The number of applications for debt management services in the Netherlands shows a steady increase of about 10 percent each year, over the last few years. Municipalities, responsible for these services, at the same need to cut back on expenditures. Our research shows that the (social) return on debt management is on average twice as high as the costs. These benefits are mainly found in the areas of social welfare and housing. Since debts are a reason for employers not to hire or not to continue employment, debt management increases the chance of (continued) employment and therefore helps reduce costs of unemployment and welfare benefits. Since housing corporations spend large sums of money on evictions, the prevention of evictions through debt management also reduces costs in that area. The ratio between the costs and benefits is only partly influenced by the quality of execution. Social structure offers a better explanation, where a weaker social structure results in greater benefits. Our findings are based on extensive research of individual files combined with interviews with professionals. Only direct if-then relations were considered. This means that in reality the cost-benefit ratio may even be more favorable. Municipalities should therefore be careful in cutting back on debt management services. On the other hand, crosslinking debt management with welfare payments and co-operating with housing corporations could open up opportunities for co-financing debt management services.
This article analyzis two Dutch experiments in which the government guarantees a job to tackle long-term unemployment. The experiment with the Melkert jobs was carried out in the 1990s. Recently the municipality of Groningen implemented a project in which long-term unemployed people are offered a so-called basic job. The research results of this project demonstrate that the target group can do productive work on a regular basis and that basic jobs have a net positive social added value based on a Social Cost Benefit Analysis (SCBA).In this article we also pay attention to the recent academic debate betweenan unconditional basic income (BIG) and a job guarantee (JG).
This study explores how households interact with smart systems for energy usage, providing insights into the field's trends, themes and evolution through a bibliometric analysis of 547 relevant literature from 2015 to 2025. Our findings discover: (1) Research activity has grown over the past decade, with leading journals recognizing several productive authors. Increased collaboration and interdisciplinary work are expected to expand; (2) Key research hotspots, identified through keyword co-occurrence, with two (exploration and development) stages, highlighting the interplay between technological, economic, environmental, and behavioral factors within the field; (3) Future research should place greater emphasis on understanding how emerging technologies interact with human, with a deeper understanding of users. Beyond the individual perspective, social dimensions also demand investigation. Finally, research should also aim to support policy development. To conclude, this study contributes to a broader perspective of this topic and highlights directions for future research development.
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