The Uses of Social Investment

Edited by Anton Hemerijck

Provides a state-of-the-art interdisciplinary approach
Features contributions from leadings figures in the field
First study of the welfare state, under the new post-crisis austerity context and associated crisis management politics, to take stock of the limits and potential of social investment

The Uses of Social Investment

Edited by Anton Hemerijck

Description

The Uses of Social Investment provides the first study of the welfare state, under the new post-crisis austerity context and associated crisis management politics, to take stock of the limits and potential of social investment. It surveys the emergence, diffusion, limits, merits, and politics of social investment as the welfare policy paradigm for the 21st century, seen through the lens of the life-course contingencies of the competitive knowledge economy and modern family-hood.

Featuring contributions from leading scholars in the field, the volume revisits the intellectual roots and normative foundations of social investment, surveys the criticisms that have leveled against the social investment perspective in theory and policy practice, and presents empirical evidence of social investment progress together with novel research methodologies for assessing socioeconomic 'rates of return' on social investment. Given the progressive, admittedly uneven, diffusion of the social investment policy priorities across the globe, the volume seeks to address the pressing political question as to whether the social investment turn is able to withstand the fiscal austerity backlash that has re-emerged in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

The Uses of Social Investment

Edited by Anton Hemerijck

Part 1: Introduction
1:Social Investment and its Critics, Anton Hemerijck
Part 2: Limits to Social Investment
2:Social Investment: the Thin Line Between Evidence Based Research and Political Advocacy, Brian Nolan
3:'Social Investment': With or Against Social Protection?, Jean-Claude Barbier
4:Family Relationships and Gender Equality in the Social Investment Discourse: A Too Reduced View?, Chiara Saraceno
5:Social Investment and the Matthew Effect: Limits to a Strategy, Giuliano Bonoli, Bea Cantillon, and Wim Van Lancker
6:The 'New Welfare State' Under Fiscal Strain: Austerity Gridlocks and the Privatization of Risk, Daniel Mertens
Part 3: Social Investment Endowment and Extensions
7:Enabling Social Policy, Lane Kenworthy
8:Social Investment and the Service Economy Trilemma, Anne Wren
9:Towards Employment Insurance?, Günther Schmid
10:Social Investment and Childcare Expansion: A Perfect Match?, Margarita León
11:Addressing Human Capital Risks and the Role of Institutional Complementarities, Verena Dräbing and Moira Nelson
12:Capacitating Services and the Bottom-Up Approach to Social Investment, Charles Sabel, Jonathan Zeitlin, and Sigrid Quack
13:A Normative Foundation for the Social Investment Approach?, Nathalie Morel and Joakim Palme
Part 4: Social Investment Assessment: Conceptualization and Methods
14:Practical Pluralism in the Empirical Study of Social Investment: Examples from Active Labor Market Policy, Brian Burgoon
15:Social Investment and its Discount Rate, Iain Begg
16:Conceptualising and Measuring Social Investment, Johan De Deken
17:Measuring Social Investment Returns: Do Publicly Provided Services Enhance Social Inclusion?, Gerlinde Verbist
Part 5: Comparative Social Investment Experience
18:Developing and Spreading a Social Investment Perspective: The World Bank and the OECD Compared, Jane Jenson
19:De-Universalization and Selective Social Investment in Scandinavia?, Kees van Kersbergen and Jonas Kraft
20:The Truncated German Social Investment Turn, Martin Seeleib-Kaiser
21:The Impact of Social Investment Reforms on Income and Activation in the Netherlands, Menno Soentken, Franca van Hooren and Deborah Rice
22:Ireland: the Evolving Tensions Between Austerity, Welfare Expansion and Targeted Social Investment, Rory O'Donnell and Damian Thomas
23:Social Investment in a Federal Welfare State: The Quebec Experience, Alain Noël
24:A Social Investment Turn in East Asia? South Korea in Comparative Perspective, Timo Fleckenstein and Soohyun Christine Lee
25:Social Investment in Latin America, Johan Sandberg and Moira Nelson
26:Why No Social Investment in Italy: Timing, Austerity, and Macro-level Matthew Effects, Yuri Kazepov and Costanzo Ranci
Part 6: EU Social Investment Advocacy
27:Social Investment for a Cohesive and Competitive European Union, Evelyn Astor, Lieve Fransen, Marc Vothknecht
28:Can European Socio-Economic Governance be Social Investment Proof?, Sonja Bekker
29:Social Investment as a Policy Platform: A European Argument, Frank Vandenbroucke
30:Accelerator or Brake? The EU and the Difficult Politics of Social Investment, Maurizio Ferrera
Part 7: The Politics of Social Investment
31:The Politics of Social Investment: Policy Legacies and Class Coalitions, Silja Häusermann and Bruno Palier
32:Three Challenges for the Social Investment Strategy: Investing in the Future, Taxes, and the Millennials, John Myles
33:Public Opinion and the Politics of Social Investment, Marius R. Busemeyer
34:Social Investment, Social Democracy, Neoliberalism, and Xenophobia, Colin Crouch
Part 8: Conclusion
35:The Uses of Affordable Social Investment, Anton Hemerijck

The Uses of Social Investment

Edited by Anton Hemerijck

Author Information

Edited by Anton Hemerijck, Professor of Political Science, European University Institute, Florence, and Centennial Professor of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science

Anton Hemerijck is Professor of Political Science, European University Institute, Florence, and Centennial Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Contributors:

Evelyn Astor
Jean-Claude Barbier
Iain Begg
Sonja Bekker
Giuliano Bonoli
Brian Burgoon
Marius R. Busemeyer
Bea Cantillon
Colin Crouch
Johan De Deken
Verena Dräbing
Maurizio Ferrera
Timo Fleckenstein
Lieve Fransen
Silja Häusermann
Anton Hemerijck
Jane Jenson
Yuri Kazepov
Lane Kenworthy
Jonas Kraft
Soohyun Christine Lee
Daniel Mertens
Nathalie Morel
John Myles
Moira Nelson
Alain Noël
Brian Nolan
Rory O'Donnell
Bruno Palier
Joakim Palme
Sigrid Quack
Costanzo Ranci
Deborah Rice
Charles Sabel
Johan Sandberg
Chiara Saraceno
Günther Schmid
Martin Seeleib-Kaiser
Menno Soentken
Damian Thomas
Frank Vandenbroucke
Franca van Hooren
Kees van Kersbergen
Wim Van Lancker
Gerlinde Verbist
Marc Vothknecht
Anne Wren
Jonathan Zeitlin

The Uses of Social Investment

Edited by Anton Hemerijck

Reviews and Awards

"[The book] is an open, honest debate about the difficulties of reforming the welfare state to deal with new risks posed by demographic and economic changes of the 21st century, and find a path between the two worse alternatives of knee-jerk austerity and the rising spectre of welfare chauvinism" - Vera Scépanovi, Transfer

"With its beautifully symbolic cover of interrelating and multiply-coloured leaves moving dynamically over time, The Uses of Social Investment is a major publication bringing together many of the most interesting intellectuals and intellectual perspectives in the OECD academy. In Hemerijck's absorbing and massive collected volume, social investment is revealed as a deeply important (and distinct) paradigm which goes far beyond the welfare state. The book, and, as it compellingly drives home, the paradigm, is unusually and persuasively interdisciplinary, going from social policy to political science and political economy, and through law, sociology and economics. It is highly readable I found myself dipping in and out with pleasure and then getting deeply absorbed; it moves between optimistic and sceptical, practical and blue skies, and always thought-provoking." - David Soskice, London School of Economics and Political Science

"This book provides a unique panoramic state-of-the-art view of the theoretical debates and empirical analyses of social investment policies. It brings together the leading critics and advocates who assess the scholarly evidence on a wide range of social investment experiences. Given the increasing global emphasis on social investment, the book's contribution is foundational for any discussion about the future of the welfare state." - Evelyne Huber, University of North Carolina

"How can today's crisis-ridden welfare states avoid past mistakes and learn to sustainably foster the well-being of future generations in ageing societies? This extraordinary compelling collection of contributions provides critical reflections that will enrich ongoing debates on social investment and offers innovative policy solutions to contemporary challenges." - Bernhard Ebbinghaus, University of Oxford

"At this critical moment in history we are looking for new concepts to help rewrite the post-war social settlement. Is Social Investment the answer? Find out here. Hemerijck and company meet their critiques in this remarkably ambitious project. The 'go to' place to find out everything you ever wanted to know about Social Investment in one book. An impressive achievement and a valuable contribution that will inform debates for decades." - Jacqueline O'Reilly, University of Sussex