The Uses of Social Investment

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
First Century ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Policy Paradigm ◽  
The Social ◽  
Fiscal Austerity ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Political Question

The Uses of Social Investment surveys the emergence, diffusion, limits, merits, and politics of social investment as the welfare policy paradigm for the twenty-first century seen through the lens of the life-course contingencies of the knowledge economy and modern familyhood. Over a span of thirty-five contributions, The Uses of Social Investment revisits the intellectual roots, surveys the evidence of social investment progress in theory and practice, and looks at research methodology and normative philosophy. In addition, the volume also reviews the criticisms that have been levelled against the social investment perspective in the academic literature. In light of the progressive, and admittedly uneven, diffusion of the social investment policy priorities across all parts of the globe, many contributions address the pressing political question of whether the social investment turn will be able to withstand the fiscal austerity backlash that has re-emerged in the low growth aftermath of the recent global financial crisis.

The Uses of Affordable Social Investment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Hemerijck
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
First Century ◽  
Paradigm Change ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Welfare Capitalism ◽  
Methodological Innovation ◽  
Policy Paradigm ◽  
Fiscal Austerity ◽  
Second Use

The final chapter concludes with five contemporary ‘uses’ of social investment, in full recognition of limits underscored by critics. The first ‘use’ of social investment therefore concerns its ‘paradigmatic’ bearings. To what extent does social investment represent a distinct policy paradigm for twenty-first-century welfare capitalism? A second ‘use’ relates to paradigm change, in the sense of theoretical progress inspiring interdisciplinary methodological innovation, in particular with respect to the empirical assessment of well-being ‘returns’ on social investment. The third more practical ‘use’ covers the identification of virtuous social investment policy mixes of ‘stocks’, ‘flows’, and ‘buffers’. The fourth ‘use’ is geographically confined to the European conundrum of overcoming the fiscal austerity to make way for social investment reform, as means to reignite socioeconomic convergence, at least for the Eurozone. The more general final use of social investment bears on the ‘politics of social investment’ in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Social Investment and Its Critics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Hemerijck
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Policy Paradigm ◽  
Knowledge Based Economy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modern Family ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Economic Stabilization

The introduction to the volume surveys the emergence, diffusion, limits, merits, and politics of social investment as an ‘emerging’ welfare policy paradigm for the knowledge-based economy. After revisiting its intellectual roots, the chapter surveys the criticisms that are levelled against the social investment perspective in the academic literature. Provoked by critics, and also the growing evidence of social investment headway and theoretical progress, the chapter subsequently develops a multidimensional life-course taxonomy of three complementary social investment functions: (1) easing the ‘flow’ of contemporary labour-market and life-course transitions; (2) raising the quality of the ‘stock’ of human capital and capabilities; and (3) maintaining strong minimum-income universal safety nets as income protection and economic stabilization ‘buffers’, as a heuristic template for analysing the interdependent character of social investment policy reform through the lens of the life-course contingencies of the knowledge economy and modern family demography.

The Truncated German Social Investment Turn

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Seeleib-Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
First Century ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Political Determinants ◽  
The Social ◽  
State Regime ◽  
Policy Transformations ◽  
Veto Points

Traditionally Germany has been categorized as the archetypical conservative welfare state, a categorization not systematically questioned in much of the comparative welfare state regime literature. For many scholars Germany was largely stuck and unable to reform its coordinated market economy and welfare state arrangements at the turn of the twenty-first century, due to a large number of veto points and players and the dominance of two ‘welfare state parties’. More recent research has highlighted a widening and deepening of the historically institutionalized social protection dualism, whilst at the same time significant family policy transformations, which can be considered as partially in line with the social investment paradigm, have been emphasized. This chapter sets out to sketch the main policy developments and aims to identify political determinants of social policy change in Germany.

Three Challenges for the Social Investment Strategy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Myles
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
First Century ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Current Consumption ◽  
The Social ◽  
Post War ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
Wage Outcomes

Three challenges are highlighted in this chapter to the realization of the social investment strategy in our twenty-first-century world. The first such challenge—intertemporal politics—lies in the term ‘investment’, a willingness to forego some measure of current consumption in order to realize often uncertain gains in the future that would not occur otherwise, such as better schooling, employment, and wage outcomes for the next generation. Second, the conditions that enabled our post-war predecessors to invest heavily in future-oriented public goods—a sustained period of economic growth and historically exceptional tolerance for high levels of taxation—no longer obtain. Third, the millennial cohorts who will bear the costs of a new, post-industrial, investment strategy are more economically divided than earlier cohorts and face multiple demands raised by issues such as population aging and global warming, among others.

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.

Die Bedeutung von Tradition und Geheimnis für praktizierende Magier des 21. Jahrhunderts: Ergebnisse einer Interviewstudie The Meaning of Tradition and Secrecy for Magical Practitioners in the 21st Century: Results of an Interview Study

Aries ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-138
Author(s):  
Gerhard Mayer
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Interview Study ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
First Century ◽  
Secret Societies ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Esoteric Knowledge ◽  
Twenty First Century

AbstractThis article addresses the question of the significance of tradition and secrecy for magical practitioners from various occult groups of the twenty-first century. The observations are based upon the results of an interview study alongside an analysis of contemporary literature concerning the practice of magic. The significance which is attached to the “occult” tradition, the transmission of esoteric knowledge and the figure of the person teaching this knowledge correlates very strongly with the spiritual alignment of the magical practice. This is especially pronounced among mystery schools which are oriented towards “white magic”. These concepts, however, play only a relatively marginal role. The same is not true with regard to aspects of secrets and secrecy. Although the distinct influence of a postmodern relativisation can be ascertained here, secrecy nevertheless remains significant in both theory and practice. The social functionality of secrecy such as was characteristic of the secret societies of the Enlightenment can, however, no longer be taken for granted. In this regard, the cultural situation of the twenty-first century has changed too much.

scholarly journals Solidarity and Reciprocity in the Social Investment State: What Can be Learned from the Case of Flemish School Allowances and Truancy?

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-675 ◽  
Author(s):  
BEA CANTILLON ◽  
WIM VAN LANCKER
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Policy Paradigm ◽  
The Social ◽  
Disciplinary Policy ◽  
Policy Shift

AbstractIn this article, we discuss some of the new tensions that are emerging between the different foundations of the welfare state. Several developments have led to the advent of the social investment state, in which people are being activated and empowered instead of passively protected. We argue that this social policy shift has been accompanied by a normative shift towards a more stringent interpretation of social protection in which individual responsibility and quid pro quo have become the primordial focus. Using the Belgian (Flemish) disciplinary policy on truancy and school allowances as a case in point, we demonstrate that this social policy paradigm may have detrimental consequences for society's weakest: they will not always be able to meet the newly emerged standard of reciprocity. This implies an erosion of the ideal of social protection and encourages new forms of social exclusion. As these changes in the social policy framework are not confined to the Belgian case alone, our analysis bears relevance for all European welfare states.

scholarly journals Surveillance Studies and Visual Art: An Examination of Jill Magid's Evidence Locker

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Finn
Keyword(s):  
Visual Art ◽  
First Century ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
The Social ◽  
Surveillance Programs ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Surveillance Society

It is now commonplace to refer to the contemporary world as a surveillance society.  The tremendous proliferation of surveillance over the late twentieth and early twenty-first century has been met by a continually expanding body of scholarly work on the topic.  However, such work remains largely based in the social sciences, specifically in the fields of sociology and criminology.  While this work has been invaluable in many ways, it tends to emphasize empirical investigations of surveillance programs.  By contrast, a growing body of work by artists and activists on surveillance questions the larger, more abstract issues associated with life in a surveillance society.  The article examines Jill Magid’s Evidence Locker to argue that analyzing works of visual art not only complements the existing academic literature on surveillance, but that it raises distinctly new questions about citizens’ own roles and responsibilities in a surveillance society.

scholarly journals Two Decades of Change in Europe: The Emergence of the Social Investment State

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
KEES VAN KERSBERGEN ◽  
ANTON HEMERIJCK
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Policy Mix ◽  
Policy Paradigm ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
The Social

AbstractSince the late 1970s, the developed welfare states of the European Union have been recasting the policy mix on which their systems of social protection were built. They have adopted a new policy orthodoxy that could be summarised as the ‘social investment strategy’. Here we trace its origins and major developments. The shift is characterised by a move away from passive transfers and towards the maximalisation of employability and employment, but there are significant national distinctions and regime specific trajectories. We discuss some caveats, focusing on the question whether the new policy paradigm has been established at the expense of social policies that mitigate poverty and inequality.

Efficiency of Australian superannuation funds: a comparative assessment

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 1022-1038
Author(s):  
Yen Hoang Bui ◽  
Delpachitra Sarath ◽  
Abdullahi D. Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Errors ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Low Efficiency ◽  
Using Data

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to measure efficiency of superannuation funds using data envelopment analysis (DEA), using data related to financial performance of superannuation funds. The sample comprises 183 superannuation funds covering approximately 79 per cent of the 231 largest Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)-regulated funds in 2012. The research covers a period of seven years from 2005 to 2012. The results indicate that most Australian superannuation funds are inefficient relative to the benchmark efficiency frontier based on efficient funds. The findings emphasise the importance of improving the efficiency of Australian superannuation funds by reducing overall fund expenses to narrow the gap in performance between efficient and inefficient funds. Design/methodology/approach This study aims to contribute to policy, theory and practice in several dimensions. Member protection and the efficiency of the superannuation system are topical issues (Donald, 2009). Despite its importance from a regulatory point of view, efficiency has only been discussed in relation to operational issues such as managing agency relationships, fees and charges, investment return or economies of scale. The relative efficiency of the Australian superannuation system from an economic productivity perspective has rarely been examined, except for a study by Njie (2006), where the Malmquist productivity DEA technique was used to measure the efficiency of Australia’s retirement income system. Findings Most inefficient funds had very low efficiency scores and were fell into the lower quintiles such as Quintiles 4 (scored 0.200-0.399) and 5 (scored 0.001-0.199). Consequently, input reduction targets were significantly higher for these two quintiles. Similarly, input reduction targets were high under the period DEA estimates. In order to be comparatively efficient, Quintile 4 funds were required to reduce total expenses by 75 per cent (−0.754) and volatility of return by 80 per cent (−0.801). Similarly, Quintile 5 funds needed to reduce total expenses by, on average, 83 per cent (−0.824) and volatility of return by 89 per cent (−0.894). Research limitations/implications As in other empirical research, this study also depended heavily on the data collected from the secondary sources such as APRA database and other financial reports. The issues of measurement errors in data sources such as APRA database are well documented (see, e.g. Cummins, 2012). This issue needs the attention of future research on the efficiency of superannuation funds. Practical implications The findings on individual year DEA estimates indicate that most funds were inefficient due to high expenses. Therefore, mandatory disclosure of fees and charges in a comparable manner may be necessary to justify fee payments and to address transparency and accountability issues, which are critical issues identified by the Cooper Review and the academic literature (Australian Government, 2014; Cooper et al., 2010; Gallery and Gallery, 2006). Social implications The issue of Australian superannuation funds concentrating the majority of fund assets in highly volatile investment vehicles such as the share markets has been in the spotlight in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. There have been proposals to better diversify superannuation assets in other asset classes (Cooper et al., 2010). Originality/value This study contributes to the current literature on superannuation funds by investigating efficiency. As efficiency studies using DEA have not been conducted on the Australian superannuation industry, this study also contributes to the academic literature on DEA and its extensive applications to various economic sectors. Efficiency scores using DEA, ranking, trends and shifts in the efficiency frontiers could be obtained for Australian superannuation funds on an on-going or annual basis.

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