Cross National Comparisons of Social Services Pensions for the Elderly

Abstract

When Professor Kaim-Caudle visited Australia recently, the Social Welfare Research Centre was fortunate in having him deliver a seminar. This monograph is an expansion of the seminar delivered on that day. In providing an overview of public income support systems in six countries, Professor Kaim-Caudle sees his main task as descriptive, but within that description a number of analytical issues emerge. The public income support systems of New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Canada, the German Federal Republic, and the United States of America are described in terms of seven criteria. They are: the nature of pension schemes; financing of the schemes; persons covered; circumstances giving rise to entitlement; benefit formulas ; benefit levels ; and equity between women and men.