Rethinking flexible welfare strategy in Hong Kong: a new direction for the East Asian welfare model?
Rethinking flexible welfare strategy in Hong Kong: a new direction for the East Asian welfare model?
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DOI：
10.1080/17516234.2012.662358
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发表时间：
2012-01-01
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
Chan, Kam Wah
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Chan, Kam Wah
20世纪90年代以来，许多东亚国家或城市在经历了经济快速增长的同时，也不得不面对日益严峻的经济形势，如20世纪90年代末的亚洲金融危机和2008/2009年的全球金融海啸。这导致对社会福利的需求不断上升，公民的不满情绪也在增加。一些亚洲国家倾向于采取特别的“灵活福利战略”，例如向公民发放短期和零敲碎打的现金补贴，降低工资税，免除财产税和其他税收。本文指出，这种灵活的福利战略不是新的创新，而是后福特主义社会中“灵活积累”战略（如大卫·哈维所描述）的延伸。灵活的福利战略很难满足国民的长期需求。在最好的情况下，它只能作为一种止痛药，暂时平息这些公民的不满。同时，它浪费资源，价格昂贵，不可持续，没有长期效果。本文呼吁对这种“灵活的福利战略”进行彻底的评估，并为面对不确定的时代制定更合适的福利战略。
Many East Asian countries or cities have experienced rapid economic growth since the 1990s, and at the same time have had to face increasingly worse economic situations such as that brought about by the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s and the global financial tsunami in 2008/2009. This creates a rising demand for social welfare and an increase in grievances among the citizens. Some Asian states tend to resort to ad hoc 'flexible welfare strategies', such as handing out short-term and piecemeal cash subsidies to their citizens, reducing salary tax and waiving property rates and taxes. This article points out that such flexible welfare strategies are not new innovations, but an extension of the 'flexible accumulation' strategy (as described by David Harvey) in the post-Fordist society. A flexible welfare strategy is unlikely to meet the long-term needs of the citizens. At best, it acts only as a painkiller that temporarily pacifies the grievances of these citizens. Meanwhile, it wastes resources and is expensive and unsustainable and has no long-term effect. This article calls for a thorough evaluation of this 'flexible welfare strategy' and development of more appropriate welfare strategies for facing the age of uncertainty.