Useful websites

Overview

On institutions internationally, see US Social Security Administration, Social Security Programs Throughout the World. http://www.socialsecurity.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/.

See also:

Society at a Glance,

Pensions at a Glance,

Health at a Glance,

Education at a Glance,

published every two years by the OECD.

For up-to-date information on UK government spending in user-friendly form, see http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/.

Economic theory

For an online text on basic economic theory, see CORE Team (2019), The Economy: Economics for a Changing World, first edition, available free at: https://core-econ.org/the-economy/?lang=en (also in French).

Distribution

For wide-ranging data on the distribution of income, see the World Wealth and Income Database, http://www.wid.world.

On gender aspects of poverty, inequality, and social exclusion, see the UN Women Annual Report, http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/annual-report, and the OECD gender portal, http://www.oecd.org/gender/.

Cash benefits

For a summary of systems of cash benefits worldwide published by the US Social Security Administration, see Social Security Programs throughout the World (www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/index.html), updated on a rolling basis, and the in-country resources listed therein.

For wide-ranging discussion, see also OECD Society at a Glance, updated regularly, available at: www.oecd.org.

Pensions

OECD Pensions at a Glance, available from www.oecd.org, published every two years, provides a compendious overview of pensions in OECD countries.

On the European Union, see the European Commission’s Ageing Report, published annually. The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index, https://australiancentre.com.au/projects/melbourne-mercer-global-pension-index/, as its name implies, offers an index, updated annually, of the performance of pension systems in a wide range of countries.

On non-contributory basic pensions see the database at http://www.pension-watch.net/.

For an easy-to-read description of UK pension institutions, see the Pensions Primer, published annually by the Pensions Policy Institute, http://www.pensionspolicyinstitute.org.uk/.

Poverty and inequality

See the resources under Distribution, above.

Health and health care

On systems internationally, see OECD Health at a Glance, published every 2 years, and the reports from the World Health Organization Global Health Observatory: http://www.who.int/gho/en/.

For assessment of the UK National Health Service, see King’s Fund, How is the NHS performing? Quarterly monitoring report, https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/quarterly-monitoring-report.

Education

On systems internationally, see OECD Education at a Glance, published every 2 years, available at: www.oecd.org.

A view to the future

On policies to address the new social risks, see the various contributions to Finance and Development, The Age of Insecurity, December 2018, https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2018/12/index.htm.

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