Laurier Room, Rideau Club 99 Bank Street, 15th floor Ottawa, Ontario To attend, please RSVP by Ja... more Laurier Room, Rideau Club 99 Bank Street, 15th floor Ottawa, Ontario To attend, please RSVP by January 22 to [email protected]. There have been many efforts over the years to develop an information framework to support social policies, including attempts to extend the SNA to the social side, time-based accounts and systems of social and demographic statistics. Peter Hicks argues that the lack of success of these initiatives is one factor in our failure to use the huge potential of current technology to make deep improvements in our social policies. It also results in fragmentation in our use of data and analysis across the different stages of the policy cycle. In his presentation, Hicks argues that a fundamental shift is needed in the way governments approach statistical information and knowledge management, away from an exclusive focus on the data governments need to do their business and towards the information needs of citizens. He discusses recent Canadian efforts to develop...
ublic policies in OECD countries still largely assume that people pass through three quite separa... more ublic policies in OECD countries still largely assume that people pass through three quite separate stages of life. Education is almost exclusively for the young. Pensions provide a sepa-rate stream of secure incomes for older people. In the middle years, there are stable jobs and families, with social-security programmes for the exceptional periods when these supports are missing. The time spent in initial schooling and, especially, retirement is assumed to be short compared with the amount of time spent in paid work, at least for men. The economic relations between generations are assumed to be limited to those that bind parents and children. The age-structure of the population is generally held to resemble a pyramid, with many people in younger age-groups at the base supporting the increasingly fewer people in older cohorts. This is no longer an adequate picture of real-ity. Falling birth-rates are bringing about a major change in the age-structure of populations in OECD countrie...
The Olivia framework had its origin in life-course analysis 1. However, it has evolved greatly an... more The Olivia framework had its origin in life-course analysis 1. However, it has evolved greatly and, in its current version, provides a comprehensive framework that allows us to analyze social trends and policy responses from many perspectives: • The point-in-time, resource-flow perspectives that underlie most traditional policy analysis. • Life-course perspectives, including both transitions/trajectories analysis and assetbased analysis. • Spatial perspectives that anchor people in space and history and that provide a link to macro-analysis. • The perspective of the purposes of individuals and institutions, including the objectives of different types of government programming. The concepts of the framework, which are all potentially measurable, provide a language that can support integrated analysis in all these areas at a much finer level of description than is customary. It provides a language that is especially well suited for analysis of the incremental policy changes that are typical of a mature welfare state 2. It supports both qualitative and quantitative analysis, enabling some integration between the two.
Economic policy-making has long been more integrated than social policy-making in part because th... more Economic policy-making has long been more integrated than social policy-making in part because the statistics and much of the analysis that supports economic policy are based on a common conceptual framework-the system of national accounts. People interested in economic analysis and economic policy share a common language of communication, one that includes both concepts and numbers. This paper examines early attempts to develop a system of social statistics that would mirror the system of national accounts, particular the work on the development of social accounts that took place mainly in the 60s and 70s. It explores the reasons why these early initiatives failed but argues that the preconditions now exist to develop a new conceptual framework to support integrated social statistics-and hence a more coherent, effective social policy. Optimism is warranted for two reasons. First, we can make use of the radical transformation that has taken place in information technology both in processing data and in providing wide access to the knowledge that can flow from the data. Second, the conditions exist to begin to shift away from the straight jacket of government-centric social statistics, with its implicit assumption that governments must be the primary actors in finding solutions to social problems. By supporting the decision-making of all the players (particularly individual citizens) who affect social trends and outcomes, we can start to move beyond the sterile, ideological discussions that have dominated much social discourse in the past and begin to build social systems and structures that evolve, almost automatically, based on empirical evidence of 'what works best for whom'. The paper describes a Canadian approach to developing a framework, or common language, to support the evolution of an integrated, citizen-centric system of social statistics and social analysis. This language supports the traditional social policy that we have today; nothing is lost. However, it also supports a quite different social policy world, one where individual citizens and families (not governments) are seen as the central players-a more empirically-driven world that we have referred to as the 'enabling society'.
This paper discusses recent policy trends, the changing role of the various actors in the system,... more This paper discusses recent policy trends, the changing role of the various actors in the system, international comparisons and a range of other social policy topics. The immediate purpose of the paper is to examine the reasons why social policy analysts need to look into the future, and to explore ways of managing the inevitably large risks associated with such future-looking exercises. The underlying purpose, however, is simply to introduce a range of important Canadian social policy topic to students and others who are interested in social policy, but without much previous background in the area ii. The first part of the paper was taken directly from a 1994 presentation i that was intended to provide outside social policy experts (from Latin America in this case) with an overview of the Canadian social policy landscape, particularly of recent trends and possible future directions, mainly from a federal government perspective. At that time, major reform of social security policies was being discussed and I tried to give our visitors some flavour of the background to that reform, with particular emphasis on the i Peter Hicks was with the department of Human Resources Development Canada at the time of the 1994 paper which forms the basis of Part I of the present paper. The following year he left the Government of Canada to join the OECD in Paris. ii Indeed, this is a revised version of an introductory reading that was drafted for use in a 2008 social policy course in the MPA program at the Queens University School of Policy Studies. The students came from different academic backgrounds and I was unable to find an off-the-shelf reading that: a) would quickly introduce them to recent social policy trends in Canada and to topics that are of current concern; b) that took the perspective of someone who has been actively engaged in social policy analysis and development inside government, and c) that was reasonably short and accessible.
Les perspectives fondées sur les parcours de vie jouent seulement un rôle modeste dans l’élaborat... more Les perspectives fondées sur les parcours de vie jouent seulement un rôle modeste dans l’élaboration des politiques sociales actuelles. Cependant, une fois que les concepts de « parcours de vie » seront utilisés sur une base régulière en statistiques sociales et que les outils analytiques de soutien seront entièrement développés, ces perspectives auront le potentiel d’améliorer de façon radicale l’analyse de politiques concrètes. Afin de donner une idée générale de la portée de ce changement, le présent article examine un ancien cadre de « comptabilité sociale », élaboré il y a environ trois décennies, afin d’appuyer la politique sociale de cette période préinformatique, axée sur le gouvernement et modelée sur la pensée de l’État-providence. L’article compare ce cadre avec le cadre « Olivia » actuel, créé pour appuyer le concept de société habilitante de la politique sociale en émergence axée sur le citoyen, en cette ère de l’information. La principale différence réside dans l’élarg...
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced and does not canva... more This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the Bill.
This paper addresses the perceived difficulties in making changes to the retirement income system... more This paper addresses the perceived difficulties in making changes to the retirement income system as a whole. We focus on public system reforms and observe some of the changes that have taken place in Canada and in a number of OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. Reforming social institutions is never easy. We examine some of the preconceived notions or “myths” that create public resistance to reform. Further, the complexity of the retirement income system in Canada makes consensus difficult to achieve. Nonetheless, we argue that pension reforms can and should be made to ensure the delivery of promised benefits, and we demonstrate the efficacy of smaller-scale reforms.
Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Discussion Paper Series Un Reseau Strategique De Connaissances Changements De Population Et Parcours De Vie Document De Travail, 2013
Current information and communications technology is only now starting to be used in the world of... more Current information and communications technology is only now starting to be used in the world of social and employment policy and analysis. The full use of that technology will transform policymaking, social research and analysis, the design of social programming and the way in which it is governed. On all fronts, the changes will be deep and highly beneficial-including for individual wellbeing and government treasuries. Today's welfare state policies came to maturity some fifty years ago in the pre-computer age and are reaching the end of their useful lives. The transformed system which will replace it is referred to as the enabling society. A series of push and pull factors make the transition to the enabling society inevitable over the long run. However, the transition could be bumpy in the absence of a conscious implementation strategy. The paper proposes such a strategy, one that builds on areas of common interest, which provides a satisfying long-term narrative about future directions that will encourage consensus, and that will provide demonstrable payoffs in the short-as well as the long-term. Key characteristics of the enabling society include a citizen-centred focus, evidence-driven programming, a shift to asset-based and lifecourse perspectives, shifting to partnership-based horizontal dealings within the social policy world, and a radical improvement in efficiency, openness, accountability and systematic learning within government. In the enabling society individuals will be more responsible, within their families and communities, for determining the course of their own lives-but with increased support for those who are most vulnerable, who face the greatest obstacles in developing their capabilities and making life choices. Central to these reforms is a radically improved base of 'what works best' knowledge. This is produced by new 'big statistics' techniques that, for example, can calculate tailor-made estimates for job-seekers of the expected success of specific options that are available, such as applying for specific jobs, retraining alternatives or moving to another city-available on line, at the time the decision is being made. This same 'what works best' evidence will also result in transformative improvements in program design and delivery, in governance and in partnership arrangements.
This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected labour market and social... more This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected labour market and social policy studies prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal writers are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language-English or French-with a summary in the other. Comment on the series is welcome, and should be sent to the Directorate for Education, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 PARIS CEDEX 16, France. Additional, limited copies are available on request. The opinions expressed and arguments employed here are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD Applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this material should be made to:
issn 0824-8001 (print); issn 1703-0765 (online) C.D. Howe Institute publications undergo rigorous... more issn 0824-8001 (print); issn 1703-0765 (online) C.D. Howe Institute publications undergo rigorous external review by academics and independent experts drawn from the public and private sectors. The Institute's peer review process ensures the quality, integrity and objectivity of its policy research. The Institute will not publish any study that, in its view, fails to meet the standards of the review process. The Institute requires that its authors publicly disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest of which they are aware. In its mission to educate and foster debate on essential public policy issues, the C.D. Howe Institute provides nonpartisan policy advice to interested parties on a non-exclusive basis. The Institute will not endorse any political party, elected official, candidate for elected office, or interest group.
The paper reviews evidence that suggests that, over the coming two decades, people are likely to ... more The paper reviews evidence that suggests that, over the coming two decades, people are likely to stay in the work force at least five years longer, possibly by considerably more. The implications for policy are surprisingly large and surprisingly unrecognized. Recent trends, if extended into the future, suggest that changes of this magnitude are quite likely given a continuation of past labour market conditions. However, these past trends do not reflect new pressures that will work strongly in the direction of even shorter durations of retirement and longer durations of work. These new pressures will result from changes in labour supply and demand that will result from the baby boom generation moving into traditional retirement years in large numbers, increasing the demand for older workers. On the supply side, there will be a large in increase in the educational levels and skills of older people. The effect of market forces could be further enhanced by policy action. In other words...
Laurier Room, Rideau Club 99 Bank Street, 15th floor Ottawa, Ontario To attend, please RSVP by Ja... more Laurier Room, Rideau Club 99 Bank Street, 15th floor Ottawa, Ontario To attend, please RSVP by January 22 to [email protected]. There have been many efforts over the years to develop an information framework to support social policies, including attempts to extend the SNA to the social side, time-based accounts and systems of social and demographic statistics. Peter Hicks argues that the lack of success of these initiatives is one factor in our failure to use the huge potential of current technology to make deep improvements in our social policies. It also results in fragmentation in our use of data and analysis across the different stages of the policy cycle. In his presentation, Hicks argues that a fundamental shift is needed in the way governments approach statistical information and knowledge management, away from an exclusive focus on the data governments need to do their business and towards the information needs of citizens. He discusses recent Canadian efforts to develop...
ublic policies in OECD countries still largely assume that people pass through three quite separa... more ublic policies in OECD countries still largely assume that people pass through three quite separate stages of life. Education is almost exclusively for the young. Pensions provide a sepa-rate stream of secure incomes for older people. In the middle years, there are stable jobs and families, with social-security programmes for the exceptional periods when these supports are missing. The time spent in initial schooling and, especially, retirement is assumed to be short compared with the amount of time spent in paid work, at least for men. The economic relations between generations are assumed to be limited to those that bind parents and children. The age-structure of the population is generally held to resemble a pyramid, with many people in younger age-groups at the base supporting the increasingly fewer people in older cohorts. This is no longer an adequate picture of real-ity. Falling birth-rates are bringing about a major change in the age-structure of populations in OECD countrie...
The Olivia framework had its origin in life-course analysis 1. However, it has evolved greatly an... more The Olivia framework had its origin in life-course analysis 1. However, it has evolved greatly and, in its current version, provides a comprehensive framework that allows us to analyze social trends and policy responses from many perspectives: • The point-in-time, resource-flow perspectives that underlie most traditional policy analysis. • Life-course perspectives, including both transitions/trajectories analysis and assetbased analysis. • Spatial perspectives that anchor people in space and history and that provide a link to macro-analysis. • The perspective of the purposes of individuals and institutions, including the objectives of different types of government programming. The concepts of the framework, which are all potentially measurable, provide a language that can support integrated analysis in all these areas at a much finer level of description than is customary. It provides a language that is especially well suited for analysis of the incremental policy changes that are typical of a mature welfare state 2. It supports both qualitative and quantitative analysis, enabling some integration between the two.
Economic policy-making has long been more integrated than social policy-making in part because th... more Economic policy-making has long been more integrated than social policy-making in part because the statistics and much of the analysis that supports economic policy are based on a common conceptual framework-the system of national accounts. People interested in economic analysis and economic policy share a common language of communication, one that includes both concepts and numbers. This paper examines early attempts to develop a system of social statistics that would mirror the system of national accounts, particular the work on the development of social accounts that took place mainly in the 60s and 70s. It explores the reasons why these early initiatives failed but argues that the preconditions now exist to develop a new conceptual framework to support integrated social statistics-and hence a more coherent, effective social policy. Optimism is warranted for two reasons. First, we can make use of the radical transformation that has taken place in information technology both in processing data and in providing wide access to the knowledge that can flow from the data. Second, the conditions exist to begin to shift away from the straight jacket of government-centric social statistics, with its implicit assumption that governments must be the primary actors in finding solutions to social problems. By supporting the decision-making of all the players (particularly individual citizens) who affect social trends and outcomes, we can start to move beyond the sterile, ideological discussions that have dominated much social discourse in the past and begin to build social systems and structures that evolve, almost automatically, based on empirical evidence of 'what works best for whom'. The paper describes a Canadian approach to developing a framework, or common language, to support the evolution of an integrated, citizen-centric system of social statistics and social analysis. This language supports the traditional social policy that we have today; nothing is lost. However, it also supports a quite different social policy world, one where individual citizens and families (not governments) are seen as the central players-a more empirically-driven world that we have referred to as the 'enabling society'.
This paper discusses recent policy trends, the changing role of the various actors in the system,... more This paper discusses recent policy trends, the changing role of the various actors in the system, international comparisons and a range of other social policy topics. The immediate purpose of the paper is to examine the reasons why social policy analysts need to look into the future, and to explore ways of managing the inevitably large risks associated with such future-looking exercises. The underlying purpose, however, is simply to introduce a range of important Canadian social policy topic to students and others who are interested in social policy, but without much previous background in the area ii. The first part of the paper was taken directly from a 1994 presentation i that was intended to provide outside social policy experts (from Latin America in this case) with an overview of the Canadian social policy landscape, particularly of recent trends and possible future directions, mainly from a federal government perspective. At that time, major reform of social security policies was being discussed and I tried to give our visitors some flavour of the background to that reform, with particular emphasis on the i Peter Hicks was with the department of Human Resources Development Canada at the time of the 1994 paper which forms the basis of Part I of the present paper. The following year he left the Government of Canada to join the OECD in Paris. ii Indeed, this is a revised version of an introductory reading that was drafted for use in a 2008 social policy course in the MPA program at the Queens University School of Policy Studies. The students came from different academic backgrounds and I was unable to find an off-the-shelf reading that: a) would quickly introduce them to recent social policy trends in Canada and to topics that are of current concern; b) that took the perspective of someone who has been actively engaged in social policy analysis and development inside government, and c) that was reasonably short and accessible.
Les perspectives fondées sur les parcours de vie jouent seulement un rôle modeste dans l’élaborat... more Les perspectives fondées sur les parcours de vie jouent seulement un rôle modeste dans l’élaboration des politiques sociales actuelles. Cependant, une fois que les concepts de « parcours de vie » seront utilisés sur une base régulière en statistiques sociales et que les outils analytiques de soutien seront entièrement développés, ces perspectives auront le potentiel d’améliorer de façon radicale l’analyse de politiques concrètes. Afin de donner une idée générale de la portée de ce changement, le présent article examine un ancien cadre de « comptabilité sociale », élaboré il y a environ trois décennies, afin d’appuyer la politique sociale de cette période préinformatique, axée sur le gouvernement et modelée sur la pensée de l’État-providence. L’article compare ce cadre avec le cadre « Olivia » actuel, créé pour appuyer le concept de société habilitante de la politique sociale en émergence axée sur le citoyen, en cette ère de l’information. La principale différence réside dans l’élarg...
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced and does not canva... more This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the Bill.
This paper addresses the perceived difficulties in making changes to the retirement income system... more This paper addresses the perceived difficulties in making changes to the retirement income system as a whole. We focus on public system reforms and observe some of the changes that have taken place in Canada and in a number of OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. Reforming social institutions is never easy. We examine some of the preconceived notions or “myths” that create public resistance to reform. Further, the complexity of the retirement income system in Canada makes consensus difficult to achieve. Nonetheless, we argue that pension reforms can and should be made to ensure the delivery of promised benefits, and we demonstrate the efficacy of smaller-scale reforms.
Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Discussion Paper Series Un Reseau Strategique De Connaissances Changements De Population Et Parcours De Vie Document De Travail, 2013
Current information and communications technology is only now starting to be used in the world of... more Current information and communications technology is only now starting to be used in the world of social and employment policy and analysis. The full use of that technology will transform policymaking, social research and analysis, the design of social programming and the way in which it is governed. On all fronts, the changes will be deep and highly beneficial-including for individual wellbeing and government treasuries. Today's welfare state policies came to maturity some fifty years ago in the pre-computer age and are reaching the end of their useful lives. The transformed system which will replace it is referred to as the enabling society. A series of push and pull factors make the transition to the enabling society inevitable over the long run. However, the transition could be bumpy in the absence of a conscious implementation strategy. The paper proposes such a strategy, one that builds on areas of common interest, which provides a satisfying long-term narrative about future directions that will encourage consensus, and that will provide demonstrable payoffs in the short-as well as the long-term. Key characteristics of the enabling society include a citizen-centred focus, evidence-driven programming, a shift to asset-based and lifecourse perspectives, shifting to partnership-based horizontal dealings within the social policy world, and a radical improvement in efficiency, openness, accountability and systematic learning within government. In the enabling society individuals will be more responsible, within their families and communities, for determining the course of their own lives-but with increased support for those who are most vulnerable, who face the greatest obstacles in developing their capabilities and making life choices. Central to these reforms is a radically improved base of 'what works best' knowledge. This is produced by new 'big statistics' techniques that, for example, can calculate tailor-made estimates for job-seekers of the expected success of specific options that are available, such as applying for specific jobs, retraining alternatives or moving to another city-available on line, at the time the decision is being made. This same 'what works best' evidence will also result in transformative improvements in program design and delivery, in governance and in partnership arrangements.
This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected labour market and social... more This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected labour market and social policy studies prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal writers are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language-English or French-with a summary in the other. Comment on the series is welcome, and should be sent to the Directorate for Education, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 PARIS CEDEX 16, France. Additional, limited copies are available on request. The opinions expressed and arguments employed here are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD Applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this material should be made to:
issn 0824-8001 (print); issn 1703-0765 (online) C.D. Howe Institute publications undergo rigorous... more issn 0824-8001 (print); issn 1703-0765 (online) C.D. Howe Institute publications undergo rigorous external review by academics and independent experts drawn from the public and private sectors. The Institute's peer review process ensures the quality, integrity and objectivity of its policy research. The Institute will not publish any study that, in its view, fails to meet the standards of the review process. The Institute requires that its authors publicly disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest of which they are aware. In its mission to educate and foster debate on essential public policy issues, the C.D. Howe Institute provides nonpartisan policy advice to interested parties on a non-exclusive basis. The Institute will not endorse any political party, elected official, candidate for elected office, or interest group.
The paper reviews evidence that suggests that, over the coming two decades, people are likely to ... more The paper reviews evidence that suggests that, over the coming two decades, people are likely to stay in the work force at least five years longer, possibly by considerably more. The implications for policy are surprisingly large and surprisingly unrecognized. Recent trends, if extended into the future, suggest that changes of this magnitude are quite likely given a continuation of past labour market conditions. However, these past trends do not reflect new pressures that will work strongly in the direction of even shorter durations of retirement and longer durations of work. These new pressures will result from changes in labour supply and demand that will result from the baby boom generation moving into traditional retirement years in large numbers, increasing the demand for older workers. On the supply side, there will be a large in increase in the educational levels and skills of older people. The effect of market forces could be further enhanced by policy action. In other words...
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Papers by Peter HIcks