3 Provident Fund Centered Social Security System : Comparative Examination of Three Countries and Policy Implication to Nepal(From the Sub-sessions)
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概要
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Provident funds that work through the mandatory saving accumulation are the dominant social security scheme in some Asian and African countries, though with varying levels of progress over the years. In this paper, we present a comparative analysis of provident fund performance in three Asian countries, Nepal, Malaysia and Singapore, respectively representing agriculture-dominated, industrializing and industrialized economies, and try to identify issues and prospects from the Nepalese perspective. After briefly reviewing the existing social security structures in the three countries, we comparatively appraise provident funds from different angles. Thereafter, after examining issues and prospects of provident funds, we conclude with some policy implications for the future design of the social security system in Nepal. In Nepal, where the social security system is a relatively new phenomenon, the scope of EPF is rather narrow in terms of participants and services compared to Singapore and Malaysia. More concretely, coverage is drastically low, health service is completely neglected and schemes to enhance members' choices are lacking. In all three countries, no significant income redistributive features are available, necessitating the requirement of such provision by pooling certain funds among the participants. Positively, returns to members' savings are comparatively attractive in the Nepalese provident fund and the overall progress since 1990 deserves considerable praise. It possesses strong potential to become an effective social security program by bringing all organized workers and upper-income persons into its coverage. Nevertheless, the provident fund can hardly incorporate the large population engaged in the informal and agriculture sectors in the near future, making necessary a supplementary scheme to guarantee social security for all. Lastly, considering the possibility of introducing social insurance to incorporate the excluded majority into the social security net, we propose a two-layered four-pillared social security framework for Nepal. However, detailed preparatory work for the framework is needed for its successful implementation, and this has not been conducted in this study.
- 社会政策学会の論文
- 2007-09-30