COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN AND THE AGED

这项研究有两大目标。 第一是与交叉比较， 国家数据政府对儿童的支助水平 在人口老龄化的高收入国家中的老年人。 美国儿童和老年人公共项目的差异 一直是很多政治和学术争论的主题。 然而， 系统的比较证据， 缺乏人口统计学相似的国家。 比较的方法概述这 欧洲国家的公共支出模式可能会发现， 各国在儿童和老年人的公共支助方面存在差异， 提供一个框架，使美国的具体经验可以 被理解 第二个目标是研究 人口和政治结构对老年人公共政策的影响 收入的民主国家。 研究中要检验的一个论点是， 在某些制度条件下，政府增加而不是 减少向年轻人的转移，以应对人口老龄化。 的 目标是通过多变量分析确定社会条件 在公共政策中促进代际团结，而不是 年龄或年龄竞争。 通过比较数据，研究 将研究国家政治背景如何塑造 人口、政治和社会变化对基于年龄的公共政策的影响。 研究结果可用于解决有关来源的理论争论 美国年轻人和老年人地位的变化。 为了实现这些总体目标，该项目将每年收集时间 18个发达工业民主国家的直接和间接 (i.e.,转移性支出和各种应享权利 主要针对年轻人和老年人的节目。 最重要的两 基于年龄的计划--养老金和家庭津贴--将被衡量 在最详细的，但福利的形式免税，教育 此外，还将审查支助和社会援助。 进一步的数据 国家的人口、社会、经济和政治特征 将被收集。 通过详细的措施，该项目将 描述2000年青年人和老年人相对支出水平的趋势， 比现在更详细。 它还将分析结构 通过模拟特定环境， 在人口和经济发展的影响下， 政治变革

This study has two broad objectives. The first is to compare with cross- national data the level of government support for children relative to the elderly among high income nations with aging populations. Differences in public programs for children and the elderly in the U.S. have been the subject of much political and scholarly debate. Yet, systematic comparative evidence on the experience of economically and demographically similar nations is lacking. A comparative overview of patterns of public spending in European nations may identify cross- national divergence in public support of children and the elderly, and provide a framework from which the particular experience in the U.S. can be understood. The second objective is to examine the impact of demographic and political structures on age-based public policies in high income democracies. A thesis to be tested in the study is that under certain institutional conditions, governments increase rather than decrease transfers to the young in response to population aging. The goal is to identify through multivariate analysis the societal conditions that promote generational solidarity in public policy rather than generational or age competition. Using comparative data, then, the study will examine how national political contexts shape the impact of demographic, political, and social change on age-based public policies. The results can be used to address theoretical debates over the sources of changes in the status of the young and old in the U.S. To reach these general objectives, the project will gather annual time series data for 18 advanced industrial democracies on direct and indirect (i.e., tax expenditure) transfer spending and entitlements for a variety of programs aimed primarily at the young and old. The two most important age-based programs - pensions and family allowances - are to be measured in most detail, but benefits in the form of tax allowances, educational support, and social assistance will be examined as well. Further data on national demographic, social, economic, and political characteristics are to be gathered. With the detailed measures, the project will describe the trends in relative spending levels for the young and old in more detail than currently exists. It will also analyze the structural determinants of age-based spending by modelling context-specific political effects across nations in the impact of demographic and political change.