SOCI2240-1 : Employment and social policies

University of Liege | Version française

Academic year 2014-2015

Value date : 12/05/2015

SOCI2240-1

Employment and social policies

Duration :

30h Th

Number of credits :

Bachelor in Human and Social Sciences, 3rd year		3

One-year preliminary programme leading to the Master in Management of Human Resources		3

One-year preliminary programme leading to the Master in Labour Sciences		3

Lecturer :

Fabienne Fecher-Bourgeois

Language(s) of instruction :

French language

Organisation and examination :

Teaching in the second semester

Course contents :

Social policies can be defined by their field of intervention. They aim to protect people against the occurrence of certain events or social risks (sickness, pregnancy, etc.). Their goal is to organise the running of certain social sectors (labour market, etc.), promote desirable behaviours (stop smoking services, professional training, etc.) or ban others (child protection). They are recognised as social because their role is to protect vulnerable categories (from employees within a work context to children in danger) and/or proceed with a redistribution through their services and benefits.
One of the main instruments of social policies is social welfare. But redistributive transfers can be achieved through other means such as social tariffs (public transport, nurseries, etc.), free services or the payment of subsidies (education, culture, etc.), taxation and special taxation tools (pensions, etc), direct benefits (employment allowance, etc.). In addition to these tools are the labour law, health regulations, regulations concerning alcohol consumption and smoking.
After a general presentation of all these policies and their stakes, the course will analyse some of these subjects from an economic point of view based on statistics and empirical research.
Introduction- Scope of employment and social policies
Chapter 1- Health sector
A. Social inequalities in health
B. Accessibility to health care
Chapter 2- Poverty
A. Poverty policy in Belgium
B. Childhood poverty
Chapter 3- Ageing: budgetary costs
Chapter 4- Redistributive effects of social services: health, education, social housing, public transport
Chapter 5- Performance of the welfare state in Europe
Chapter 6- Structure and employment policies
Chapter 7- Collective bargaining

Learning outcomes of the course :

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

Define the main social policies
Analyse and explain the impact of a policy on different economic variables
Interpret statistics relating to these problems (Gini index, disposable income, allocated budgets, etc.)
Interpret the results of empirical economic analyses
Synthesize various texts (scientific articles, research reports, etc.)

Prerequisites and co-requisites/ Recommended optional programme components :

Notions of political economy

Planned learning activities and teaching methods :

30h of classes

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :

Transmissive teaching