ABSTRACT

This book identifies the main causes of welfare state system extension, as well as the differences in welfare state system design and their consequences for human behavior and the future financial stability of the systems in place in different parts of Asia.

Providing ten in-depth country case studies from across the region, including India, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and South Korea, as well as Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the book focuses on the situation of welfare state system development and its financing in some of the largest countries on earth. It addresses previously neglected areas for investigation, such as the causal reasons for welfare state system extension (not only in Asia, but in general), the types of social security systems and their incentive systems in place and the way they chiefly determine behavior—and thus determine the resulting social security needs.

This book will be of interest to all scholars and students of social policy, public policy, political science, sociology, finance and economics, development studies and Asian studies more broadly.