions.To begin with the European contributions, they demonstrated the considerable variations existing within Europe and, meanwhile, made it clear that the pension systems have been designed to achieve egalitarian distribution objectives. Thus, reforms that aim at building up a defined contributions system, which include possibilities for additional retirement income, have been met with a certain amount of suspicion that such reforms would substantially reduce the effectiveness of meeting egalitarian ends.
On the Asian side, there was a general recognition that, especially in societies where major transitions are underway, there was a concern that the publically-managed defined benefits system, which assure for the mere minimum level of support for the elderly, will be particularly weak. In a social context of rapid urbanization and increased job market mobility, sometimes at the international level, this system risks leaving large segments of the population finding themselves without effective coverage for old age.
The absolute importance of the social security system and the obvious division surrounding the issue had participants of the conference express their belief that the issues raised should be pursued in further work. In particular, it is hoped that the conference papers will be remodelled into a volume entitled, Pensions and Social Safety in Asia: Evaluation and prospect in light of European experience.
The conference was funded by: The European Science Foundation, Asia Committee.
Organizers: Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES) and Louvain Euroasia-Center for Asian Studies, Université Catholique de Louvain; Belgium
Professor Ronald Anderson, IRES, Université Catholique de Louvain
E-mail: anderson@ires.ucl.ac.be