First published in 1948, the International Social Security Review is the principal international quarterly publication in the field of social security.
The concept of nudge theory, from the fields of behavioural science, political theory and behavioural economics, has sparked government initiatives yielding significant public value. A nudge is a method for predictably altering behaviour without restricting consumer choice options or significantly changing incentives. Nudges work by leveraging default human behaviour such as the tendency to take the path of least resistance when exercising choice. Government agencies have run many successful trials with simple textual nudges designed to positively influence behaviours such as tax compliance, voter registration and student attrition. This article develops the concept of the digital nudge in social security administration. The digital nudge leverages predictive analytics technology within a digital government framework to support a social investment policy approach. Based on a literature review of nudges within a digital government context, the article identifies examples of innovation within social security administration where nudges are contributing to better social outcomes. At the same time, concerns regarding ethics and privacy are identified as nudges are applied at the individual rather than the population level. The use of data and personal information to drive the nudge process has to be managed in such a way that individual rights are protected. This requirement has to be reconciled with the broader interests of society in achieving affordable outcomes, the parameters of which are determined through the political process.
Social security systems around the world evolved at different times, at different speeds, for often very different needs. But now each country faces a universal truth: their social security organizations must be truly adaptive, ready to deliver a new type of service at a time of constant technological and social change. Each social security system is approaching this daunting task in their own way – a grand social experiment in how agencies can provide a proactive, personalized service that meets their citizens’ ever-changing needs. The results are simply unknown. This article intends to start the debate on what is and is not working, and indeed on how agencies should measure their progress in moving away from the traditional transactional model. The challenges they face are immense. Populations are ageing and social security budgets are shrinking. Meanwhile, the pace of digital change is matched only by the soaring rate of customer expectations. But the opportunities are of similar scale. Advanced technology, automation and new partnerships between public-sector agencies promise a much smarter, more insight-driven service for all. Technology is only one side of this equation. As part of rethinking their entire mission, social security agencies will need new workers with new sets of skills, and for their existing workers to adapt and embrace their changing roles. None of this will be straightforward. Whatever the original purpose of the social security organization, it has now changed irrevocably. But with the right combination of talent and technology, agencies can aspire to a new model: one that is flexible enough to withstand economic and social shock and resilient enough for the challenges that lie ahead.
The article summarizes four corridor studies on bilateral social security agreements (BSSAs) between four European Union (EU) members that were undertaken to assess their working and the establishment of benefit portability. BSSAs between migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries are seen as the most important instrument to establish portability of social security benefits for internationally mobile workers. Yet, only about 23 per cent of international migrants profit from BSSAs and their functioning has been little analyzed and even less assessed. The four corridors studied (Austria-Turkey, Germany-Turkey, Belgium-Morocco, and France-Morocco) were selected to allow for comparison of both similarities and differences in experiences. The evaluation of these corridors’ BSSAs was undertaken against a methodological framework and three selected criteria: fairness for individuals, fiscal fairness for countries, and bureaucratic effectiveness for countries and migrant workers. The results for pension portability suggest that the investigated BSSAs work and overall deliver reasonably well on individual fairness. The results on fiscal fairness are clouded by conceptual and empirical gaps. Bureaucratic effectiveness would profit from information and communication technology-based exchanges on both corridors once available.
This 2016 special issue addresses the topic of excellence in social security administration. For the International Social Security Association, “excellence” is most usually associated with ensuring that the technical processes and administrative procedures that underpin the delivery of social security benefits and services are high-performing, well-governed and sustainable. But it also refers to the covered population’s perceptions of the quality and adequacy of the services and benefits provided. The academic literature on “social security” is immense, but the larger part of this published research addresses questions of social security theory and policy. The critical, analytical literature on social security administration, including that which marries theoretical analysis with the empirical evidence of administrative performance, is thus smaller. A major aim of this special issue is to make a contribution to redressing this imbalance. This is done not only to support and stimulate research that draws equally on empirical evidence and the theoretical literature, but in a very practical sense to better take into account and provide responses to the increasingly complex operational challenges facing social security administrations.