Contenu du sommaire : Les minima sociaux en Europe : orientations actuelles et nouveaux défis

Social assistance in Europe: the European features of reform and the persistent diversity of systems (1988–2017)Social assistance is an area of social protection which is seldom analysed, which is certainly linked to the relatively minor and, in some countries, marginal financial importance of the sector. Hence, it is paradoxical that social science analyses have been so concerned with what political leaders have called the “activation” of this assistance. This can be explained by political reasons, since these leaders have been able to quite easily orchestrate controversies over the assistance to the poor. They even talk of “activating the poor”, whereas in general only things are activated. In any case, this reform has captivated public interest. It had grand objectives, comparable to Tony Blair's goal of the eradication of child poverty. Yet, such goals are quite forgotten today. It is essential to trace historically how the wave of reforms spread to all rich countries, including the United States and France who were pioneers of the reform in the late 1980s, though with opposite practical orientations. Ultimately, whether activated or not, social protection systems have, unfortunately, retained one essential feature: they do not fulfil their primary objective of lifting people out of poverty, even though, as an intervention of last resort, they are of an indisputable utility in reducing this poverty.

The Working Unemployed? The seven faces of reduced working activity
The number of “working jobseeker”, that is to say those who are registered with Pôle emploi [the French public employment services] while engaging in paid activity, continues to grow. When eligible to unemployment benefits, the system of claimants can benefit from the reduced working scheme, that enables them to supplement a part of their income with benefits. This article aims toat shedding light on the diverse trajectories of these jobseekers, highlighting the different roles fulfilled de facto by this key mechanism of the unemployment insurance system which was initially conceived as a stepping stone towards employment.Optimal matching has been used to build an empirical typology of the trajectories of job seekers engaged in reduced activity, initially revealing seven faces, or seven modes of recourse to reduced activity. For two trajectories resulting from this typology, the interaction between reduced activity and solidarity payments (“active solidarity income” or RSA, work-based grants, housing benefits) was then simulated. Supplementary assistance added to income from work clearly increased the overall monthly income of the individuals studied, with a strong substitution effect of 40% to 60% between the cost of unemployment insurance and solidarity payments. The increasing prevalence of reduced working activity thus brings into question the boundary between unemployment insurance and solidarity payments.

Reforming policies for the disabled. A comparative analysis of public policy in Germany and the NetherlandsThe paper compares Germany and the Netherlands – the two countries that recently decided to include more integration tools into their compensation-oriented policy for the disabled. Yet, the Netherlands opted for radical change with substantial and immediate financial responsibilities and penalties for employers, while Germany chose gradual policy change based on employment incentives. It seems that the Netherlands succeeded in reducing the number of benefit claimants and public spending as well as the probability of experiencing poverty among the disabled. At the same time, the German reforms – although bringing slow increases in the number of the disabled who work – did not reverse the trend of higher poverty and lower employment chances of the disabled.

The Welfare Reform Act of 2012 in Britain: combining minimum incomes and disability benefits
Instituting Universal Credit in the United Kingdom, the 2012 Welfare Reform Act unified various minimum social income levels for those in receipt of benefits. This affected people with disabilities, either directly through the gradual absorption of the main non-contributory and means-tested disability allowance, or indirectly through the impact of removing other social benefits which often opened the door to various forms of supplementary disability benefits. The same reform made conditions more stringent for the award of independent living payments not included in Universal Credit. In addition, there is a cap on the total amount of benefits granted to the same family.These measures, which were implemented in a general context of budget cuts, have alarmed disabled people and their families. Need they fear increasing poverty?

Taking redistributive principles into account in the economic evaluation of health care: a review of available methodsSince 2012, pharmaceutical industries in France that apply for reimbursement for innovative treatment have been obliged to submit an economic evaluation to the Commission for Economic and Public Health Evaluation (CEESP) of the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) in order to make an assessment of their efficiency. As is the case in most European countries, the results of evaluation proceedings, along with other decision-making criteria, are put into perspective alongside other more or less explicit decisions such as the severity of the disease, the age of the patients, end-of-life situations, etc. The objective of this article is to analyze the criteria mobilized by agencies in modulating the use of cost / result ratios of some major normative principles of the economy of well-being. This analysis makes it possible to explain the distributive motivations of the regulator and to discuss the possible ways of modifying health economy calculations, taking those priority criteria into account which are mobilized by agencies in their decision-making processes, in particular the priority given to the most severely affected or to those whose life expectancy has been most seriously reduced. The article gives an account of the practical possibilities proposed in the literature. To what degree do these measures promote the social acceptability of economic evaluation methods by the different stakeholders (decision-makers, medical communities, patients, and the general public) and increase the use of evaluation findings in decision-making such as in the setting of prices and reimbursing health products ?

The hypothesis of the “tailor-made baby”Research in human genetics is progressing rapidly and innovations in genetic engineering are multiplying. It is very likely that they will radically alter the modalities of human reproduction. The idea that parents could conceive a “tailor-made” child using the new genetic tools is now a credible hypothesis that will be technically possible in the near future. This article analyses the main arguments of its supporters — the eugenic doctrine of free choice claiming to be in support of liberalism which has emerged in the public sphere — and it analyses what might be the effects on parenting of a wider use of the genetic fine-tuning of the unborn child.