Publications

This Report investigates an important yet largely unexplored topic: the relationship between women's rights and welfare and the democratization and market-oriented transformation of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Through its Regional Monitoring Reports, UNICEF has been examining the ways in which the collapse of the communist governments has affected the lives of children. The Report asks: Did gender equality exist behind the egalitarian rhetoric of communism? How have women fared under the emerging market democracies? Is the actual and potential contribution of women to healthy change fully recognized and realized?

The fifth Regional Monitoring Report continues the Centre's pioneering work of emphasizing the social side of the transition in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, in particular the needs and rights of children. The Report presents detailed information on changes to educational systems and analysis of key issues relating to equity and rights in schooling. Trends are shown in enrolment, in the costs of schooling faced by families, and in the social support given by schools. Other topics covered include education for the disabled child, decentralization of education and its implications for equity in access, and the future of programmes for early childhood development. The Report includes an update of welfare trends in the region, an introduction to the theme of education and an overview of the main findings. The purpose of the Report is to provide factual information and fresh ideas for policy-makers and their advisors both inside and outside the region, and for all those involved in educational policy, including UNICEF, other international organizations, NGOs and the media. It also provides an invaluable source of information for economists, statisticians, social policy experts and other researchers.

The first half of the 1990s brought major changes to Hungary. The positive sides of the transformation in the Hungarian economy and society were accompanied by less welcome aspects - a sharp fall in GDP, double-digit unemployment and falling real incomes. How have children fared in these circumstances? This paper considers the changing position of children in the Hungarian income distribution, comparing it to that of the elderly - another potentially vulnerable group whose incomes, like those of households with children, are a concern for policymakers.

Falling output and living standards have pushed countries in transition from the socialist system to re-consider how best to target public resources on those in need. The paper investigates the workings of a new social assistance benefit in Uzbekistan, the largest of the former Soviet Central Asian republics, administered by community organizations, the Mahallas. Data used from a 1995 household survey to assess the scheme's success in targeting the most vulnerable households, using a variety of indicators including income, durable goods ownership, agricultural assets, employment status, and the anthropometric status of children. The separate probabilities of knowledge of the scheme, of application for benefit, and of award are modelled.

Data on the weight and height of children are used to assess living standards and public policy in Uzbekistan, the most populous of the Central Asian republics. The paper begins by making the case for the use of such data, contrasting them with monetized measures of welfare based on household incomes or expenditures, before going on to review the problems of interpretation that anthropometry presents for the economist. The prevalence of stunting and wasting in three regions of Uzbekistan is compared with that in neighbouring Kazakhstan and with other countries from outside the region. Multivariate analysis is then used to test three hypotheses concerning rural-urban differences in living standards, the impact of kindergartens on nutritional status, and the targeting of means-tested social assistance.

This paper develops a framework by which the impact of decentralization of government on child welfare can be assessed. Consistent with the child welfare perspective, it is suggested that equity should be given greatest weight, in terms of both equality of opportunity and progress in reducing disparities in access. Allocative efficiency, a notion that has figured prominently in the economics literature about the merits of decentralization, is shown to have limited value once we accept the existence of externalities and public goods in the provision of basic services. The review of available evidence for Asian and transition countries suggests that there is a significant risk that equity can be adversely affected by the decentralization of education and the associated financing arrangements.

Since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, the 88 regions of the Russian Federation have enjoyed increasing autonomy, and by 1994 almost half of all budgetary expenditure in Russia was spent at the regional level. This paper examines the system of transfers which has developed in Russia over the last few years and asks how far it has succeeded in making up for regional revenue disparities. Transfers seem to be directed in broadly the right direction before and after the introduction of the formula mechanism: transfers are higher to regions with greater needs. The bad news, however, is that the impact of the transfers has been minimal. Lower revenue regions may have received more in transfers than higher revenue regions, but not nearly enough to offset the difference in revenue.

The single most likely way to leave the unemployment insurance (UI) register in Hungary is not by getting a job but by running out of benefit. This situation raises two questions. First, what are the implications of the cessation of UI for living standards? Second, does UI exhaustion have much effect on the probability of getting a job through increasing incentives to work? The authors investigate these issues with a survey of persons exhausting entitlement to UI in summer 1995, paying special attention to the household circumstances of the unemployed and the probabilities of claiming and being awarded means-tested assistance benefit.

This Report looks at the changes in risks facing the 100 million children in the 18 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Eight types of risk are considered in turn: poverty; war and dislocation; environmental degradation; health and health service deterioration; changes in family formation including rising family-breakdown rates; falling access to education and rising truancy; youth lifestyle and health including an increase in drug abuse and the occurrence of sexually transmitted diseases; juvenile crime. The Report also indicates that institutional care, fostering and adoption remain in need of sweeping reform, examines the failure of substitute care and emphasizes the preventive role of family support policies.

This Report looks at the changes in risks facing the 100 million children in the 18 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Eight types of risk are considered in turn: poverty; war and dislocation; environmental degradation; health and health service deterioration; changes in family formation including rising family-breakdown rates; falling access to education and rising truancy; youth lifestyle and health including an increase in drug abuse and the occurrence of sexually transmitted diseases; juvenile crime. The Report also indicates that institutional care, fostering and adoption remain in need of sweeping reform, examines the failure of substitute care and emphasizes the preventive role of family support policies.

Le rapport prend en considération un éventail d'indicateurs non économiques parmi lesquels diverses mesures de transformations démographiques, telles que les tendances de la mortalité, de la fécondité, du mariage et du divorce. Ces changements peuvent présenter de l'intérêt par eux-mêmes, mais aussi être un indicateur de tendances économiques et sociales sous-jacentes difficiles à mesurer directement.

Questa pubblicazione è una sintesi del quarto Regional Monitoring Report che copre 18 paesi dell'Europa Centrale ed Orientale e dell'ex Unione Sovietica. Il quarto rapporto contiene: un aggiornamento sui cambiamenti nelle condizioni di vita delle famiglie e dell'infanzia; un indagine sui fattori di rischio per l'infanzia durante la transizione; un'analisi speciale sui bambini affidati alle cure pubbliche.