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Article: Optimal Strategies for Reducing Number of People in the Social Security System

TitleOptimal Strategies for Reducing Number of People in the Social Security System
Authors
Keywordspoverty rate
social security system
youth mobility
effectiveness
Issue Date2020
PublisherMolecular Diversity Preservation International. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.mdpi.org/ijerph
Citation
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2020, v. 17, p. article no. 1305 How to Cite?
AbstractProviding social security to the population in need has become a major expenditure for many governments. Reducing the number of dependents in the social security system and maintaining a dynamic economically active population is a high priority concern for policymakers. A good understanding of the dynamics of the social security system—specifically, who enters and who exits the system—would be helpful for formulating effective interventions. Here, we made use of the data of Hong Kong’s Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA), which is currently a basic welfare scheme in Hong Kong that provides supplementary payments to households that cannot support themselves financially. We proposed a stochastic model to examine the in- and out- movement in the CSSA scheme and conducted elasticity analyses. The elasticity analyses allowed us to identify the potential target groups of people that would lead to the largest reduction in the number of the CSSA recipients in the system. This analytical method can also reveal whether policies would be more effective in preventing people from entering the CSSA system or helping them leave the CSSA scheme. Our analyses suggest that targeting those aged 30–49 with children would have the largest impact. Additionally, we found that policies that aim to prevent this group from entering the CSSA system would be more effective in reducing the number of CSSA recipients compared with policies that aim to help them exit. In contrast, for the younger age group of 10–29, policies that help them leave CSSA would be more effective than policies that prevent them from entering CSSA. Providing employment for those unemployed in this younger group would be more effective. The results indicate that by tailoring measures to specific subgroups, the overall number of CSSA recipients would be reduced, thereby improving the efficiency of Hong Kong’s social security system, which has accounted for more than 16.5% of Hong Kong government expenditure in 2018, amounting to more than HKD 92 billion.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/288156
ISSN
2019 Impact Factor: 2.849
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.808
PubMed Central ID
ISI Accession Number ID

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorYip, P-
dc.contributor.authorChen, M-
dc.contributor.authorSo, BK-
dc.contributor.authorLam, KF-
dc.contributor.authorWat, KP-
dc.date.accessioned2020-10-05T12:08:41Z-
dc.date.available2020-10-05T12:08:41Z-
dc.date.issued2020-
dc.identifier.citationInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2020, v. 17, p. article no. 1305-
dc.identifier.issn1661-7827-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/288156-
dc.description.abstractProviding social security to the population in need has become a major expenditure for many governments. Reducing the number of dependents in the social security system and maintaining a dynamic economically active population is a high priority concern for policymakers. A good understanding of the dynamics of the social security system—specifically, who enters and who exits the system—would be helpful for formulating effective interventions. Here, we made use of the data of Hong Kong’s Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA), which is currently a basic welfare scheme in Hong Kong that provides supplementary payments to households that cannot support themselves financially. We proposed a stochastic model to examine the in- and out- movement in the CSSA scheme and conducted elasticity analyses. The elasticity analyses allowed us to identify the potential target groups of people that would lead to the largest reduction in the number of the CSSA recipients in the system. This analytical method can also reveal whether policies would be more effective in preventing people from entering the CSSA system or helping them leave the CSSA scheme. Our analyses suggest that targeting those aged 30–49 with children would have the largest impact. Additionally, we found that policies that aim to prevent this group from entering the CSSA system would be more effective in reducing the number of CSSA recipients compared with policies that aim to help them exit. In contrast, for the younger age group of 10–29, policies that help them leave CSSA would be more effective than policies that prevent them from entering CSSA. Providing employment for those unemployed in this younger group would be more effective. The results indicate that by tailoring measures to specific subgroups, the overall number of CSSA recipients would be reduced, thereby improving the efficiency of Hong Kong’s social security system, which has accounted for more than 16.5% of Hong Kong government expenditure in 2018, amounting to more than HKD 92 billion.-
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherMolecular Diversity Preservation International. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.mdpi.org/ijerph-
dc.relation.ispartofInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health-
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.-
dc.subjectpoverty rate-
dc.subjectsocial security system-
dc.subjectyouth mobility-
dc.subjecteffectiveness-
dc.titleOptimal Strategies for Reducing Number of People in the Social Security System-
dc.typeArticle-
dc.identifier.emailYip, P: sfpyip@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.emailLam, KF: hrntlkf@hkucc.hku.hk-
dc.identifier.emailWat, KP: watkp@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.authorityYip, P=rp00596-
dc.identifier.authorityLam, KF=rp00718-
dc.description.naturepublished_or_final_version-
dc.identifier.doi10.3390/ijerph17041305-
dc.identifier.pmid32085532-
dc.identifier.pmcidPMC7068389-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-85079717530-
dc.identifier.hkuros314802-
dc.identifier.volume17-
dc.identifier.spagearticle no. 1305-
dc.identifier.epagearticle no. 1305-
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000522388500181-
dc.publisher.placeSwitzerland-
dc.identifier.issnl1660-4601-

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