Well-being and Social Policy

Well-being and Social Policy is a new peer-reviewed academic publication that is jointly coordinated by the CISS/UNDP/UIA. It is widely distributed in the American Continent among policy decision-makers and researches, and is published in both, English and Spanish, listed in journal indexes. The journal is directed towards academics, students, and decision-makers of the public sector who are not necessarily specialists in the field. For more information on the journal and its content, click here.
Here are a summary of the works published in the journal’s latest issue.


Economic Polarization and Governability in Mexico.
Rodolfo de la Torre

In this work the author intends to appraise alternative hypothesis about the origins of recent social revolt in Mexico. He shows that it is not clear that a severe rise in poverty preceded the origins of violent conflict but social polarization. Therefore, government attempts to deactivate the economic factors that lead to social unrest did not necessarily upgrade poverty-reduction policies.

Is Age-Grade Distortion in Brazil’s Primary Public Education System More Closely Associated to School Infrastructure or to Family Characteristics?
Rosangela Maria Pontili and Ana Lúcia Kassouf

This paper suggests an assessment of the impact that school infrastructure and family characteristics have on age-grade distortions in primary education in Brazil. Interaction between family characteristics and school infrastructure variables were explored to determine the most effective ways to retain students and ensure student promotions. Simulations were also made to assess the impact of enhancing school quality versus improving the socioeconomic status of families on lagging students. Results showed that Sao Paulo students from families headed by less educated heads of households and/or low income families would benefit more from public policies oriented towards improving school infrastructure.


Scale Economies in the Pension Fund Managers Industry in Mexico: A Semi Parametric Approach.
Nelly Aguilera and César Velázquez

In this paper the authors argue that previous studies that have found economies of scale in the case of Mexico were based on cost curves that were empirically not well specified. Authors estimate a semi parametric cost curve which allows them to conclude that if there exists economies of scale, minimum efficient scales are low, being reached by almost all PFM.


Retirement Incentives: Pension Wealth, Accrual and Implicit Tax.
Bernardo Lanza Queiroz

In this work the author estimates social security financial incentives for early retirement using contemporary techniques developed in economics and compares these estimates to those estimated for developed countries. He finds that implicit tax on continued work increases with age and amounts to over one-third of an individual potential earnings at age sixty-five.