Social Protection Goals in East Asia: Strategies and Methods to Generate Fiscal Space

The book examines the conceptual, economic, and fiscal impact(s) of the Social Protection Floor (SPF) initiative of the International Labor Organisation (ILO) and other policy influencers by first critically examining the methodologies used by the international agencies to estimate the fiscal costs of designated minimum package(s) of social protection programs. The book also briefly reviews the methodologies used and usefulness of the Social Protection Index (SPI) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Second, the book analyses strategies and specific initiatives used by the selected East Asian countries (China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam), designed to progress towards the social protection goals underlying the Social Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in September 2015, and endorsed by the countries covered in this book.

Finally, the book provides a framework for generating fiscal space to fund the social protection programs and initiatives. The country chapters utilise this framework in the context of each specific country to suggest generating fiscal space.

Mukul G. Asher is Professorial Fellow, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. He specialises in social security and public financial management issues in Asia. He has published widely in national and international journals, and authored or edited more than fifteen books. He is on the Editorial Board of several journals, including the Journal of the Economics of Ageing and Poverty & Public Policy. He has been a consultant to multilateral organisations such as the IMF, The World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the World Health Organization. He has led Executive Training Programs for officials of several countries, including Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and Kazakhstan. He served as Chairman of the 5th State Finance Commission of Haryana State in India from May 2016 to September 2017.

Fauziah Zen is Senior Economist at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). She is also a faculty member at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia, and a visiting professor at Hitotsubashi University, Japan. She has been working with the governments of East Asia in the fields of public finance, infrastructure and connectivity, disaster management, and social protection.

Astrid Dita is an independent researcher working on issues related to public finance, fiscal decentralisation, infrastructure, and social protection in Indonesia. She is consultant to various international organisations such as Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and AusAID. She obtained her Masters in Economics from University of Indonesia.