665 Arne Grønningsæter, Aadne Aasland and Zane Loza

“We all agree, but noone is grateful”

Developments of the Income Maintenance System in Latvia

This paper is the second in a series of publications from the project ”Social Policy and Social Exclusion in the Baltic Countries”. The project is funded by the Research Council and Council of Universities of Norway, through the Cooperation Programme for Central and Eastern Europe (Programme for Research and Higher Education). The two main institutions involved in the project are Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science in Oslo and Unit of Family Studies at the University of Tartu. The present report, however, has been written mostly by Fafo researchers. In addition, Zane Loza (Latvian freelance researcher) has written about the structure of the income maintenance system in Latvia, she also assisted us in connection with our field trip to Latvia.
The paper exists in two versions: one paper version and one version on web. There are two appendixes to the paper that are only published in the web version.

Contents

Preface
Introduction

Background
Theoretical framework
Public or private responsibility?
Labour market connection
Distribution – Redistribution
Accountability
The three pillars
The Soviet income maintenance system
Brief description of the present income maintenance system in Latvia
Social insurance
Pension insurance
Sickness and maternity insurance
Insurance against unemployment
Insurance against occupational accidents and occupational diseases
Social assistance
Material assistance
Social care and rehabilitation
Family support

Discussion of Latvian social policy in relation to four dimensions
Division of roles and responsibility
State responsibility
Municipal responsibility
The market and the employers
The problem with paying the contribution
The family and the individual
Civil society; Non-governmental organisations
Labour market connection
The ”Swedish/Latvian” system
Universalism as the basic principle (de-commodification)
Active measures (re-commodification)
Incentives
Unemployment
The market
Implications for distribution/redistribution
Distribution and redistribution between rich and poor
Age
Regions
Gender
Ethnicity
Social assistance
Other redistributive effects of the income maintenance system
Accountability
Trust in public officials
Is there reason to trust the system?
Efficiency

Changes and change agents
Change agents
National
International
Alliances
Changes
Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI)
Pensions
Other issues

Comparative perspectives
Is there convergence towards one of the western welfare regimes?
Liberal regime and the market
The corporative regime and dependency on labour market position
The social democratic regime and universalism
Four dimensions
Divisions of roles and responsibility
Labour market connection
Implications for distribution/redistribution
Accountability
Common Baltic developments?

Bibliography

Appendix 1
Appendix 2