From Social Insurance to Social Assistance
In attempting to establish a social security system that would function to smooth the transition from a planned to market economy, the government of China has, for most of the time in the past decades, focused its efforts on setting up social insurance programs in the urban areas. Along with the emergence of urban poverty since the mid 1990s, the emphasis of the government has shifted to means-tested social assistance programs as the major means to combat poverty and maintain social stability. However, with the absence of more equitable social and economic policies that can protect people against the many risks associated with a market economy, the role of social assistance is very limited.
OECD SOCIAL, EMPLOYMENT AND MIGRATION WORKING PAPERS Social Assistance Policy Development and the Provision of a Decent Level of Income in Selected OECD Countries
SUMMARY 1. In many OECD countries, social assistance policy has a focus on promoting independence of claimants through social help and employment support policies. Nevertheless, financial support provided to address the immediate needs of households remains an important plank of social assistance policy. How is the level of such support determined in OECD countries? Do countries use measures reflecting a ﬁbasket of goodsﬂ that is considered to provide a minimum subsistence level, or a somewhat more generous standard of living? Are benefits increased automatically, along mechanisms triggered automatically by observable changes in price levels, or are benefit payment rates revised regularly in view of (minimum) wage developments, trends in the consumer price index or the changing state of public budgets? 2. These questions were among the issues discussed at the International Symposium on the Formulation of Standards for Urban Subsistence Security in China in June 2006, as organized by the German Technical Co-operation Institution, GTZ, on request of the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs. This paper, which was prepared for the symposium tries to illustrate the different ways of setting and adjusting social assistance payment rates in selected OECD countries. The paper has a focus on rate setting mechanisms in Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. 3. The paper starts with a brief look at social expenditure patterns and the importance of different social policy areas, in particular the role of social assistance policy within social protection systems. It then looks at the objectives of social assistance policy and considers payment-rates in terms of adequacy, financial incentives to work, addressing issues as budget standards, indexation methods and the policy approach towards specific client groups. Also, the study briefly highlights Chinese public expenditure issues more generally and presents some key indicators on the dynamics of ageing populations which will have consequences for future social expenditure trends in China.
Effect of superficial gas velocity on the particle temperature distribution in a fluidized bed with heat production
The heat transfer behavior of particles and gas in an olefin polymerization fluidized bed was numerically analyzed using an in-house developed 3-D computational fluid dynamics discrete element model (CFD-DEM). First the implementation of the model was verified by comparing simulation results with analytical results. A constant volumetric heat production rate was implemented in the particle energy equation to mimic the heat production due to the polymerization reaction. It was found that the probability density function (PDF) of the particle temperature becomes more homogeneous with increasing superficial gas velocity. Furthermore, instantaneous snapshots of the thermal driving force (the difference between the single particle temperature and bed-average gas temperature, Tp− ) for different heat production rates provide detailed insight in the particle temperature distribution inside the fluidized bed. The time- and bed-averaged particle convective heat transfer coefficient, which was calculated by Gunn׳s correlation, was found to be independent of the superficial gas velocity. This is explained by the fact that the relative velocity of gas and particles in the emulsion phase, where most of the particles and gas interact, is hardly influenced when increasing the gas superficial velocity. From the spatial distribution of Nusselt number, it becomes apparent that the high heat transfer regions are found in the wake of rising bubbles, whereas low heat transfer rates are found in the clouds of the bubbles.