Peter A. Cornelisse

On the Convergence of Social Protection Systems in the European Union

Member states of the European Union are autonomous when it comes to the design of their social protection systems. However, they are committed by a Recommendation accepted by the European Council addressing the convergence of social protection objectives and policies. Beside that, it is expected that convergence of social protection systems could come about as a result of economic integration. In this paper we have examined whether such convergence has occurred during the past decades, using data on replacement rates and social expenditure ratios. We find a rather strong trend of relative convergence, but it does not follow that this trend is the result of the European integration.

An appraisal of wheat market policy in Pakistan

Abstract The food supply situation has improved considerably in several Asian countries since the end of the 1960s. This change for the good calls for a reconsideration of the prevailing policies. In the present paper, the case of wheat in Pakistan is examined. Attention is paid specifically to the development of wheat supply and demand, to the functioning of the various actors in the wheat market chain and to the sources of wheat (flour) of consumers differentiated by province, area and level of income. Some suggestions are then made for alternative policies relating, among others, to the level of wheat procurement and the set up of the wheat releases system.

A dual-dual migration model with price policies

Abstract It seems likely that the massive rural-urban migration streams in developing countries are partly man-made in the sense that they probably have been strengthened by urban-biased development policies. The migration model presented in this paper allows for price and market policies in order to identify the various types of information needed for an analysis of that question. It appears that our knowledge at this moment is still too limited to deal with it satisfactorily. An illustrative exercise shows the mechanism of the algorithm applied here and simulates the effects of four policy variants on migration behaviour and other relevant variables.