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Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) presents a systemic social risk for the East Asian welfare system, primarily affecting elderly people who live in areas with inadequate social safety nets. This article focuses on ageing risks and its policy responses targeted at older individuals, which are East Asia’s most pressing social policy issues before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A review of policy measures related to ageing risk reduction in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan reveals the complexity and changes in these economies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Taiwan and South Korea seem to combine the developmental-universalist and social democratic welfare state models, whereas Hong Kong and Singapore have followed a typical mix of development-universalist and facilitative approaches. Overall, they have successfully transitioned from Holliday’s typologies to a more balanced protective-productive model, but they have done so through multiple pathways, with the market-conforming role of social policy for the elderly remaining dominant.

Biography of speaker

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