East Asian welfare in transition Nan Yang Supervisor: Dr ... - LSSOZ3
East Asian welfare in transition Nan Yang Supervisor: Dr ... - LSSOZ3
East Asian welfare in transition Nan Yang Supervisor: Dr ... - LSSOZ3
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Beyond productive dimension: <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>transition</strong><br />
<strong>Nan</strong> <strong>Yang</strong><br />
<strong>Supervisor</strong>: <strong>Dr</strong>. Stefan Kühner<br />
University of York
Abstract<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen published his classical thesis ‘The Three Worlds of Welfare<br />
States’, comparative <strong>welfare</strong> research has entered its flourish<strong>in</strong>g period. However,<br />
comparative study of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> systems is still relatively underdeveloped.<br />
Productivist <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> model- one of the most <strong>in</strong>fluential <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong><br />
concepts has been criticized by many <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> experts. <strong>Dr</strong>aw<strong>in</strong>g on Hudson and<br />
Kühner’s (2011) work, this paper focuses on the debates of the productive and<br />
protective dimensions of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> systems. It argues that it is impert<strong>in</strong>ent to<br />
talk about a s<strong>in</strong>gle, homogeneous <strong>welfare</strong> model <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> Asia. <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states have<br />
dist<strong>in</strong>ctive patterns of <strong>welfare</strong> development. Especially after <strong>Asian</strong> f<strong>in</strong>ancial crisis <strong>in</strong><br />
1997, <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states followed different development trajectories. Social protection<br />
has become an important aspect of their <strong>welfare</strong> systems. Hence, the paper argues that<br />
productivist <strong>welfare</strong> type is <strong>in</strong>adequate <strong>in</strong> current context. F<strong>in</strong>ally, I would also argue<br />
that fuzzy-set ideal type analysis can very well overcome the data issues for do<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> research. It provides a useful tool for comparative <strong>welfare</strong><br />
research.
Introduction<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen (1990) published his milestone work ‘The Three Worlds of<br />
Welfare Capitalism’, scholars have cont<strong>in</strong>ued to question whether <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states<br />
can be categorised <strong>in</strong>to this <strong>welfare</strong> regime typology (Gough, 2001, Holliday, 2000,<br />
Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen, 1997). Especially, around the <strong>Asian</strong> f<strong>in</strong>ancial crisis that started <strong>in</strong><br />
1997, there were fierce debates regard<strong>in</strong>g the existence of a unique <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
<strong>welfare</strong> model (Goodman, White & Kwon, 1997). While some scholars strongly<br />
rejected this idea (Goodman, White & Kwon, 1998, Mishra, 1995), most agreed that<br />
<strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states have some similarities <strong>in</strong> their <strong>welfare</strong> systems, giv<strong>in</strong>g credence to<br />
the notion of an <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> social policy model (Holliday & Wild<strong>in</strong>g, 2003, Holliday,<br />
2000, Kwon, 1997, Goodman & Peng, 1996). The key po<strong>in</strong>ts of social policy <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong><br />
Asia are its predom<strong>in</strong>ant economic concerns, and limited degree of autonomy<br />
(Holliday, 2005). Welfare <strong>in</strong>itiatives were made on the basis of accelerat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
economic growth. Hence, scholars argue that besides the three Western <strong>welfare</strong><br />
styles proposed by Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen (1990), there is a fourth, the productive world<br />
of <strong>welfare</strong> capitalism <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> Asia (Holliday, 2000). However, dur<strong>in</strong>g and after the<br />
<strong>Asian</strong> f<strong>in</strong>ancial crisis, <strong>East</strong> Asia’s economic and social structures were under stra<strong>in</strong>,<br />
and their social progress faced challenges, which sparked debates regard<strong>in</strong>g the crisis<br />
and its social consequences. The productivist thesis has been fac<strong>in</strong>g a fundamental<br />
challenge as part of these debates. Some <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states have reformed the <strong>welfare</strong><br />
systems start<strong>in</strong>g to provide more generous social benefits (for example South Korea,<br />
hereafter Korea and Taiwan). However, despite the fact that Holliday (2005, p. 147),<br />
the founder of productivist thesis recognised that after the f<strong>in</strong>ancial crisis, the lead<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> economies “reveal their true social policy colours”, he still claimed that<br />
the productivist concept rema<strong>in</strong>s “plausible and useful” <strong>in</strong> analys<strong>in</strong>g <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
social policy systems. Hence, because of these debates and the ambiguity of the<br />
exist<strong>in</strong>g literatures regard<strong>in</strong>g <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> regimes, it is necessary to<br />
re-exam<strong>in</strong>e the <strong>welfare</strong> types of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states <strong>in</strong> depth and with up-to-date<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation.<br />
The paper focuses on the productive and protective dimensions of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong><br />
type. As it is a part of an ongo<strong>in</strong>g PhD project, only three <strong>in</strong>dicators are used here:<br />
one productive (education) and two protective (health care and old-age pension<br />
1
enefits). Six <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states were selected to be <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong> this research, namely<br />
Ch<strong>in</strong>a, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, S<strong>in</strong>gapore and Taiwan. Fuzzy-set ideal type<br />
analysis will be employed to analyse the <strong>welfare</strong> regimes <strong>in</strong> the region. Three time<br />
po<strong>in</strong>ts were used, namely 1990, 2000 and 2010. The results show that there does not<br />
exist a unique <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> model. <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states share some common<br />
characteristics, but the <strong>in</strong>tra-regional diversity is also significant. In addition, the<br />
empirical analysis shows that the productivist thesis is not sufficiently precise to<br />
capture the nature of the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> regimes. The protective features are also<br />
notable <strong>in</strong> some states, and <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly <strong>in</strong> recent years.<br />
<strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> debates<br />
The <strong>East</strong>-<strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> type has been labelled differently based on diverse research<br />
approaches and perspectives. Among dozens of literatures, two dist<strong>in</strong>ct perspectives<br />
have prevailed. One was that there existed a unique <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> regime which<br />
is different from the West. This view was first promoted by Jones (1990) from a<br />
cultural perspective, and it was supported by some <strong>in</strong>fluential <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> experts (for<br />
example, Holliday & Wild<strong>in</strong>g, 2003, Holliday, 2000, Kwon, 1997). The other<br />
perspective is promoted by Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen (1997) who strongly disagreed with<br />
dist<strong>in</strong>guish<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> regime from Western theory. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to him,<br />
Japan, as a representative of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states, could be described as a ‘hybrid’<br />
regime ly<strong>in</strong>g between the conservative <strong>welfare</strong> state regime and the liberal <strong>welfare</strong><br />
state regime featur<strong>in</strong>g corporate social policies which rely heavily on market and<br />
family.<br />
In order to explore the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> world, different perspectives have been<br />
employed. Two broad schools have emerged, one emphasiz<strong>in</strong>g cultural and historical<br />
<strong>in</strong>fluence and the other emphasiz<strong>in</strong>g political economy.<br />
Most start<strong>in</strong>g po<strong>in</strong>ts for the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> researches are the dist<strong>in</strong>ctive culture of <strong>East</strong><br />
<strong>Asian</strong> states. The basic argument is that cultural impact makes <strong>East</strong> Asia a dist<strong>in</strong>ctive<br />
area. In 1990, one of the earliest experts <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> cultural approach research,<br />
Cather<strong>in</strong>e Jones proposed the concept of “oikonomic <strong>welfare</strong> states” by analys<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
“household management” style of government via the management of each national<br />
2
‘household economy’ (oikos <strong>in</strong> classical Greek) with the aid of ‘Western-style’<br />
social services <strong>in</strong> Hong Kong, Taiwan, S<strong>in</strong>gapore and South Korea (Jones, 1990).<br />
In her view, popular culture is a common factor from the historical context of these<br />
countries. She argued, first, that <strong>in</strong> these <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states, “whatever the extent or<br />
otherwise of notional democratisation, Western-style politics does not come easily-or<br />
fit easily when/if ever it arrives” (Jones, 1993, pp. 202-203). Instead, the Confucian<br />
culture respect for hierarchy deters public participation <strong>in</strong> policy implementation,<br />
which produces a ‘top-down’ model of the policy process. Hence, the development<br />
of public <strong>welfare</strong> has been slackened. By stress<strong>in</strong>g duties over rights, Confucianism<br />
“discourages the idea that citizens have a right to <strong>welfare</strong>” (Kasza, 2006, p. 114).<br />
Second, she <strong>in</strong>dicated that these states share a common core of beliefs, values and<br />
priorities which she called ‘Ch<strong>in</strong>eseness’. In Confucian <strong>welfare</strong> states, she found that<br />
the government has little enthusiasm for support<strong>in</strong>g the poor. “Ch<strong>in</strong>ese tradition has<br />
had little to say about the needs (let alone rights) of the disadvantaged per se. The<br />
emphasis has rather been on the duties of families and villagers to take care of their<br />
own” (Jones, 1990, p. 460). Consequently, the family has been regarded as the key<br />
unit of <strong>welfare</strong> provision. The social security <strong>in</strong> these states is “dependent <strong>in</strong> the last<br />
resort not on governments but on families and communities ”(Jones, 1993, p. 213).<br />
Based on these two arguments, Jones (1993, p. 200) summarised her view <strong>in</strong> the<br />
aphorism that “<strong>welfare</strong> states are born, not made”. Welfare policies have deep-rooted<br />
cultural values which are resistant to the ephemeral <strong>in</strong>terests and creative impulses of<br />
statesmen. Similarly, Rieger and Leibfried (2003, p. 243) emphasized the <strong>in</strong>fluence<br />
of Confucian culture <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> Asia as “the fundamental cause of an <strong>in</strong>dependent path<br />
of <strong>welfare</strong> state evolution”. They identified families and companies as the two<br />
fundamental <strong>welfare</strong> providers rather than the <strong>in</strong>stitutions of the state.<br />
To summarise Jones (1993, 1990)’s works, seven important features of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
<strong>welfare</strong> systems can be concluded. First, <strong>in</strong> the Oikonomic or Confucian <strong>welfare</strong><br />
state, economic growth is the top priority of social policy development. Second,<br />
family is an important provider of <strong>welfare</strong>. Third, the state emphasizes the duty and<br />
obligation of <strong>in</strong>dividuals. Fourth, there is no participatory democracy. Fifth,<br />
<strong>in</strong>discrim<strong>in</strong>ate, unconditional social obligation replaces the social rights found <strong>in</strong><br />
Western countries. Sixth, the role of the state is regarded as that of a householder<br />
3
who monitors, <strong>in</strong>structs, reproves, protects, encourages, and rewards his family<br />
members. And lastly, social policy is us<strong>in</strong>g for ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g social stability.<br />
Follow<strong>in</strong>g Jone’s study, Goodman and Peng (1996, p193-5) reached a similar<br />
conclusion that there may exist ‘<strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> social <strong>welfare</strong> regimes’ which are<br />
different from Western concepts by analys<strong>in</strong>g social policy <strong>in</strong> Japan, South Korea<br />
and Taiwan. These states share common features which Goodman and Peng called<br />
“the language of Confucianism” <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g “respect for seniors, filial piety, paternal<br />
benevolence, the group before <strong>in</strong>dividual, conflict avoidance, loyalty, dutifulness,<br />
lack of complacency, striv<strong>in</strong>g for learn<strong>in</strong>g, entrepreneurship and meritocracy”.<br />
The alternative approach for expla<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> miracle is one of political<br />
economy. The start<strong>in</strong>g po<strong>in</strong>t of this idea was Johnson’s (1982) famous theory of “the<br />
developmental state”. This thesis can be regarded as one of the most powerful and<br />
persuasive explanations for the economic success of <strong>East</strong> Asia (Pempel, 1999). It<br />
was first proposed by Johnson <strong>in</strong> 1982 who analysed the modal economic plann<strong>in</strong>g<br />
bureaucracy <strong>in</strong> Japan. The ideal of a ‘developmental state’ goes beyond the contrast<br />
between the American and Soviet economies (Johnson, 1999). It was a key<br />
breakthrough <strong>in</strong> the American literature on Northeast Asia which provided a breath<br />
of fresh air compared with the liberal constructions of the modernisation literature or<br />
the successive ‘pluralist’ conceptions of post-war Japan (Cum<strong>in</strong>gs, 1999) 1 .<br />
About three years later after Johnson’s (1982) developmental concept, a pioneer<strong>in</strong>g<br />
book edited by Dixon and Kim (1985) first l<strong>in</strong>ked the <strong>in</strong>stitutional characteristics of<br />
<strong>welfare</strong> systems <strong>in</strong> Asia together with the political and socio-economic context of<br />
their development. Follow<strong>in</strong>g this work, a range of publications emerged cover<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>welfare</strong> systems <strong>in</strong> the Middle <strong>East</strong>, Africa and the developed market countries (for<br />
example, Scheurell, 1989, Dixon, 1987). Later, Midgley (1986) expanded the<br />
concept of ‘developmental state’ to <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> researches. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to him,<br />
<strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> tiger economies represent a “reluctant welfarism” by which social<br />
<strong>welfare</strong> has been developed with the goal of fast economic growth. In order to<br />
achieve the economic goal, policies need to guarantee cheap production costs: for<br />
1 ‘Patterned pluralism’, ‘bureaucratic <strong>in</strong>clusionary pluralism’, ‘network state’ –all such terms seek to<br />
graft an American pluralist conception onto an unyield<strong>in</strong>g Japan (Cum<strong>in</strong>gs, 1999, p. 63).<br />
4
<strong>in</strong>stance, low taxes and wages, flexible and long work<strong>in</strong>g hours. As a result, social<br />
spend<strong>in</strong>g has rema<strong>in</strong>ed at a low level. The social benefits and their coverage have<br />
been developed reluctantly by the governments of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states.<br />
In addition, Deyo (1992, 1989) further argues that social and economic development<br />
goals <strong>in</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> NICs are closely l<strong>in</strong>ked under their basic model of development of<br />
export-oriented <strong>in</strong>dustrialisation (EOI). EOI requires more effective utilisation of<br />
human resources, such as low wages and compensation levels, high productivity, and<br />
low levels of labour conflict. In order to achieve the success of EOI, some social<br />
policies such as education, health and hous<strong>in</strong>g are needed to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> or reproduce<br />
human resources. Furthermore, to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> a low level of labour conflict, states need<br />
to <strong>in</strong>tervene <strong>in</strong> wage negotiations and control the trade unions by reduc<strong>in</strong>g their<br />
<strong>in</strong>fluence on wage sett<strong>in</strong>g, and labour and <strong>welfare</strong> policies. This is a notable feature<br />
of <strong>welfare</strong> development <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states dur<strong>in</strong>g the fast economic growth period<br />
<strong>in</strong> the twentieth century. Although there are some differences among the components<br />
of the social policies between the <strong>Asian</strong> NICs, some common features can be<br />
summarised: they all perform well <strong>in</strong> terms of enhanc<strong>in</strong>g labour productivity,<br />
encourag<strong>in</strong>g enterprise tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g, and subsidis<strong>in</strong>g wages <strong>in</strong> favour of economic growth<br />
(Deyo, 1992, pp. 304-305).<br />
Follow<strong>in</strong>g the works of Deyo (1992, 1989), Tang (2000) further highlighted the role<br />
of developmental states <strong>in</strong> economic and social policy developments by analys<strong>in</strong>g<br />
state <strong>welfare</strong> <strong>in</strong> Hong Kong, S<strong>in</strong>gapore, Korea and Taiwan <strong>in</strong> his book Social<br />
Welfare Development <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> Asia. In detail, he re-emphasised on the nature of<br />
developmental states and their particular ideologies. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to him,<br />
developmental statism has shaped the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> system. He <strong>in</strong>dicated that<br />
all these developmental states share a common feature of government <strong>in</strong>tervention<br />
(Tang, 2000, p. 137). In detail, he noted that <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> Asia, the governments take a<br />
‘production-first’ approach to public policy. As a result, their policies have been<br />
“modest, reactive, and cautious”. The top priority of governments of develop<strong>in</strong>g<br />
states is to stimulate <strong>in</strong>dustrialisation. In order to achieve this goal, social policy has<br />
been ma<strong>in</strong>ly used to promote the legitimacy of the government, to pacify the labour<br />
force and to guarantee <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> the education and health of the workforce<br />
(Aspalter, 2005).<br />
5
The idea of the ‘developmental <strong>welfare</strong> state’ has been recently supported by Kwon<br />
(2005b) and Lee and Ku (2007). Kwon (2005a) <strong>in</strong>dicated that <strong>in</strong> developmental<br />
<strong>welfare</strong> states, only a selected group of people can access the social protection<br />
programmes, while the vulnerable sections of the population are liv<strong>in</strong>g outside the<br />
system. To avoid the demand for universal <strong>welfare</strong> benefits, the state does not<br />
provide fund<strong>in</strong>g for <strong>welfare</strong> programmes. Instead, it seeks to enforce both formal and<br />
<strong>in</strong>formal rules to regulate contributions to social benefits by companies and their<br />
employees. Because of this selective system, the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>itial stage<br />
of development experienced its <strong>in</strong>evitable downside. S<strong>in</strong>ce social benefits only<br />
covered ma<strong>in</strong>ly <strong>in</strong>dustrial workers, the <strong>welfare</strong> state tended to re<strong>in</strong>force<br />
socioeconomic <strong>in</strong>equality (Kwon, 2005a). Kwon (1997) therefore po<strong>in</strong>ted out that<br />
the vulnerable people <strong>in</strong> societies suffered not only because of the difficult situation,<br />
but also because of their exclusion from the <strong>welfare</strong> state. A regressive <strong>welfare</strong><br />
system and the suppression of dissent<strong>in</strong>g voices are two significant features of <strong>East</strong><br />
<strong>Asian</strong> ‘developmental <strong>welfare</strong> states’, Kwon (2005a) concluded.<br />
As well as the developmentalism thesis, based on Johnson’ (1999, 1982) concept of<br />
the ‘developmental state’, Holliday (2000) expanded Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen’s (1990)<br />
<strong>welfare</strong> typology by add<strong>in</strong>g a fourth criterion: ‘productivist <strong>welfare</strong> capitalism<br />
(PWC). The PWC thesis has made an important contribution to the understand<strong>in</strong>g of<br />
the features of social <strong>welfare</strong> development <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states (Kim, 2008). It has<br />
two central features: first, <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states are growth-oriented developmental state;<br />
second, social policy is strictly subord<strong>in</strong>ate to the overrid<strong>in</strong>g policy objective of<br />
economic growth (Holliday, 2000). The PWC perspective strongly emphasises<br />
economic growth <strong>in</strong> the formation of social policy <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states. Holliday<br />
(2005, p. 146) <strong>in</strong>dicated that <strong>in</strong> the miracle economies, “<strong>welfare</strong> <strong>in</strong>itiative were made<br />
on the basis of their expected contribution to growth”. As a result, the states<br />
“m<strong>in</strong>imal social rights with extensions l<strong>in</strong>ked to productive activity, re<strong>in</strong>forcement of<br />
the position of productive elements <strong>in</strong> society, and state-market-family relationships<br />
directed towards growth” (Holliday, 2000, p. 708). By add<strong>in</strong>g this fourth regime to<br />
Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen’s (1990) typology, Holliday (2000, p. 709) summarised “a liberal<br />
world prioritiz<strong>in</strong>g the market, a conservative world def<strong>in</strong>ed by status, a social<br />
democratic world focused on <strong>welfare</strong>, and a productivity world premised on<br />
growth”.<br />
6
Holliday (2000) further identified three clusters with<strong>in</strong> productivist capitalism:<br />
facilitative, developmental-universalist, and developmental-particularist. The<br />
facilitative regime is similar to Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen’s liberal type, except that its social<br />
policy is subord<strong>in</strong>ated to economic growth. As a result, <strong>in</strong> this type of state, social<br />
rights are m<strong>in</strong>imal, stratification effects are limited, and the market is prioritised. In<br />
the developmental-universalist states, social rights are extended to productive<br />
elements of the population. The state plays an important role <strong>in</strong> economic policy.<br />
Therefore social policy lies significantly alongside the market and families. The<br />
developmental-particularist state has almost no social rights. The <strong>welfare</strong> is provided<br />
by the productive elements <strong>in</strong> the society. The state plays a direct role alongside the<br />
market and families. Five <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states (Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, S<strong>in</strong>gapore<br />
and Taiwan) were been analysed by brief national case studies. He f<strong>in</strong>ally<br />
summarised that Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are a developmental-universalist<br />
state with<strong>in</strong> the productivist world; Hong Kong is ma<strong>in</strong>ly a facilitative state; and<br />
S<strong>in</strong>gapore is a developmental-particularist state.<br />
Rudra (2007) also used the term ‘productive’ to identify the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong><br />
characteristics. <strong>Dr</strong>aw<strong>in</strong>g on the work of Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen (1990) and <strong>Dr</strong>éze and Sen<br />
(1989), he determ<strong>in</strong>ed the two <strong>welfare</strong> regimes to describe <strong>welfare</strong> development <strong>in</strong><br />
low develop<strong>in</strong>g countries – productive and protective. Unlike Holliday, however, he<br />
l<strong>in</strong>ked the ‘productive <strong>welfare</strong> regime’ to Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen’s commodification<br />
concept. Degrees of commodification <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the level of public <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong><br />
education and health care, literacy rates, rates of <strong>in</strong>fant mortality and the percentage<br />
of <strong>in</strong>fants vacc<strong>in</strong>ated aga<strong>in</strong>st diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT), are used to<br />
measure productivity. Productive <strong>welfare</strong> states, accord<strong>in</strong>g to him, are export-led<br />
countries which prioritize commodification (2007, p. 384). <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states have<br />
been clearly grouped <strong>in</strong>to the productive <strong>welfare</strong> regime. Despite the fact that the<br />
productive <strong>welfare</strong> regime has different explanations between Rudra and Holliday,<br />
there are some common features that can be summarised. Both of them emphasized<br />
public human capital <strong>in</strong>vestments, and the range of social policies is much more<br />
limited and closely l<strong>in</strong>ked to economic purpose.<br />
Productivism <strong>welfare</strong> capitalism is one of the most important concepts <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
<strong>welfare</strong> research. However, like Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen’s typology, it is also the most<br />
7
controversial theory <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> studies. Scholars argue its rationality <strong>in</strong> a<br />
variety of aspects. One crucial view is that after the economic crisis <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
countries, particularly <strong>in</strong> Korea, the productivist model seems not to work (Kim,<br />
2008). The theory therefore needs to be reviewed seriously from at least the<br />
follow<strong>in</strong>g po<strong>in</strong>ts.<br />
First, from the most fundamental view, scholars (for example, Kwon (1998) and<br />
Goodman, White and Kwon (1998)) have argued whether there is a unique <strong>East</strong><br />
<strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> model. Second, Kim (2008) argued that the PWC thesis is <strong>in</strong>adequate<br />
to describe the <strong>welfare</strong> development <strong>in</strong> some states (e.g. Korea and Taiwan) after<br />
<strong>Asian</strong> f<strong>in</strong>ancial crisis. Third, some features of the PWC may not be uniquely <strong>Asian</strong>.<br />
For <strong>in</strong>stance, Pierson (2004, pp. 223-232) po<strong>in</strong>ted out that the features of PWC has<br />
also been recurrent <strong>in</strong> Lat<strong>in</strong> America. Hence, Bonoli and Sh<strong>in</strong>kawa (2005, p. 21)<br />
may be right to po<strong>in</strong>t out that ‘Welfare states everywhere help improve productivity<br />
and contribute to economic’. Last but not least, the PWC perspective lacks a real<br />
comparative framework. One crucial argument for apply<strong>in</strong>g PWC <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> Asia is its<br />
ability to capture the unique characteristics of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> system rather than<br />
Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen’s typology. However, compared with the measurement <strong>in</strong>dices of<br />
the three regimes, Holliday’s analysis lacks quantifiable, systematic <strong>in</strong>dicators<br />
enabl<strong>in</strong>g a consistent and a comparative measurement of “the degree of<br />
subord<strong>in</strong>ation” of social policy to the economy (Kim, 2008). This perspective relies<br />
heavily on some unsystematic features which are based on some selective case<br />
evidences.<br />
Therefore, as with Esp<strong>in</strong>g-Andersen’s typology, despite the PWC be<strong>in</strong>g the most<br />
crucial conceptual framework of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> regimes, it still needs to be<br />
revised carefully <strong>in</strong> the context of the drawbacks discussed above<br />
A difficult conclusion<br />
Despite scholars attempts to identify <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> regimes from varied<br />
perspectives dur<strong>in</strong>g the last two decades, it seems that it is difficult to reach a<br />
satisfactory conclusion to capture the nature of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> type. All the<br />
exist<strong>in</strong>g theories have been consistently criticized and reviewed from a variety of<br />
8
perspectives and approaches. Choi (2007) argued that the exist<strong>in</strong>g discussions have<br />
neither provided a satisfactory tool to understand current <strong>welfare</strong> changes nor offered<br />
new and mean<strong>in</strong>gful <strong>in</strong>sights.<br />
However, although the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> model thesis has faced considerable challenges, it<br />
should not be denied that <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states do share some common characteristics.<br />
First, the cultural <strong>in</strong>fluence shapes the <strong>in</strong>itial characteristics of <strong>welfare</strong> programmes<br />
<strong>in</strong> these states, though <strong>in</strong> different degrees and from varied aspects. For <strong>in</strong>stance,<br />
although it has faced considerable criticisms, Confucianism, one of the most<br />
<strong>in</strong>fluential ideologies <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> (specially North-<strong>East</strong>) <strong>Asian</strong> states, can still be viewed<br />
as an important macro-level factor <strong>in</strong> the policy mak<strong>in</strong>g process. In addition, the<br />
colonial experiences of Korea and Taiwan from Japan, and of Hong Kong and<br />
S<strong>in</strong>gapore from the United K<strong>in</strong>gdom have caused these states to share some common<br />
features. Second, economic development is the central goal for the states, and social<br />
policy is ma<strong>in</strong>ly designed for achiev<strong>in</strong>g this goal. This viewpo<strong>in</strong>t has been cited by<br />
most <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> literatures. The <strong>Asian</strong> cases illustrate how economic and<br />
social policies are <strong>in</strong>tegrated and <strong>in</strong>teract. Third, due to the priority given to the<br />
economic feature, the states <strong>in</strong>sist on m<strong>in</strong>imiz<strong>in</strong>g their role and maximiz<strong>in</strong>g the role<br />
of firms and families <strong>in</strong> terms of <strong>welfare</strong> provision. In other words, the state acts as a<br />
regulator <strong>in</strong>stead of a provider. Fourth, <strong>in</strong> order to achieve the m<strong>in</strong>imal f<strong>in</strong>ancial<br />
<strong>in</strong>vestment, the <strong>welfare</strong> programmes are either <strong>in</strong>surance-based or rely on provident<br />
funds, or a mixture of the two. Such <strong>welfare</strong> provision structures rely heavily on civil<br />
society for f<strong>in</strong>anc<strong>in</strong>g <strong>welfare</strong> provision. As a result, redistribution is m<strong>in</strong>imal <strong>in</strong> these<br />
states. Fifth, universalism and equalitism are very limited. Welfare programmes are<br />
mostly selective, focus<strong>in</strong>g first on state employees and core workers with slower<br />
expansion to other groups. Such common characteristics have led scholars to argue<br />
the existence of the new fourth type <strong>welfare</strong> regime-the <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> regime.<br />
These shared characteristics of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states offered by exist<strong>in</strong>g literatures could<br />
obviously help further researches. These studies have lit a light for open<strong>in</strong>g a<br />
discussion about <strong>welfare</strong> development <strong>in</strong> the region. They also provide some<br />
mean<strong>in</strong>gful empirical studies for further research.<br />
9
Besides these similarities among <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states, <strong>in</strong> recent years, scholars have<br />
tended to identify the <strong>in</strong>tra-regional differences with<strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states. Recent<br />
research f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs on the ideal type analysis of <strong>welfare</strong> systems show systematic<br />
differences across the region. Look<strong>in</strong>g more closely at <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states, one could<br />
easily f<strong>in</strong>d a great many differences between these states from their political<br />
structures and economic systems to their <strong>welfare</strong> systems (Takegawa, 2005).<br />
An empirical work regard<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>tra-regional divergence was that of Park and Jung<br />
(2007) which clearly showed the diversity across <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states. Based on cluster<br />
analysis of three aspects – the number and tim<strong>in</strong>g of <strong>welfare</strong> legislation, the contents<br />
of key <strong>welfare</strong> programmes (<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g pensions, health, work <strong>in</strong>jury, and<br />
unemployment) and public expenditure on social <strong>welfare</strong> (<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g education,<br />
hous<strong>in</strong>g, social security and health), n<strong>in</strong>e <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states were clustered <strong>in</strong>to<br />
sub-types. Their work challenged the homogenous view of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong><br />
systems.<br />
Moreover, if the research boundary is broadened from Japan and the ‘little tiger’ to<br />
Ch<strong>in</strong>a or South-<strong>East</strong>ern Asia, this adds a further challenge to comparative <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
<strong>welfare</strong> research. In Hudson and Kühner’s (2011) most recent empirical <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
<strong>welfare</strong> research, seven <strong>Asian</strong> countries <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g Malaysia, S<strong>in</strong>gapore, Ch<strong>in</strong>a,<br />
Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and Japan are <strong>in</strong>volved. Through Fuzzy-set ideal type<br />
analysis, they found that it is difficult to agree that there is a coherent <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
<strong>welfare</strong> model. The seven states have been classified <strong>in</strong> five ideal types. Malaysia<br />
and S<strong>in</strong>gapore have been placed <strong>in</strong> purely productive ideal type. Both the two<br />
countries show the extremely high scores for education <strong>in</strong>vestment. Ch<strong>in</strong>a and<br />
Taiwan has been clustered <strong>in</strong>to protective plus ideal type, which featured both social<br />
protection (<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>come protection and employment protection) and education<br />
<strong>in</strong>vestment characteristics. Korea jo<strong>in</strong>s Hong Kong <strong>in</strong> the<br />
weak-productive-protective ideal type, but shows slightly different focal area. In<br />
terms of social protection, Korea emphasizes on employment protection, while Hong<br />
Kong choses to focus on <strong>in</strong>come protection. Japan has fallen <strong>in</strong>to pure<br />
non-productive ideal type. Their work is also the start<strong>in</strong>g po<strong>in</strong>t of this paper. I follow<br />
their basic ideology, but with different <strong>in</strong>dicators and empirical evidence.<br />
10
Fuzzy-set ideal type analysis<br />
Lack of quantitative data is a common issue for all <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> experts. Fuzzy-set<br />
analysis may well overcome this problem. It follows all the pr<strong>in</strong>ciples of<br />
set-theoretic theory, with the addition of ideal type analysis. An ideal type <strong>in</strong> the<br />
Weberian sense refers to one which is “formed by the one-sided accentuation of one<br />
or more po<strong>in</strong>ts of view and by the synthesis of a great many diffuse, more or less<br />
present and occasionally absent concrete <strong>in</strong>dividual phenomena, which are arranged<br />
accord<strong>in</strong>g to those one-sidedly emphasized viewpo<strong>in</strong>ts <strong>in</strong>to a unified analytical<br />
construct” (Weber, 1949, p. 90). The sets are understood as “dist<strong>in</strong>ct and differ<strong>in</strong>g<br />
configurations of multiple, conceptually rooted, dimensions” (Hudson & Kühner,<br />
2010, p. 169), which need to be designed to reflect theoretical concepts and<br />
analytical constructs (Kvist, 2007). The possible comb<strong>in</strong>ations of the sets constitute<br />
the so-called multi-dimensional property or vector space. With k be<strong>in</strong>g the number of<br />
aspects or sets, there are 2 k possible comb<strong>in</strong>ations <strong>in</strong> this property space, <strong>in</strong> other<br />
words, the ideal types. Two pr<strong>in</strong>ciples are important <strong>in</strong> FsITA- logical AND and<br />
logical negation. A symbol ‘*’ is used to denote logical AND. Sets A and B are<br />
writ<strong>in</strong>g as ‘A*B’. In the operation of logical AND, the m<strong>in</strong>imum rule is used. In<br />
other words, the fuzzy set score of logical AND is the m<strong>in</strong>imum value of all sets<br />
across the elements that are comb<strong>in</strong>ed. Logical negation of set A is written as ‘~A’<br />
or ‘a’. The calculation of logical negation is a subtraction of the case’s membership<br />
and 1.<br />
The operation of fuzzy-set ideal type analysis is quite straightforward. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
Kvist, a complete fsITA <strong>in</strong>cludes four basic steps (Kvist, 1999, p. 234). First,<br />
identify aspects (or sets) based on theories and substantive knowledge. Second,<br />
calibrate the cases’ membership scores of each set by us<strong>in</strong>g fuzzy-set theory. In other<br />
words, specify the membership scores between two breakpo<strong>in</strong>ts-fully <strong>in</strong> (1) and fully<br />
out (0). The calibration needs to be based on ‘external, dependably known standards’<br />
and should not use ‘very crude but passive’ mean averages and standard deviations<br />
(Rag<strong>in</strong>, 2008, p. 77). Depend<strong>in</strong>g on the varied substance of concepts and the raw<br />
material, numerous fuzzy category <strong>in</strong>tervals may be used (Kvist, 2007, Rag<strong>in</strong>, 2000).<br />
The most straightforward model is to compute a cont<strong>in</strong>uous scale of values between<br />
the two breakpo<strong>in</strong>ts (Rag<strong>in</strong> & Giesel, 2008). Third, calculate the membership of each<br />
11
case <strong>in</strong> the ideal-typical model by us<strong>in</strong>g set-theoretical rules. And f<strong>in</strong>ally, evaluate<br />
the homogeneity of cases to measure the conformity of each case to the ideal-typical<br />
<strong>in</strong>stance.<br />
Table 1 Ideal types of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> regime<br />
Ideal-types<br />
Education Health Old-age Model<br />
(E) care(H) pension (P)<br />
Productive-protective Strong Strong Strong E*H*P<br />
Productive Strong Weak Weak E*~H*~P<br />
Protective Weak Strong Strong ~E*H*P<br />
Weak<br />
Strong Weak Strong E*~H* P<br />
productive-protective Strong Strong Weak E*H* ~P<br />
Weak protective Weak Strong Weak ~E*H*~P<br />
Weak Weak Strong ~E*~H*P<br />
Weak <strong>welfare</strong> Weak Weak Weak ~E*~H*~P<br />
For analys<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> regime, three <strong>in</strong>dicators are employed <strong>in</strong> this<br />
study. Education service represents the productive characteristics of the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong><br />
<strong>welfare</strong> systems, while health care and old-age pension-two important aspects of<br />
social protection are used to measure the protective features. As this work is part of a<br />
larger PhD project, not all the necessary <strong>in</strong>dicators are <strong>in</strong>cluded at this time (for<br />
example, active labour market policy, and hous<strong>in</strong>g policy and other <strong>in</strong>come<br />
protection schemes are excluded). Hence, the results presented <strong>in</strong> this work are only<br />
rough conclusion and they will be reviewed <strong>in</strong> the further research. <strong>Dr</strong>aw<strong>in</strong>g on the<br />
paper of Hudson and Kühner (2011), the ideal types are shown <strong>in</strong> Table 1.<br />
Operationaliz<strong>in</strong>g the fuzzy sets<br />
Calibration is crucially important <strong>in</strong> operat<strong>in</strong>g the fuzzy-set ideal type analysis.<br />
Transparent calibration is highly recommended by experts <strong>in</strong> order to produce<br />
replicable analyses (Schneider & Wagemann, 2012, Rag<strong>in</strong>, 2008). In this part,<br />
follow<strong>in</strong>g this recommendation, the calibration of sets is discussed <strong>in</strong> detail. Table 2<br />
shows the empirical <strong>in</strong>dicators and their fuzzy <strong>in</strong>terval scores. The fuzzy <strong>in</strong>terval<br />
12
scores basically follows Kvist (1999)’s classification. As lack of comparable data,<br />
the calibration is ma<strong>in</strong>ly based on case knowledge.<br />
Education service (E)<br />
Heavy <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> human capital is a key characteristic of a productivist <strong>welfare</strong><br />
regime. Education has always been regarded as an important tool to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><br />
economic growth <strong>in</strong> the region. To measure education, three equally weighted<br />
sub-<strong>in</strong>dicators are used: public spend<strong>in</strong>g on education expenditure (S), the free<br />
education service (G), and the tertiary education (A). Means rather than the<br />
m<strong>in</strong>imum value of S, G and A are used to produce the fuzzy set score of the<br />
education set. This is because these three <strong>in</strong>dicators are equally important <strong>in</strong> this<br />
context. Us<strong>in</strong>g m<strong>in</strong>imum values might conceal some important features of their<br />
education systems. However, this strategy may also be revisited <strong>in</strong> the future. A<br />
similar ideology has also been used <strong>in</strong> produc<strong>in</strong>g the health set.<br />
The fully-<strong>in</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t of the spend<strong>in</strong>g set is set at 20%. The fully-out po<strong>in</strong>t of the set is<br />
set at 10%. The cross-over po<strong>in</strong>t is set at 15%. It is ma<strong>in</strong>ly based on Hudson and<br />
Kühner (2009)’s strategy, that education is one of the five important aspects of social<br />
policy (education, health service, hous<strong>in</strong>g, social security and employment).<br />
Theoretically, all five aspects should be given equal emphasis, and a 20% share of<br />
each aspect has been set as the middle po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>in</strong> their work. However, compared with<br />
other social aspects, education spend<strong>in</strong>g is significantly low. Dur<strong>in</strong>g the last two<br />
decades, the education spend<strong>in</strong>g of the OECD average has never reached 20%.<br />
Hence, <strong>in</strong> this paper, 20% has been set as the fully-<strong>in</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t, with the 10% as the floor<br />
po<strong>in</strong>t. The fuzzy-set scores are shown <strong>in</strong> Table 3.<br />
13
Table 2 Empirical <strong>in</strong>dicators and fuzzy set <strong>in</strong>terval scores<br />
Area Empirical <strong>in</strong>dicator Fully <strong>in</strong> the set<br />
Almost <strong>in</strong> the<br />
set<br />
Fairly <strong>in</strong> the<br />
set<br />
More or less<br />
<strong>in</strong> the set<br />
Neither <strong>in</strong> nor<br />
out of the set<br />
Fairly out of<br />
the set<br />
Mostly out of<br />
the set<br />
Almost out of<br />
the set<br />
Fully out of<br />
the set<br />
Education<br />
Spend<strong>in</strong>g measured by ratio of<br />
public education expenditure <strong>in</strong><br />
total public expenditure (%)<br />
1.00<br />
0.83-0.99 0.67-0.82 0.51-0.66 0.5<br />
0.33-0.49 0.17-0.32 0.01-0.16 0.00<br />
≥ 20 18.35-19.99 16.68-18.34 15.01-16.67 15 13.36-14.99 11.68-13.35 10.01-11.67 ≤ 10<br />
Health<br />
Generosity measured by the<br />
duration of free education service<br />
Accessibility measured by the<br />
difficulty for access<strong>in</strong>g f<strong>in</strong>ancial<br />
aid <strong>in</strong> tertiary education (%)<br />
Spend<strong>in</strong>g measured by the share<br />
of public health expenditure <strong>in</strong><br />
total public expenditure (%)<br />
≥15 13-14 10-12 7-9 6 4-5 3-4 1-2 0<br />
unselective<br />
student loan<br />
with loose<br />
requirement,<br />
Various<br />
f<strong>in</strong>ancial aids<br />
available<br />
- - - Unselective<br />
student loan<br />
with fairly<br />
strict<br />
requirement<br />
- - - Very strict<br />
selective<br />
f<strong>in</strong>ancial aid<br />
Few f<strong>in</strong>ancial<br />
≥ 20 18.35-19.99 17.68-18.34 15.01-16.67 15 13.36-14.99 11.68-13.35 10.01-11.67 ≤ 10<br />
aid<br />
Pension<br />
Universality measured by the<br />
coverage of public health service<br />
(%)<br />
Quality measured by the Heath<br />
Index (0-1)<br />
Generosity measured by average<br />
net replacement rate (%)<br />
> 80 70.01-80 60.01-70 50.02-60 50.01 40.01-50 30.01-40 20.01-30 ≤ 20<br />
>0.84<br />
>0.91<br />
>0.94<br />
>90<br />
High<br />
0.81-0.84<br />
0.86-0.91<br />
0.90-0.94<br />
0.75-0.80<br />
0.81-0.85<br />
0.85-0.89<br />
0.71-0.74<br />
0.75-0.80<br />
0.79-0.84<br />
0.70<br />
0.74<br />
0.78<br />
84.1-90 67.1-84 50.1-67 50<br />
Medium<br />
0.63-0.69<br />
0.67-0.73<br />
0.73-0.77<br />
0.56-0.62<br />
0.61-0.66<br />
0.67-0.72<br />
0.49-0.55<br />
0.55-0.60<br />
0.61-0.66<br />
In terms of free education service, the states which are fully-<strong>in</strong> the set is set have free<br />
pre-university education, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g k<strong>in</strong>dergarten, primary and secondary education.<br />
Countries with free primary education are set as neither <strong>in</strong> nor out of the set. The<br />
states which are fully-out of the set have no free education service. All six states<br />
provide compulsory free 2 primary and lower secondary public education service to<br />
citizens. This has normally covered n<strong>in</strong>e years of education for students from six<br />
years old to fifteen years old. Moreover, s<strong>in</strong>ce 2008, Hong Kong has extended the<br />
free education period to twelve years. Similarly, Taiwan will implement a free upper<br />
secondary education service <strong>in</strong> 2014 (M<strong>in</strong>istry of Education Republic of Ch<strong>in</strong>a,<br />
2013). In addition, the free education service has also covered five years old pupils<br />
<strong>in</strong> k<strong>in</strong>dergarten <strong>in</strong> Taiwan s<strong>in</strong>ce 2010.<br />
For tertiary education, tuition fees, availability of student loans and access to<br />
f<strong>in</strong>ancial aid are considered for scor<strong>in</strong>g. Japan has been classified <strong>in</strong>to the group with<br />
the highest fees but limited access to f<strong>in</strong>ancial aid (OECD, 2012). With strict<br />
selective conditions, only 33% of students received public loans or grants <strong>in</strong> 2010.<br />
Korea has the third highest tuition fees <strong>in</strong> OECD countries, one place higher than<br />
Japan. The public resource is limited <strong>in</strong> tertiary education, whereas its high private<br />
expenditure <strong>in</strong> higher education is also significant (OECD, 2012). Korea has<br />
implemented various student loans or grants schemes s<strong>in</strong>ce 1967. The Korean<br />
student loans have clear occupational preference: they have primarily been available<br />
to public sector employees (<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g government and faculty employees), <strong>in</strong>dustrial<br />
workers, and their children 3 . In 1995, a new need-based and merit-based student loan<br />
was <strong>in</strong>troduced with a special focus on students from farm<strong>in</strong>g and fish<strong>in</strong>g villages.<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce 1999, the student loan scheme has expanded to <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g poor students. In<br />
2007, 615,063 students benefited from this type of loan (Chae & Hong, 2009). More<br />
recently, <strong>in</strong> 2010, a new <strong>in</strong>come-cont<strong>in</strong>gent student loan programme (referred to as<br />
the Study-Now-Pay-Later programme) was <strong>in</strong>troduced (Lee, 2010). No guarantors<br />
are needed with this loan. Students are required to pay back the loan with<strong>in</strong> 25 years<br />
2 Limited miscellaneous fees may be chargeable, as for example <strong>in</strong> S<strong>in</strong>gapore and Ch<strong>in</strong>a.<br />
3 The first student loan scheme was run by the Government Employees Pension Corporation and was<br />
implemented <strong>in</strong> 1967: government employees and their children are the ma<strong>in</strong> target group. In 1976,<br />
the Korean Teachers Pension Fund has provided support for faculty and their children. Industrial<br />
accident victims and their children are <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong> the student loans scheme <strong>in</strong> 1987. In 1995, a new<br />
student loan programme was published to cover beneficiaries of employment <strong>in</strong>surance.<br />
15
of atta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g employment. This type of student loan is quite similar to the student<br />
loans <strong>in</strong> Western countries. S<strong>in</strong>ce it has only recently been implemented, there is no<br />
available data show<strong>in</strong>g the number of beneficiaries. However, the Korean<br />
government has stated that it may enable about half of university students to go on<br />
study<strong>in</strong>g without worry<strong>in</strong>g about how to f<strong>in</strong>ance it (The Korea Times, 2009).<br />
Ch<strong>in</strong>a’s tuition fees have dramatically <strong>in</strong>creased s<strong>in</strong>ce the 1990s. In 1990, higher<br />
education was free of charge <strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>a. Students only needed to pay a small amount<br />
of their miscellaneous fees. The tuition fee had <strong>in</strong>creased to 2500 Yuan (around 400<br />
US dollars) on average by 1999, and has cont<strong>in</strong>ued <strong>in</strong>crease to 6000 Yuan (nearly<br />
1000 US dollars) <strong>in</strong> 2009. While it is still much lower than <strong>in</strong> OECD countries and <strong>in</strong><br />
five other <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states, consider<strong>in</strong>g the average <strong>in</strong>come, it is still difficult for<br />
many Ch<strong>in</strong>ese families to afford it. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Ch<strong>in</strong>a’s social security system<br />
development report (2012), support<strong>in</strong>g one student to complete tertiary education <strong>in</strong><br />
Ch<strong>in</strong>a needs 4.2 years net <strong>in</strong>come of an urban worker or 13.6 years net <strong>in</strong>come of a<br />
peasant. The tuition fees <strong>in</strong>creased 25 times from 1989 to 2009. Ch<strong>in</strong>a launched its<br />
first student loan programme <strong>in</strong> 1986, named the Student Loans Scheme (SLS). The<br />
average amount of the loan was small, 300 Yuan per year, that is 25 Yuan per month,<br />
which was too small to resolve the difficulties of poor students. The repayment<br />
period was short and the loan had to be repaid before graduation (Shen & Li, 2003).<br />
As well as the SLS, grants, scholarships, work-study funds and tuition-cost waiv<strong>in</strong>g<br />
are also available for Ch<strong>in</strong>ese students. However, the coverage of these f<strong>in</strong>ancial aids<br />
was small and decl<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the 1990s. In fact, the SLS and tuition-cost waiv<strong>in</strong>g had<br />
almost ceased. Consequently, most poor students could not obta<strong>in</strong> sufficient<br />
f<strong>in</strong>ancial aid. Therefore, ‘new’ loan schemes were <strong>in</strong>troduced. In 1999, the<br />
General-Commercial Student Loans Scheme (GCSLS) was published and this was<br />
implemented <strong>in</strong> 2000. The scheme applied to all post-secondary-education students<br />
and their parents or guardians. All students aged eighteen and over <strong>in</strong> higher<br />
education <strong>in</strong>stitutions (<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g both public and private) were eligible to apply. A<br />
student can borrow 2000-20000 Yuan per academic year to pay for tuition and liv<strong>in</strong>g<br />
costs <strong>in</strong> 2002. The repayment periods are flexible, based on the regulations of<br />
different loan providers. The application of GCSLS needs a guarantee through the<br />
assets of parents/guardians. Consequently, it is targeted more at the students from<br />
middle- or upper-class families which can mortgage assets for loans. The GCSLS is<br />
16
therefore, to some extent, unequal to access (Shen & Li, 2003). In addition to the<br />
GCSLS, Ch<strong>in</strong>a has <strong>in</strong>troduced the Government-Subsidized Student Loans Scheme<br />
(GSSLS) <strong>in</strong> 2000. This was further reviewed <strong>in</strong> 2004 and 2006. The GSSLS is<br />
focused on poor students. The maximum loan is 6000 Yuan per academic year.<br />
However, even with these two student loan schemes, still only a limited proportion<br />
of students (around 20% of the total student body) can access f<strong>in</strong>ancial aid. Both<br />
Hong Kong and S<strong>in</strong>gapore provide non need-based student loans. The f<strong>in</strong>ancial aid<br />
for higher education <strong>in</strong> Taiwan is very limited and is ma<strong>in</strong>ly merit-based. The<br />
follow<strong>in</strong>g Table 3 shows the fuzzy-set score of the education service <strong>in</strong> the states<br />
under consideration here.<br />
Table 3 Education service with fuzzy set scores<br />
States Year Spend<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
education<br />
service (S)<br />
Ch<strong>in</strong>a 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
Hong Kong 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
Japan 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
Korea 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
S<strong>in</strong>gapore 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
Taiwan 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
1<br />
1<br />
0.40<br />
0.75<br />
0.87<br />
0.87<br />
0.60<br />
0.38<br />
0<br />
0.76<br />
0.54<br />
0.51<br />
0.97<br />
1<br />
1<br />
0<br />
0.03<br />
0.29<br />
Generosity of<br />
education<br />
service (G)<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.82<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.66<br />
0.83<br />
Accessibility<br />
of education<br />
(A)<br />
1<br />
0.34<br />
0.14<br />
0.83<br />
0.83<br />
0.83<br />
0.13<br />
0.13<br />
0.13<br />
0.16<br />
0.51<br />
0.85<br />
0.85<br />
0.85<br />
0.85<br />
0.43<br />
0.43<br />
0.43<br />
Education <strong>in</strong><br />
ideal-type<br />
analysis<br />
(Means of S,<br />
G, and A)<br />
0.89<br />
0.67<br />
0.4<br />
0.75<br />
0.79<br />
0.84<br />
0.46<br />
0.39<br />
0.26<br />
0.52<br />
0.57<br />
0.67<br />
0.83<br />
0.84<br />
0.84<br />
0.36<br />
0.37<br />
0.52<br />
Health (H)<br />
A health service is a basic social protection for a state. Three sub-<strong>in</strong>dicators are used<br />
for measur<strong>in</strong>g health service: spend<strong>in</strong>g (S), universality (U) and quality (Q). The<br />
17
cut-off po<strong>in</strong>ts of spend<strong>in</strong>g follow the same format as education spend<strong>in</strong>g. In terms of<br />
universality, this paper uses Kvist’s (1999) fully-<strong>in</strong> and fully-out po<strong>in</strong>ts. Quality of a<br />
health service is measured by the Health Index published by the United Nations. The<br />
fully-<strong>in</strong> po<strong>in</strong>ts are set <strong>in</strong> accordance with a very high Human Development Index<br />
(HDI) score, while the fully-out po<strong>in</strong>ts are set to the low HDI score; the medium<br />
HDI score is used as the mid-po<strong>in</strong>t. The three <strong>in</strong>dicators are equally important <strong>in</strong><br />
measur<strong>in</strong>g the health service. Hence, the mean of S, U and Q are used to produce the<br />
fuzzy score of a health service. Aga<strong>in</strong>, this strategy may be reviewed <strong>in</strong> the future<br />
research. Table 4 shows the fuzzy scores of the set.<br />
Among the six states studied, Hong Kong has the most generous public health<br />
service. The health care system <strong>in</strong> Hong Kong is very similar to the National Health<br />
Service (NHS) <strong>in</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong>. No f<strong>in</strong>ancial contributions are required to access public<br />
health service. Public hospitals only make a small charge for each visit. In 2012, a<br />
visit to a public hospital only costs HK$45 <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g medic<strong>in</strong>es, X-ray exam<strong>in</strong>ations,<br />
laboratory test, and etc. Visit<strong>in</strong>g specialists costs double at HK$100 for first<br />
attendance, HK$60 for follow-up and HK$10 per drug item (GovHK, 2012). This<br />
system <strong>in</strong>cludes not only Hong Kong citizens or permanent resident, but also<br />
non-permanent residents. In terms of coverage, no major changes <strong>in</strong> these states, and<br />
Ch<strong>in</strong>a is the only exception. Ch<strong>in</strong>a has been undertak<strong>in</strong>g a major reform of its health<br />
care system s<strong>in</strong>ce 2000. In the 1990s, the health <strong>in</strong>surance only covered employees<br />
<strong>in</strong> public sectors and state-owned enterprises. In 2001, <strong>in</strong>surance-based health care <strong>in</strong><br />
urban areas replaced the previous health care provision which had been based on<br />
work units. Later, <strong>in</strong> 2003, the New Rural Co-operative Medical Care System<br />
(NRCMCS) was <strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>in</strong> some areas. It has been implemented across the whole<br />
of Ch<strong>in</strong>a s<strong>in</strong>ce 2010. The replacement rate is from 30% to 80% depend<strong>in</strong>g on the<br />
location and hospital. In 2008, 87% of the total Ch<strong>in</strong>ese population was covered by<br />
various social health <strong>in</strong>surance schemes (Meng & Tang, 2010). Japan achieved<br />
universal health care coverage <strong>in</strong> 1961. The Japanese <strong>in</strong>surance-based health care<br />
system has also been applauded for its low cost with equity and excellent population<br />
health (Shibuya et al., 2011). Similarly, Taiwan also has an <strong>in</strong>surance-based health<br />
care system, named the National Health Insurance (NHI). Accord<strong>in</strong>g to the Bureau<br />
of National Health Insurance (2011), All Taiwan nationals benefits from compulsory<br />
health care only with small fees. Health care <strong>in</strong> South Korea is also compulsory and<br />
18
equired by Korean laws. Every resident <strong>in</strong> the country is eligible regardless of<br />
nationality (Song, 2009). Health care system <strong>in</strong> S<strong>in</strong>gapore is very unique among the<br />
six states. It is f<strong>in</strong>anc<strong>in</strong>g through a three-tier scheme <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g compulsory sav<strong>in</strong>gs,<br />
low-cost catastrophic illness <strong>in</strong>surance and a state-funded endowment fund to pay for<br />
health care needs of the destitute (Lim, 1998). It is a compulsory universal service<br />
across the country.<br />
Table 4 Health service <strong>in</strong> fuzzy set score<br />
States Year Spend<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
Health<br />
service (S)<br />
Universality<br />
of health<br />
care (U)<br />
Quality of<br />
health care<br />
(Q)<br />
Health<br />
service <strong>in</strong><br />
ideal type<br />
(mean of S,U<br />
and Q)<br />
Ch<strong>in</strong>a 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0.1<br />
0.1<br />
1<br />
0.80<br />
0.67<br />
0.66<br />
0.6<br />
0.56<br />
0.55<br />
Hong Kong 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
0<br />
0.19<br />
0.31<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
0.67<br />
0.73<br />
0.77<br />
Japan 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
1<br />
1<br />
0.91<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
0.97<br />
Korea 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
0.83<br />
0.90<br />
1<br />
0.61<br />
0.6<br />
0.67<br />
S<strong>in</strong>gapore 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
0.67<br />
0.67<br />
0.67<br />
Taiwan i 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
-<br />
-<br />
-<br />
0.51<br />
0.51<br />
0.51<br />
Notes: i. Health Index is unavailable for Taiwan. The Mean of S and U are used<br />
<strong>in</strong>stead. For avoid<strong>in</strong>g the score of 0.5, 0.51 is used.<br />
Old-age pension (P)<br />
Old-age pension is important to protect aga<strong>in</strong>st the reduced <strong>in</strong>comes of the elderly.<br />
The styles of national old-age pension are very diverse <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states. Two<br />
sub-<strong>in</strong>dicators are used to measure the old-age pension: net replacement rate and<br />
universality of pension. Data issue is significant for measur<strong>in</strong>g pension systems.<br />
Hence, the score is ma<strong>in</strong>ly based on case knowledge. The ‘Pension at a Glance report’<br />
19
published by the OECD and the national annual year statistics book are also<br />
<strong>in</strong>volved.<br />
For measur<strong>in</strong>g the generosity of a pension system, the net replacement data has been<br />
available s<strong>in</strong>ce 2010. In accordance with Kvist (2003), fully out po<strong>in</strong>t is sett<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
20%. This strategy is also used by Vis (2007). The reason for this accord<strong>in</strong>g to them<br />
is that if an <strong>in</strong>dividual’s <strong>in</strong>come reduces to 20% or less, it is impossible to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> a<br />
standard of liv<strong>in</strong>g. They also po<strong>in</strong>ted out that a 90% net replacement rate can be<br />
viewed as the fully-<strong>in</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t. For another two time po<strong>in</strong>ts, it is difficult to acquire<br />
quantitative data. Therefore, the fuzzy-set scores of 1990 and 2000 are based on the<br />
case knowledge. Table 5 shows the result of the calibration.<br />
Table 5 Old-age pension with fuzzy set scores<br />
States Year Generosity of<br />
pension (G)<br />
Ch<strong>in</strong>a 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
Hong Kong 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
Japan 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
Korea 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
S<strong>in</strong>gapore 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
Taiwan 1990<br />
2000<br />
2010<br />
0.49<br />
0.49<br />
0.59<br />
0.13<br />
0.15<br />
0.18<br />
0.35<br />
0.35<br />
0.35<br />
0.6<br />
0.6<br />
0.52<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0.56<br />
0.56<br />
0.59<br />
Universality<br />
of pension(U)<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0.18<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
1<br />
0.<br />
0.17<br />
0.7<br />
0.55<br />
0.55<br />
0.7<br />
0.65<br />
0.70<br />
0.89<br />
Pension<br />
system <strong>in</strong><br />
ideal type<br />
(G*U)<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0.18<br />
0.13<br />
0.15<br />
0.18<br />
0.35<br />
0.35<br />
0.35<br />
0<br />
0.17<br />
0.52<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0<br />
0.56<br />
0.56<br />
0.59<br />
Dur<strong>in</strong>g the last two decades, Ch<strong>in</strong>a, Korea and Taiwan have launched major reforms<br />
of their pension systems (SSA, 2012). A new <strong>in</strong>surance-based pension system has<br />
replaced the old work-unit based pension <strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>a s<strong>in</strong>ce the 1990s. A rural pension<br />
scheme was <strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>in</strong> 2009. This was the first time that rural area had been<br />
20
covered <strong>in</strong> the pension system. However, the benefits level is extraord<strong>in</strong>arily lower<br />
than <strong>in</strong> urban areas. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to the ‘Guidance of New Rural Pension Scheme’<br />
(The State Council, 2009), the basic pension benefits is fifty-five Yuan (around 9 US<br />
dollars) per month after fifteen year contribution. By the end of 2012, Ch<strong>in</strong>ese<br />
government announced that the new pension schemes have covered the whole Ch<strong>in</strong>a<br />
<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g both rural and urban areas (Wu, 2013). In 2007, Korea <strong>in</strong>troduced a basic<br />
old-age pension programme to cover poor elderly citizens. Before the <strong>in</strong>troduction of<br />
this new pension programme, although the pension system had a generous<br />
replacement rate, only about 30% of those aged 65 and over are draw<strong>in</strong>g benefits<br />
from Korea’s public old-age <strong>in</strong>come security system (Moon & Fellow, 2008).<br />
Taiwan <strong>in</strong>troduced national pension programme <strong>in</strong> 2007, and implemented it <strong>in</strong> 2008.<br />
The programme covered citizens of Taiwan not already covered by any public<br />
pension system. The national pension programme has significantly expanded the<br />
coverage of pension benefits <strong>in</strong> Taiwan (SSA, 2012). At the end of 2010, 3.87<br />
million people (around 17% of the total aged 65 and over population) had been<br />
covered by this programme. Hong Kong is the only state which has a universal<br />
pension system <strong>in</strong> <strong>East</strong> Asia. Individuals aged 65 and above resided <strong>in</strong> Hong Kong<br />
for at least 7 years could receive the benefits. Private <strong>in</strong>surance-based pension<br />
schemes are also available <strong>in</strong> Hong Kong. The coverage of the Japanese pension<br />
system is among the highest <strong>in</strong> the world, with only 1.6% of the elderly not receiv<strong>in</strong>g<br />
an old-age pension <strong>in</strong> 2009 (Takayama, 2009). There have been no major pension<br />
reforms <strong>in</strong> Japan, Hong Kong and S<strong>in</strong>gapore from 1990 to the present. Hence, their<br />
fuzzy-set scores have almost rema<strong>in</strong>ed virtually the same.<br />
F<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs: productive-protective fuzzy-set ideal types<br />
Table 6 shows the fuzzy-set scores of the six <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states <strong>in</strong> 1990, 2000 and<br />
2010. It is clear that <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states have never been placed <strong>in</strong> the same ideal type<br />
<strong>in</strong> this research. In addition, they have never been clustered <strong>in</strong> the pure productive<br />
ideal type. In 1990, Ch<strong>in</strong>a, Hong Kong, Korea, and S<strong>in</strong>gapore are placed <strong>in</strong> the weak<br />
productive-protective type with its emphasis on education and health service. Japan<br />
is <strong>in</strong> the weak protective ideal type and Taiwan is <strong>in</strong> the protective ideal type. It is<br />
surpris<strong>in</strong>g that Taiwan has been placed <strong>in</strong> the purely protective ideal type. This<br />
21
shows a reverse result of the productivist thesis. However, it must be noted here<br />
aga<strong>in</strong> that only two protective <strong>in</strong>dicators are used <strong>in</strong> this study. The results may<br />
therefore not be precise. If more <strong>in</strong>dicators are used, the results may change. With<br />
the three aspects analysed here, no major reform occurred from 1990 to 2000. All six<br />
states have stayed <strong>in</strong> the same category. However, <strong>in</strong> 2010, Ch<strong>in</strong>a moved to the weak<br />
protective group. Education service has dramatically downsized due to a major<br />
education reform s<strong>in</strong>ce the 2000s. Korea has been clustered <strong>in</strong> productive-protective<br />
ideal type <strong>in</strong> 2010. This is ma<strong>in</strong>ly because of the <strong>in</strong>troduction of a basic old-age<br />
pension scheme <strong>in</strong> 2007. The coverage of the pension system had reached 90% by<br />
2010. Taiwan has also been classified <strong>in</strong>to the productive-protective group,<br />
benefit<strong>in</strong>g from its outstand<strong>in</strong>g free education service. By 2014, Taiwan will have<br />
the longest free education system among the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> states.<br />
Table 6 Fuzzy-set ideal type analysis of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> systems<br />
State Year Ideal Type<br />
E*H*P E*~H*~P ~E*H*P E*~H* P E*H* ~P ~E*H*~P ~E*~H*P ~E*~H*~P<br />
Ch<strong>in</strong>a 1990 0 0.4 0 0 0.6 0.11 0 0.11<br />
2000 0 0.44 0 0 0.56 0.33 0 0.33<br />
2010 0.18 0.4 0.18 0.18 0.4 0.55 0.18 0.45<br />
Hong Kong 1990 0.13 0.33 0.13 0.13 0.67 0.25 0.13 0.25<br />
2000 0.15 0.27 0.15 0.15 0.73 0.21 0.15 0.21<br />
2010 0.18 0.23 0.16 0.18 0.77 0.16 0.16 0.16<br />
Japan 1990 0.35 0 0.35 0 0.46 0.54 0 0<br />
2000 0.35 0 0.35 0 0.39 0.61 0 0<br />
2010 0.26 0.03 0.35 0.03 0.26 0.65 0.03 0.03<br />
Korea 1990 0 0.39 0 0 0.52 0.48 0 0.39<br />
2000 0.17 0.4 0.17 0.17 0.57 0.43 0.17 0.4<br />
2010 0.52 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.48 0.33 0.33 0.33<br />
S<strong>in</strong>gapore 1990 0 0.33 0 0 0.67 0.17 0 0.17<br />
2000 0 0.33 0 0 0.67 0.16 0 0.16<br />
2010 0 0.33 0 0 0.67 0.16 0 0.16<br />
Taiwan 1990 0.36 0.36 0.51 0.36 0.36 0.44 0.49 0.44<br />
2000 0.37 0.37 0.51 0.37 0.37 0.44 0.49 0.44<br />
2010 0.51 0.41 0.48 0.49 0.41 0.41 0.48 0.41<br />
This classification is quite different from Hudson and Kühner (2011)’s result, with<br />
exceptions of Korea and Taiwan. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to them, Ch<strong>in</strong>a and Taiwan have<br />
productive-protective ideal type. The reason could be different empirical <strong>in</strong>dicators<br />
and cases are used <strong>in</strong> this paper. More case knowledge rather than purely quantitative<br />
22
expenditures to measure the effort of <strong>welfare</strong> development <strong>in</strong> this paper. In addition,<br />
for measur<strong>in</strong>g employment protection and <strong>in</strong>come protection, they used Botero et al.<br />
(2004)’s <strong>in</strong>dex which may not capture the recent policy changes <strong>in</strong> the region.<br />
In summary, despite the fact that this study may have flaws <strong>in</strong> terms of the choice of<br />
<strong>in</strong>dicators, it is still valuable. <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> systems show a diversity of<br />
characteristics and development trajectories. Hence, it is difficult to group these<br />
states <strong>in</strong>to one unique <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> model. In addition, none of the six states<br />
has expressed pure productive features. Most of them have a hybrid <strong>welfare</strong> model,<br />
stand<strong>in</strong>g between productivism and positivism.<br />
Conclusion<br />
In response to the <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> debates, this work has analysed the productive<br />
and protective features of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> systems. The empirical results show<br />
that despite <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> systems shar<strong>in</strong>g some common characteristics, the<br />
<strong>in</strong>tra-diversity between the states is also significant. Hence, it may not be accurate to<br />
propose the existence of a unique <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> model. In addition, the results<br />
also show that dur<strong>in</strong>g 2000 and 2010, some enormous reforms took place <strong>in</strong> some<br />
states. Their <strong>welfare</strong> model has been shifted accord<strong>in</strong>gly. However, only analys<strong>in</strong>g<br />
three aspects of social policy is a major limitation of this work. It is well worth<br />
add<strong>in</strong>g more <strong>in</strong>dicators <strong>in</strong> future research.<br />
In addition, the fuzzy-set ideal type analysis used <strong>in</strong> this research offers a number of<br />
advantages compared with traditional measurements. First and foremost, it reflects<br />
the real extent of diversity between cases. For <strong>in</strong>stance, if a <strong>welfare</strong> state is ‘weak’ <strong>in</strong><br />
one aspect, its f<strong>in</strong>al result with fuzzy-set ideal type analysis will not be compensated<br />
by its ‘very strong’ aspect (Hudson & Kühner, 2010). Second, the fuzzy-set method<br />
allows qualitative concepts be compared quantitatively. This is particularly useful <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> research as the largest challenge fac<strong>in</strong>g <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong><br />
researches is the difficulty of obta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g available hard data. In addition, the features<br />
of <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> <strong>welfare</strong> systems determ<strong>in</strong>e that only us<strong>in</strong>g variable-oriented analysis<br />
23
may not represent the true picture. Therefore, the ability to mix quantitative data and<br />
qualitative cases makes fuzzy-set analysis very suitable for <strong>East</strong> <strong>Asian</strong> studies. And<br />
f<strong>in</strong>ally, one of the most <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g features of the fuzzy-set method is that it can<br />
respond a question approximately based on an imprecise knowledge (Quaranta,<br />
2010).<br />
24
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