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VAM-Velferd, arbeid og migrasjon

Trygd i kontekst. Rettferdighet, Effektivitet, Fordeling (TREfF)

Awarded: NOK 29.2 mill.

The TREfF-project has over a period of six years conducted a number of studies on social security arrangements: how they are designed and implemented and their effects. The project was designed in response to the question of why so many working age people receive social security benefits in contemporary Norway. To illuminate this issue the project has considered three main concerns in welfare policy: justice, efficiency and distribution. Through multiple disciplinary and methodological approaches the project has aimed to explore factors that affect labour supply, identified elements in implementation that affect goal attainment, but also critically approached the original problem formulation through comparative and normative analyses. Comparative studies of welfare state generosity and its ability to reduce inequality provide an important supplement to analyses which concentrates on work incentives. There are tendencies to growing income inequality in most OECD-countries, and in many cases this trend is reinforced by cuts in social security. This appears paradoxical in the sense that conventional economic theory predicts that increase wage inequality will be accompanied by stronger demand for redistribution policies. In one study a theoretical model is developed which can explain why large groups of voters will prefer to cut public social security when wage inequality increases. This is tested on data from 22 OECD-countries. Results indicate that parties are more likely to cut welfare in periods of rising wage inequality. TREfF has also studied how various factors in the labour market affect individuals' employment and social security consumption through analyzing Norwegian registry data. In sum these studies find that it is persons who are in a marginal position in the labour market that struggle the most to adapt to labour market changes (reorganization, closure etc) - also when economic conditions are generally good. Good times are not sufficient to mobilize these vulnerable people into the labour market, but must be supplemented by active measures and training. This may be particularly important in economics such as the Norwegian that place high demands on productivity. Studies also show that labour market participation is affected by social norms. Former studies have in particular looked at negative impacts of social norms on labour market supply, but our studies emphasize that both positive and negative "circles" can be maintained through norms. In the early 2000s several scholars predicted that growing immigration would threaten European welfare states, partly because it cultural and religious diversity would weaken support for redistributive policies. One TREfF-study argues that a more likely effect of growing immigration is growing support for differentiated access to welfare benefits based on citizenship or time of residence. Another study shows that negative attitudes to the economic consequences of immigration increases with growing unemployment rates, while no such connection is found for a culturally based immigration resistance. Negative attitudes to immigration thus seem to be two-dimensional. Project web-page: http://www.samfunnsforskning.no/Prosjekter/Samarbeidsprosjekter/TREfF

Ambisjonen til TREfF er trefoldig: 1) Vi vil produsere forskning av høy vitenskapelig kvalitet med sikte på internasjonal publisering. 2) Vi vil bidra til rekruttering og kompetanseoppbygging om trygdefaglige problemstillinger. 3) Vi vil gjennom empiriske studier gi et bedre kunnskapsgrunnlag for en videre debatt om de norske trygdeordningenes utforming og normative grunnlag. Prosjektet tar utgangspunkt i det klassiske trygdepolitiske dilemmaet mellom rettferdighet og effektivitet. Balansegangen mellom hensynene til trygghet for inntekt - fordeling - og insentiver til arbeid er krevende både for politikkutformere og for førstelinjetjenesten. TREfF skal gi kunnskap om hvordan dagens ordninger virker, men også bidra med kunnskap og prinsipielle drøftinger med relevans for utviklingen av ny politikk og nye virkemidler. Et viktig premiss for TREfF er at trygdeordningene og deres virkninger bare kan forstås om de ses i en bredere samfunnsmessig kontekst der de virker i samspill med andre velferdsstatlige ordninger, arbeidslivets organisering, bedrifters tilpasninger og valg, samfunnsmessige normer, individuelle preferanser og begrensninger, og faktisk implementering. TREfF består av tre hovedmoduler: 1) Institusjoner, politikk og fordeling i komparativt perspektiv. Med utgangspunkt i tesen om at "politics matters" skal vi studere trygdeordningenes utforming og utfall. 2) Lokal rettferdighet. Modulen tar utgangspunkt i tesen om at portvaktene tenderer til å fremme passive stønader framfor aktivering og selvforsørging. 3) Arbeidstakere og arbeidsgivere: Når er insentiver effektive? Modulen skal forklare tilpasninger og overganger for personer som står utenfor eller i randsonen av arbeidsmarkedet, sett både fra etterspørselssiden og tilbudssiden i arbeidsmarkedet . TREfF vil bli en arena for koordinert forskning og dialog mellom forskere og institusjoner med kompetanse på ulike sider av trygdesystemet.

Publications from Cristin

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VAM-Velferd, arbeid og migrasjon