On Tuesday, November 7, the Academy hosted an educational forum for 30 members of a delegation of government officials from the Guangdong Province of China. The officials, representing various departments within the provincial government, were participants of Georgetown University’s Global Education Institute, which provides an executive program for Chinese provincial civil servants. Academy members and staff provided an overview of four key areas of the American system of social insurance. Academy Member Frank Neuhauser, Researcher at UC Berkeley, briefed the delegation on the workers’ compensation system’s historical origins and current challenges; Stephen Wandner, Senior Fellow at the Academy and Visiting Fellow at the Urban Institute, gave an overview of the Unemployment Insurance system; Academy Vice President for Policy Benjamin Veghte briefed attendees on Social Security, and Health Policy Analyst Alexandra Bradley discussed state paid family and medical leave programs.
The convening represented a continuation of the Academy’s efforts to educate a global audience about social insurance, and in particular to develop a cross-national partnership with Chinese counterparts. In September, the Academy organized a two-day seminar on workers’ compensation for a Chinese delegation at the University of Virginia’s northern Virginia campus in Falls Church. Peter Barth, a founding Academy member, presented a series of sessions on the history of workers’ compensation, the current operation of the system, and the risks posed by occupational injury and disease.
