Forces disrupting markets and changing the nature of work present a fundamental challenge to prevailing employment-based risk-sharing policies in countries at all levels of development. ... See More + These forces are diversifying the ways people earn their livelihoods. Work in low- and middle-income countries has always been diverse, fluid, and overwhelmingly informal: unobservable and beyond the reach of the state's ability to enforce the obligations and benefits of a country's social contract. In contrast to this diversity and fluidity, prevailing employment-based risk-sharing policies assume a level of homogeneity and stability in the ways people work that reflects the reality of only a minority of workers in these countries. More recently, the assumed homogeneity and stability of work has changed even in the high-income countries where these policies were conceived of and developed. Both these situations raise concerns that current risk-sharing policies are losing relevance for working people. The changing nature of work challenges the assumptions underpinning the policy tools for managing risk and uncertainty, which have for the most part remained built around the assumption that most people are in a stable, "standard" employment relationship. This volume proposes a package of protections, labor benefits, and services that are more relevant to the diverse and diversifying world of work. Here are five key messages for policy makers. The foundation of risk-sharing Policy is poverty prevention and subsidized protection from catastrophic losses, financed from broad-based taxes. With robust protections in place, available to all people wherever and however they work, governments' mandates can be less distortive. Rather than protect workers from change, governments can shift their efforts to protecting them for change by supporting transitions and reemployment. Given daunting resource and capacity limitations in most countries, a progressive universalization of risk-sharing coverage will be more fiscally viable and sustainable. Digital technology can be harnessed to mobilize tax resources for this extended coverage and to deliver protection more effectively, efficiently, and equitably.  See Less -

Document Type: Working Paper Report No.: 141572 Document Date: SEP 01, 2019

Author: Packard,Truman G.; Gentilini,Ugo; Grosh,Margaret Ellen; O'Keefe,Philip B.; Palacios,Robert J.; Robalino,David A.; Santos,Indhira Vanessa Disclosure Status: Disclosed

Document Type: Procurement Plan Report No.: STEP21990 Document Date: JUN 25, 2019

Author: Lyazzat Kamzebayeva Disclosure Status: Disclosed

Document Type: Procurement Plan Report No.: STEP20096 Document Date: APR 25, 2019

Author: Lyazzat Kamzebayeva Disclosure Status: Disclosed

Document Type: Implementation Status and Results Report Report No.: ISR36182 Document Date: MAR 15, 2019

Author: Chen,Dorothee Disclosure Status: Disclosed

Document Type: Procurement Plan Report No.: STEP17167 Document Date: FEB 09, 2019

Author: Lyazzat Kamzebayeva Disclosure Status: Disclosed

Document Type: Procurement Plan Report No.: STEP16448 Document Date: JAN 22, 2019

Author: Lyazzat Kamzebayeva Disclosure Status: Disclosed

Document Type: Procurement Plan Report No.: STEP14892 Document Date: NOV 28, 2018

Author: Lyazzat Kamzebayeva Disclosure Status: Disclosed

Document Type: Procurement Plan Report No.: STEP14503 Document Date: NOV 14, 2018

Author: Lyazzat Kamzebayeva Disclosure Status: Disclosed

Document Type: Implementation Status and Results Report Report No.: ISR34015 Document Date: OCT 16, 2018

Author: Chen,Dorothee Disclosure Status: Disclosed

Universal health coverage is a social goal that enables everyone to receive the quality health care they need, irrespective of ability to pay, without suffering financial hardship in the process. ... See More + To move toward that goal, policy makers should address three main considerations: the population to be covered, the health services to be provided, and the financing mechanism to be used. Successful cases show that to achieve universal health coverage, a change of perspective is essential, from seeing health care benefits as a contingent good to considering them as an essential public service. While expanding the demand for health care is necessary, improving the quantity and quality of the supply of health services is essential. Getting diverse stakeholders to cooperate, making cost-efficient and people-centered choices, and ensuring fiscal sustainability are needed to expand health coverage for everyone who needs it.  See Less -

Document Type: Brief Report No.: 124552 Document Date: SEP 01, 2018

Author: Kim,Young Eun; Loayza,Norman V. Disclosure Status: Disclosed