Social Investment at Crossroads

2018 ◽  
pp. 201-220
Author(s):  
Axel Cronert ◽  
Joakim Palme
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Wage Structure ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Investment Policies ◽  
Noticeable Increase ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Social ◽  
Distributional Consequences

The concept of social investment has gained ground among European Union policymakers as a strategy to reconcile the goals of employment, growth, and social inclusion. However, scholars have criticized the social investment approach for not achieving its intended distributional consequences and have questioned the complementarity between the goals of increasing employment and decreasing poverty. We argue that distinguishing between the “Enlightened Path”—more commonly known as the “Nordic approach”—and the “Third Way” approach to social investment is important for understanding the relationships between social investment policies, employment, and poverty. By critically examining policy developments in Sweden, we find that the recent noticeable increase in relative poverty can best be accounted for by changes in tax and transfer policies that represent a shift from the Nordic approach to the Third Way approach, whereas an “employment vs. poverty” trade-off is mitigated by the sustained presence of a compressed wage structure.

Gender and attitudes toward welfare state reform: Are women really social investment promoters?

2021 ◽  
pp. 095892872097801
Author(s):  
Julian L. Garritzmann ◽  
Hanna Schwander
Keyword(s):  
Demand Side ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Investment Policies ◽  
State Reform ◽  
Career Interruptions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Analytical Step ◽  
Political Realignment ◽  
Welfare Politics ◽  
Welfare State Reform

This article contributes to the study of the demand side of welfare politics by investigating gender differences in social investment preferences systematically. Building on the different functions of social investment policies in creating, preserving, or mobilizing skills, we argue that women do not support social investment policies generally more strongly than men. Rather, women demand, in particular, policies to preserve their skills during career interruptions and help to mobilize their skills on the labour market. In a second analytical step, we examine women’s policy priorities if skill preservation and mobilization come at the expense of social compensation. We test our arguments for eight Western European countries with data from the INVEDUC survey. The confirmation of our arguments challenges a core assumption of the literatures on the social investment turn and women’s political realignment. We discuss the implication of our findings in the conclusion.

Disappointing poverty trends: is the social investment state to blame?

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 450-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Vandenbroucke ◽  
Koen Vleminckx
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
Industrial Societies ◽  
The Eu

Should we explain the disappointing outcomes of the Open Method of Co-ordination on Inclusion by methodological weaknesses or by substantive contradictions in the ‘social investment’ paradigm? To clarify the underlying concepts, we first revisit the original ‘Lisbon inspiration’ and then relate it to the idea of the ‘new welfare state’, as proposed in the literature on new risks in post-industrial societies. We then discuss two explanations for disappointing poverty trends, suggested by critical accounts of the ‘social investment state’: ‘resource competition’ and a ‘re-commodification’. We do not find these explanations convincing per se and conclude that the jury is still out on the ‘social investment state’. However, policy-makers cannot ignore the failure of employment policies to reduce the proportion of children and working-age adults living in jobless households in the EU, and they should not deny the reality of a ‘trilemma of activation’. Finally, we identify policy conditions that may facilitate the complementarity of social investment and social inclusion.

scholarly journals RELAÇÃO PÚBLICO-PRIVADA E PRECARIZAÇÃO DO TRABALHO: UM ENSAIO TEÓRICO

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (Especial 2) ◽  
pp. 572-577
Author(s):  
João Gomes Moreira ◽  
Fernanda Aparecida Augusto ◽  
Irene Caires da Silva ◽  
Maria Elisa Nogueira Oliveira ◽  
Tatiana Veiga Uzeloto
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Social

This article aims to discuss the dismantling that the neoliberal proposals have been making in relation to social policies, which the State, in fulfillment of its duty, should provide for the wellbeing of the population, in a democratic way. It was sought to clarify that the public-private relationship is nothing more than a major strategy of capital to create and expand new market niches to overcome the cyclical crisis of capitalism, always presented with new clothes in the mutations that are processed, to reduce the effects of the inevitable in the social asphyxiation that eventually generated great revolutions recorded in its historical process. This article is of bibliographic character, where information was sought in doctrines, periodicals, specialized magazines, official websites and others. Finally, it was a brief diagnosis of the current situation of the Brazilian public education that, from the third way, has been incorporating new forms of action based on the logic of the market.

scholarly journals Three Shortcomings of the Social Investment Perspective

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bea Cantillon ◽  
Wim Van Lancker
Keyword(s):  
Capital Investment ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
The Social

In this article we critically assess the social investment perspective that has become the dominant paradigm in European social policymaking. We identify and discuss some of its shortcomings that may hamper social progress for all. In doing so, we focus on three pillars central to the idea of social investment: social inclusion through work, individual responsibility and human capital investment. We find that the social investment perspective has some serious flaws when it comes to the social protection of vulnerable groups. This is strongly related to the continuing relevance of social class in explaining and remedying social inequalities. We conclude that investment cannot be the only rationale for welfare state intervention and that protecting people should remain equally high on the policy agenda.

Beyond the Third Way: The Science of Complexity and the Politics of Choice

2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Geyer
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Third Way ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Social ◽  
Anthony Giddens ◽  
The One

Focusing on the work of Anthony Giddens, this article reviews his vision of the Third Way and argues that it reflects a new and fundamental ‘complexity’ shift within the social sciences. His ability to partially recognise and integrate this shift into his thinking gives the Third Way much of its power and coherence. However, his unwillingness to accept the shift's full implications and his determination to find the one new way for the left blinds him to its more contingent and complex implications. By coming to terms with the development of complexity theory in the natural and social sciences, this article will attempt to go beyond the Third Way and argue that there is not one, two or three ways, but hundreds.

From perspectives to policy contingencies: Conditional cash transfers as social investments

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moira Nelson ◽  
Johan Sandberg
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfers ◽  
Causal Mechanism ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Investment Policies ◽  
The Social

Despite the popularity of social investment, there remain ambiguities regarding how to design an effective social investment approach. We review evaluations of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) in Latin America in order to draw out lessons of how to improve the effectiveness of social investment. CCTs share many of the objectives of the social investment approach and are targeted at poorer groups. Since research shows that such groups are often not adequately supported through social investment policies, analyzing CCTs holds particular promise. Our analysis finds that architects of social investment policies should consider three questions when designing a social investment approach: how much investment is necessary to fulfill social investment functions, what is the causal mechanism through which the goals of social investment are to be achieved, and what array of policies are necessary for such mechanisms to be effective?

The Slow Road to the Social Investment Perspective in the European Union

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Dinan
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Social

The European Union has no unilateral legislative capacity in the area of social policy. However, the European Commission does play the role of guide by providing a discursive framework and targets for its 28 Member States to meet. Since the late 1990’s, the EU’s ideas on social policy have moved away from the traditional social protection model towards promoting social inclusion, labour activation and investing in children. These new policies represent the social investment perspective, which advocates preparing the population for a knowledge-based economy to increase economic growth and job creation and to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty. The EU began the gradual incorporation of the social investment perspective to its social dimension with the adoption of ten-year strategies. Since 2000, it has continued to set goals and benchmarks as well as offer a forum for Member States to coordinate their social initiatives. Drawing on a series of interviews conducted during a research experience in Brussels as well as official documents, this paper is a descriptive analysis of the recent modifications to the EU’s social dimension. It focuses on the changes created by the Europe 2020 Strategy and the Social Investment Package. By tracing the genesis and evolution of these initiatives, the author identifies four obstacles to social investment in the European Union's social dimension.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v10i1.263

The Political Economy of Devolution

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Keating
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Institutional Capacity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Investment Capital

Small, devolved nations and regions lack major macro-economic powers. Yet in the context of spatial rescaling they have become important levels for managing economic growth and social cohesion. They may be exposed to a ‘race to the bottom’ by the need to attract investment capital. Yet, by adopting social investment strategies they can rec.oncling growth with social inclusion. The key factor is the institutional capacity to plan for the long term, to set priorities and to sustain cooperation among the social partners.

Social Investment

2021 ◽  
pp. 187-205
Author(s):  
Julian L. Garritzmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Investment Policies ◽  
Policy Paradigm ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Skills

This chapter reviews the paradigm and spread of social investment policies, which come in many variants, and discusses them as key elements of the ‘knowledge economy welfare state’. Social investments are policies that aim to create, preserve, and mobilize human skills and capabilities. The chapter discusses the emergence of social investment as a new social policy paradigm, presents different variants of the social investment approach, provides a mapping of social investment policies around the globe, discusses effects of social investment policies, and weighs in on important debates regarding the politics of social investment. The chapter then closes with an outlook on avenues for future research.

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