Canadian Social Research Newsletter
January 6, 2008
Welcome to the weekly Canadian Social Research Newsletter,
a listing of the new links added to the Canadian Social Research
Links website in the past week.
The e-mail version of this week's
issue of the newsletter is going out to 1846 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this
newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.
Canadian Content
1. How our tax system discourages
self-reliance (John Stapleton, in The
National Post) -
January 4
2. AOL Canada News
3. From The Toronto Star:
--- The Liberals' calculated fight against poverty - January 5
--- No time to let up on
poverty front - January 2
4. The Great CEO Pay Race: Over Before it
Begins (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) -
January 2
5. 20 Years Later: Has Free Trade Delivered on its
Promise? (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) - December
2007
6. What's new from the Childcare Resource and
Research Unit (Toronto) - January 4
International Content
7. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social
issues and programs
8. New York City Mayor
Bloomberg Seeks New Way to Decide Who Is Poor (New York Times) - December 30
9. Policy Hub Bulletin (monthly) - United
Kingdom
10. Council for Employment, Income and Social
Cohesion (CERC, Paris) Bulletin - selected content
11. Australian Policy Online Weekly Briefing :
Selected recent content, various sources
12. CRINMAIL 945 - 03 January 2008 (Child Rights Information Network -
CRIN)
|
1. How our tax system
discourages self-reliance -
January 4 |
How our tax system discourages self-reliance
By John Stapleton
January 04, 2008
"...there are some straightforward solutions (to
the problem of families caught in the cycle of poverty).
I offer four:
- Reduce Marginal Effective Tax Rates for adults with low incomes
- Stabilize households in transition to greater
self-reliance
- Support children in their transition to adulthood through a "Time-out"
- Create a new government responsibility
centre to promote accountable interactions: A new government
responsibility centre created from existing government ministries
should be tasked with resolving the multiple barriers that now result
from pro-gram overlap and duplication."
Source:
The National Post
Related links:
Open
Policy
(John Stapleton's personal website)
Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults (MISWAA)
- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (D-W) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk3.htm
|
2. AOL Canada News |
AOL Canada News
- Breaking News and Top News Stories from across Canada and around the
world
- Go to the Media Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/mediabkmrk.htm
|
3. From The
Toronto Star: |
From The Toronto Star:
The Liberals' calculated fight against poverty
Stéphane Dion's strategy of targeting low-income Canadians looks
starry-eyed.
It might just be a hard-nosed play for the middle class
January 5, 2008
Susan Delacourt
OTTAWA–The next federal election campaign could spark an intriguing
form of Liberal-Conservative class warfare: the Liberals, putting
poverty front and centre, while the Conservatives continue their quest
to own the middle-class vote in Canada. So is it food banks versus tax
breaks in the expected election campaign of 2008? The homeless versus
the suburban dwellers? The battle lines may not be that clear-cut, but
it's worth asking why Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion and his party
have decided to embrace the anti-poverty fight so intensely – at the
same time as many strategists argue that successful election campaigns
are fought in the middle of Canada's income spectrum.
No
time to let up on poverty front
Editorial
January 02, 2008
If our political leaders muster the will to act, 2008 could very well
mark the year in the history books when the appalling but silent enemy
of poverty in Canada was finally engaged. It has been a year now since
the Star launched its War on Poverty in a continuing series of
editorials and news stories aimed at documenting the toll poverty takes
on one in every 10 Canadians and nearly one in five of the children
living in one of the richest countries in the world.
- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (D-W) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk3.htm
|
4. The Great
CEO Pay Race: Over Before it Begins - January 2 |
New Year’s party still going for top CEOs
Press Release
January 2, 2008
TORONTO - By the time most Canadians roll up their sleeves to begin a
new year of work, Canada's best paid 100 CEOs will already be having a
good year: They'll pocket the national average wage of $38,998 by 10:33
am January 2nd.
Complete report:
The Great CEO Pay Race: Over Before it Begins (PDF file - 326K, 12 pages)
More
CCPA research & publications
on inequality & poverty
Source:
Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives
- Go to the Banks and Business Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/bookmrk3.htm
|
5. 20 Years
Later: Has Free Trade Delivered on its Promise? - December 2007 |
Free
trade has failed to live up to its promises—study
Press Release
December 28, 2007
OTTAWA— Twenty years after Canada signed the Free Trade Agreement its
biggest boosters have grown wealthier but promises ofbetter jobs and
rising living standards fell short, says a study released by the
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The Canada-US Free Trade
Agreement was signed on January 2, 1988. The study examines what’s
happened since: It takes a sample of 41 Canadian Council of Chief
Executives (CCCE) member companies – the leading supporter of free
trade – and finds they shrank their workforce by 19.6% while their
revenues grew by 127%.
Complete study:
20
Years Later: Has Free Trade Delivered on its Promise? (PDF
file - 179K, 7 pages)
December 2007
More CCPA research & publications
on international trade & investment, deep integration
All CCPA publications (select from the list in the left-hand margin)
Source:
Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives
- Go to the Globalization Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/global.htm
|
6. What's new from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (Toronto) - January 4 |
What's new from the
Childcare Resource and
Research Unit (CRRU) :
[NOTE: The Childcare Resource and Research Unit left
the University of Toronto in spring 2007, and is now incorporated as a
non-profit organization.]
January 4, 2008
What's new
Starting
Strong Network website launched - January 4
Starting Strong Network website reports on network initiatives to
develop effective and efficient policies for early childhood care and
education.
Starting
Strong Network
The Network has received a mandate from the OECD Education Policy
Committee to assist member countries to develop effective and efficient
policies for early childhood care and education.
[ Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development - OECD ]
Related links:
OECD
Early Childhood Education and Care Home Page
Starting
Strong curricula and pedagogies in early childhood education and care:
Five curriculum outlines
Report by OECD of four well-known ECEC curricula including Experiential
Education by Professor Ferre Laevers.
Strengthening
the young child's care environment
Early Childhood Matters, No. 109
Latest issue of Bernard van Leer’s Early Childhood Matters
focusing on the issue of strengthening the care environment for young
children.
Child care in the news
Targeted
child care misses the mark [CA-ON]
Toronto Star, 4 Jan 08
Promoting
family-friendly work [US]
Human Resource Executive, 3 Jan 08
More child care in the news...
Related Links:
Subscribe
to the CRRU email announcements list
Sign up to receive email notices of updates and new postings on
the CRRU website which will inform you of policy developments in early
childhood care and education, new research and resources for policy,
newly released CRRU publications, and upcoming events of interest to
the child care and broader community.
Links to child
care sites in Canada and elsewhere
CRRU Publications
- briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other publications
ISSUE files
- theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links to
further info
Source:
Childcare Resource and
Research Unit (CRRU)
- Go to the Non-Governmental Early Learning and Child Care Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ecd2.htm
| 7. Poverty
Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs (Institute for Research on Poverty - University of Wisconsin-Madison) |
Poverty
Dispatch (U.S). ===> the content of this link
changes twice a week
- links to news items from the American press about poverty, welfare
reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and
Medicaid, etc.
January
3, 2008
* Welfare to Work Programs - Virginia, New Mexico
* Medicaid Computer System - Wisconsin
* State Child Welfare Database - Ohio
* Poverty Measurement - New York City
* Single Fathers and Assistance Programs
* American Indian Children and Foster Care - Washington
* Foster Care Age Limit - Delaware
* State Children's Health Insurance Program
* Low-income Residents and Access to Dental Care - Kentucky
* Medicaid Reimbursement Rates to Children's Doctors - New Jersey
* Medical Clinics at Food Banks
* States and Minimum Wage Increases
* Needs of the Working Poor
* Opinions: Poverty Policies and Childless Individuals
* Payday Lending Regulation - Ohio, Virginia
* Voter Identification Law - Indiana
* No Child Left Behind
Search
Poverty Dispatches
IRP compiles and distributes Poverty Dispatches, links to
Web-based news items dealing with poverty, welfare reform, and related
topics twice a week. Each Dispatch lists links to current news in
popular print media. Persons wishing to receive Poverty Dispatches by
e-mail should send a request to rsnell@ssc.wisc.edu.
Past Poverty Dispatches - back to June 2006
Poverty
Dispatch Digest Archive - archive of weekly digests* of
dispatches from August 2005 to May 2006
(*For a few years prior to the creation of this new web page for the
Dispatch, I was compiling a weekly digest of the e-mails and
redistributing the digest to my mailing list with IRP's permission.
This is my own archive of weekly issues of the digest back to
August 2005, and most of them have 50+ links per issue. I'll be
deleting this archive from my site gradually, as the links to older
articles expire.)
Source:
Institute for Research on Poverty
(IRP)
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison ]
- Go to the Links to American Government
Social Research page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J)
page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z)
page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.htm
| 8. New York City Mayor Bloomberg Seeks New Way to Decide Who
Is Poor - December 30 (New York Times) |
Bloomberg Seeks New Way to Decide Who Is Poor
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said last week that 31 antipoverty programs
were up and running and dozens more were to come
By Leslie Kaufman
December 30, 2007
The Bloomberg administration, frustrated by the
federal government’s Great Society method of determining who is poor,
is developing its own measure, which city officials say will offer a
more modern and accurate picture of poverty. Mayor
Michael R. Bloomberg wants to adopt the new measure in part so he can
better assess whether the tens of millions of dollars the city plans to
spend on new anti-poverty programs will improve poor people’s standard
of living.
Source:
The New York Times
New York City's alternative measure is based on
recommendations made by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in
1995.
* See
Measuring Poverty: A New Approach - the complete 1995 NAS report
* See
the 1995 NAS report recommendations
- Go to the Poverty Measures - International Resources page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty2.htm
| 9. Policy Hub Bulletin (monthly) - United Kingdom |
Policy Hub
Bulletin ===> the content of this
link changes each month
News Archive
- view the contents of previous Bulletins back to September 2002
Subscribe
to this Bulletin - free, by email
Sample content
from the latest issue of the Bulletin (December 27/07):
Click the link above to access all of the items below - and be sure to
visit the Home page
for news items added since 27 December)
Social care research ethics - DH
response
Children's plan - DCSF
Corston review - government response
Women in the criminal justice system - PRT briefing
Work and family life - OECD report
Overskilling in Australia and Britain - ISL report
Criminal statistics 2006 - MoJ report
Evaluating policy
Knife crime: a review of evidence and policy -
CJS report
Department of Health Autumn Performance - DH report
Literacy education: research - ACER report
Science attainment in schools - OECD report
Poverty and social exclusion 2007 - JRF report
Home Office performance
Reading literacy: international comparisons - NFER and IEA reports
Literacy: Scotland - IEA report
UK housing emissions - ECI report
Improving delivery
Rail research strategy - DfT documents
Transport trends 2007 - DfT report
Gypsies and Travellers: accommodation, understanding and rights - BSHF
report
Public services and religious organisations - BHA report
Successful ageing - ILC-UK report
Men's health policy - ANZHP report
Vocational education and training for prisoners - NCVER
Environmental causes of disease - AMS report
Evidence Hotlinks
This area of Policy Hub provides access to a wide range of
organisations and resources that will help you find evidence on social
and economic issues in the United Kingdom and Internationally.
* United Kingdom Evidence * International Evidence - including Country
Resources - including Canada * Using Evidence
===> recommended reading -
excellent collection of U.K. and international resources!
Source:
Policy Hub (U. K.)
"... a web-site developed by the Government Social Research Unit, which
aims to improve the way public policy is shaped and delivered."
[ Government Social Research ]
[ HM Treasury website ]
| 10. Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion (CERC, Paris) Bulletin - selected content |
From the Council for Employment,
Income and Social Cohesion - Paris
Conseil de l'emploi,
des revenus et de la cohésion sociale - CERC [version
française]
CERC
Bulletin - links to all CERC semi-monthly bulletins
Subscribe
- To be informed of CERC activities and to receive the bulletin
----------------------------------------------------------
Selected
content from CERC Bulletin #143 (
December 24, 2007):
(click on the bulletin link above to access the studies mentioned below
and more...)
. Poverty and exclusion [in Europe],
European Commission, September 2007
. A proposal of a synthetic indicator to measure poverty intensity with
an application to EU-15 countries, Society for the Study of Economic
Inequality (ECINEQ), November 2007
. Evaluating the impact of the French tax credit on the employment rate
of women, Centre de recherche en économie, December 2007
. Flexicurity : An answer or a question? Lasaire, November 2007
. Employment and education policy for young people in the EU : What can
new member states learn from member states, Institute for the Study of
Labor, December 2007
. Interactions between employment and training policies, Kiel Institute
for the World Economy, December 2007
. Primary and secondary education in the United States, Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development, December 2007
. Too bad to benefit ? Effect heterogeneity of public training
programs, German Institute for Economic Research , December 2007
. Training the unemployed in France : How does it affect unemployment
duration and recurrence, Institute for the Study of Labor, December 2007
. Dynamics of economic well-being : Fluctuations in the US income
distribution, 2001-2003, U.S. Census Bureau, November 2007
. Income inequality hits record levels, new CBO
data show, Center on Budget and Policy priorities, December 2007.
----------------------------------------------------------
Online
Information Service
Information and online resources organized under five themes:
Poverty * Social minima * In-work benefits * Minimum wage *
Unemployment and return to work .
- includes links and resources for Canada...
HINT: click on the links in the right-hand margin of each theme
page for more content
CERC
Bulletins/Reports/Studies/Working papers
- Click on the links in the left margin of the CERC website home page
for access to a large collection of online resources
- Go to the Government Social Research Links in Other Countries page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internat.htm
| 11. Australian Policy Online Weekly Briefing : Selected recent content, various sources |
APO Weekly Briefing
The content of this page changes each week, and it includes links to a
few book/report reviews, about two dozen new reports, a few job ads and
60+ events (mostly conferences) of interest to social researchers...
Subscribe
Sign up to receive APO's Weekly Briefing by email --- just enter your
email address in the box on the left-hand side of the home page of the
APO website (the link below).
Source:
Australian Policy Online (APO)
With nearly 120 member centres and institutes, Australian Policy Online
offers easy access to much of the best Australian social, economic,
cultural and political research available online.
NOTE: the APO home page includes links to the five most popular reports
on the APO website, and this list is updated each week.
- Go to the Social Research Links in Other Countries (Non-Government) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internatngo.htm
|
12. CRINMAIL 945 - 03
January 2008 |
From the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN)
3
January 2008 - CRINMAIL 945
* UN: World Youth Report 2007 - Young People's Transition to Adulthood
- Progress and challenges [publication]
* KENYA: Eighty children massacred in church [news]
* USA: Bush approves child health care bill [news]
* CHILE: Corporal punishment banned [news]
* UNITED KINGDOM: 17th Conference of the International Association for
Research in Juvenile Criminology [event/call for papers]
* EMPLOYMENT - IFCO [job postings]
**NEWS IN BRIEF**
**QUIZ**
Earlier
issues of CRINMAIL
- links to 200+ earlier weekly issues, many of which are special
editions focusing on special themes, such as the 45th Session of the
Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights
of the Child.
Source:
CRINMAIL(incl. subscription
info)
[ Child Rights Information
Network (CRIN) ]
- Go to the Children's Rights Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnrights.htm
| |
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Both Canadian Social Research Links (the site) and this Canadian Social
Research Newsletter belong solely to me, Gilles Séguin.
I am solely accountable for the choice
of links presented therein and for the occasional editorial comment -
it's my time, my home computer, my experience, my biases, my Rogers
Internet account and my web hosting service.
I administer the mailing list
and distribute the weekly newsletter using software on the web server
of the Canadian Union of Public
Employees (CUPE).
Thanks, CUPE!
If you wish to subscribe to the e-mail version of newsletter, go to the
Canadian Social Research Newsletter Online Subscription page:
http://lists.cupe.ca/mailman/listinfo/csrl-news
You can unsubscribe by going to the same page or by sending me an
e-mail message [ gilseg@rogers.com ]
------------------------
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Privacy Policy:
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I promise not share any information on this list, nor to send you any
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Links presented in the Canadian Social Research Newsletter point to
different views about social policy and social programs.
There are some that I don't agree with, so don't get on my case, eh...
To access earlier online HTML issues of the Canadian Social Research
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http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/news.htm
Please feel free to distribute this newsletter as widely as you wish,
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Cheers!
Gilles
E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com
In closing...