Wide fare

公共费用

To ward off social ills, the region has tended to rely instead on youthful populations, bountiful growth and dutiful families. Yet as Asian countries have grown richer, older and less autocratic, their governments have responded to a rising demand from citizens for welfare, including pensions, health insurance and antipoverty schemes, such as subsidised food, public works and even cash handouts. The Asian Development Bank has tried to summarize their efforts in a single indicator, the social-protection index, published this week. The index shows both the breadth of coverage (the percentage of potential beneficiaries actually covered) and the depth (the amount of spending per beneficiary, expressed as a percentage of the country’s GDP per person).

为抵御社会弊病，该地区已经倾向于宁愿依靠年轻人群、丰富的增长和忠实的家庭。然而，随着亚洲国家变得富裕、老龄化和民主化，政府已经对公民关于福利日益增长的要求作出了回应，包括养老金、医疗保险和扶贫计划，如补贴食品、公共工程、甚至现金补贴。在本周发表的社会保障指数上，亚洲开发银行试图总结他们在这单个指标上做出的努力。该指数显示了覆盖范围的广度(潜在受益者在实际覆盖中的比例)和深度(每个受益人支出的数量，以该国人均国内生产总值的百分比表示)。

True to their tradition of self-reliance, many Asian countries lean heavily towards social insurance, which ties benefits to contributions, rather than social assistance, which ties benefits to circumstances. In South Korea, for example, the mix is about 80% insurance to 20% assistance, according to the index. In Singapore, nine-tenths of the government’s efforts consist of contributions to the country’s Central Provident Fund, a compulsory saving scheme from which Singaporeans can draw for housing, health care and retirement.

因秉承本国自力更生的传统，许多亚洲国家过分依赖利益和贡献挂钩的社会保险，而不是利益和环境挂钩的社会救助。例如在韩国，根据指数，这个混合中大约80%的保险到20%的保险援助。在新加坡，9/10的政府努力是由国家公积金的贡献所构成，从新加坡人可以抽签决定住房、医疗和退休产生一个义务的节约计划。

But a number of countries are also experimenting with cash transfers. In 2009 Thailand’s government scheme handed out 2 000 baht ($65) to registered workers earning less than 15000 baht a month, to help them weather the global financial crisis. And in South Asia, social insurance is far less dominant. That may reflect the limited reach and credibility of South Asian states, which find it difficult to collect and track contributions, especially if people doubt the state’s capacity to provide promised benefits. Many governments find it easier just to hand out cheap grain, or to pay the poor to dig ditches or lay roads. India is a case in point. Thank you.

但许多国家也在尝试现金流动。2009年，泰国政府计划每个月发放2000泰铢(65美元)给年收入少于15000铢的注册工人，帮助他们抵御全球金融危机。在南亚，社会保险远不是那么有优势。这可能反映了南非国家有限的影响力和可信度，并且很难寻迹到它们的贡献，特别是在如果人们质疑国家是否有能力来提供他们承诺过的好处的时候。许多国家的政府发现仅仅分发廉价的谷物、支付穷人挖沟渠或铺设道路的费用都是很容易的。印度在这方面就是个很好的例子。谢谢。