Public Policies that Help Foster Social Inclusion

Public policies can be effective in raising people's social inclusion as intended only reasonably through their implementation. With respect to the implementation perspective, this study examines the effectiveness of eight policies as perceived to implement in Hong Kong, China. The study employs data collected from 1,109 Chinese adults randomly sampled in a telephone survey. Results showed that perceived implementation of three of the policies, concerning elderly healthcare, civic education policy, and social enterprise, induced significant positive effects on social inclusion that the adult experienced. These effects represent externalities created by the policies, such that the policies are helpful to people other than those targeted. Furthermore, the study identified some background conditions, such as certain target and disadvantaged groups, for enhancing the effectiveness of the policy implementation. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.