SSR Seminar Series: East Asian Welfare Systems Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Video Recording
East Asian social welfare has been described as productivist, where social policies are subordinate to economic development. However, East Asian comparative studies often focus on a few select social policies and seldom examine welfare programs as a bundle. We contribute to the depiction of divergent features of East Asian safety nets by exploring the (1) welfare content (generosity, coverage, protective vs. productive, and work incentives), (2) welfare outcomes (poverty reduction and income redistribution), and (3) welfare responses to COVID-19 for lower-income populations in urban areas in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. We collected model family data for more than 2000 families and analysed the data through descriptive statistics and regression models. Our findings reveal heterogeneity within East Asian welfare systems, and our synthesis of welfare features using model family data offers a promising, innovative strategy for conducting comparative research in regions with limited comparable data.
Associate Professor
Department of Social Work
National Taiwan University
Dr. Julia Shu-Huah Wang’s research focuses on social welfare policies, immigration policies, and the well-being of families. She is currently working on several research projects, including global welfare regimes; social safety nets in East Asia; social welfare policies during COVID-19; impacts of social policies on families; and impacts of migration policies. Her research has appeared in several leading journals, such as the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of Social Policy, Health Policy and Planning, and Demography. Prior to joining National Taiwan University, she was an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong. Dr. Wang received her Bachelor’s degree from National Taiwan University and her PhD degree from Columbia University School of Social Work.
Senior Research Fellow
Head of Case Study Unit &
Social Inclusion Project
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
National University of Singapore
NG Kok Hoe is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Case Study Unit at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP). He founded the Social Inclusion Project at LKYSPP in 2020, a research programme dedicated to analysing how public policies shape opportunities for participation. His research is concerned with income security, minimum income standards, housing policy and homelessness. He led the first nationwide street count of homelessness in Singapore and is co-editor of the book They told us to move: Dakota—Cassia (Ethos Books, 2019).
For enquiries, please contact Mr Tan Zhi Han.