Social Investment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Nolan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Major Part ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Conceptual Base ◽  
Economic Rationale

Social investment has come to play a major part in debates about the role of social spending and the future of welfare states in Europe, in part because it has significant appeal to different audiences. This chapter argues that social investment can be seen as a (new) paradigm for social policies and spending, as a conceptual base and framework for analysis, and as a basis for political or rhetorical advocacy. There may, however, be a tension between these functions which needs to be recognized. This is brought out when one asks whether social investment can credibly be presented as the paradigm most likely to underpin strong job-friendly economic growth, and whether the distinction between social ‘investment’ and other social spending is conceptually and empirically robust. Finally, the chapter wonders whether focusing on that distinction, and on a narrowly economic rationale, is the most productive way to frame the debate.

Egypt: Between Warfare and Welfare

2020 ◽  
pp. 212-272
Author(s):  
Ferdinand Eibl
Keyword(s):  
Path Dependence ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Energy Subsidies ◽  
Regime Formation ◽  
External Threats ◽  
A Minor

This chapter retraces the emergence of Egypfs social policy trajectory. A pri­ mary goal is to provide empirical evidence for a link between intra-elite conflict and social policies and spending. The author focuses specifically on the role of the ruler, Nasser, and his impact on early social policies. Highlighting Nasser’s numerous about-faces and ideological ambiguity in the early period of regime formation, he shows that ideology and the ruler’s personality played a minor role in shaping social policies. The chapter emphasizes in particular how external threats made high social spending financially impossible, albeit politically desirable. It demonstrates the specific types of ‘cheap social policies’ the regime utilized to deal with this dilemma. Finally, the chapter sets out to explain the persistence of social spending following divergence. It highlights the key mechanisms of path dependence using the examples of food and energy subsidies and the failed health care reform in the 2000s.

Social investment: Diffusing ideas for redesigning citizenship after neo-liberalism?

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 688-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Laruffa
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Minimal State ◽  
Economic Rationale ◽  
Accurate Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Economic Understanding

Social investment has become the dominant approach to welfare reform in Europe and elsewhere. Scholars supporting this perspective have argued that it represents a paradigm shift from neo-liberalism – defined as the ideology of the minimal state and welfare retrenchment. This article challenges this claim, arguing that this definition of neo-liberalism is simplistic and empirically weak. It states that under a more accurate definition, social investment reflects four characteristics of neo-liberalism: the de-politicisation of the economy and of welfare reform; the economic understanding of the state; the extension of economic rationale to non-economic domains; and the anthropology of human capital. Taking this view, while social investment is preferable to welfare retrenchment, it promotes the same kind of citizenship as neo-liberalism, especially in terms of the marginalisation of the role of democracy in regulating the economy.

Tunisia

2020 ◽  
pp. 166-211
Author(s):  
Ferdinand Eibl
Keyword(s):  
Path Dependence ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Causal Mechanism ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Energy Subsidies ◽  
Micro Level

This chapter substantiates the causal mechanism at the micro-level by retracing the emergence and development of social policies in Thnisia. A primary goal of the case studies is to provide empirical evidence for a link between intra-elite conflict and social policies and spending. The author relies on three types of primary source: archival material; autobiographies of key actors; and interviews with former policy makers. A particular focus is the role of the ruler, Bourguiba, and his impact on early social policies. Highlighting Bourguiba’s opposition to important social policy reforms, the chapter backs up the author’s claim that ideology and the ruler’s personality played a secondary role in shaping social policies. The chapter also sets out to explain the persistence of social spending following divergence. It highlights the key mechanisms of path dependence in the Tunisian case, using the examples of food and energy subsidies and the 2004 health care reform.

Introduction: ‘New’ Welfare in Practice: Trends, Challenges and Dilemmas

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 547-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Ellison ◽  
Menno Fenger
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Social Risk ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
European Welfare States

European welfare states have a tradition of compensating for social risks. But across Europe, remarkable transformations may be observed that shift the focus from a needs/rights based compensatory approach towards a more individualistic ‘social risk management’ approach to welfare (see Schmid, 2006; Abrahamson, 2010). The basic idea of social risk management is that citizens have their own responsibility for preventing social risks. The ‘new’ welfare state mirrors this approach by adopting the role of equipping individual citizens for this task. The concept of the ‘new welfare state’ has been discussed under different labels, including ‘positive welfare’ (Giddens, 1998), ‘enabling welfare’ (Gilbert, 2002), ‘new welfare’ (Taylor-Gooby, 2008) and ‘social investment state’ (Engelen et al., 2007).

scholarly journals Infrastructure Development in India and the Role of Tax Incentives

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niti Bhasin
Keyword(s):  
Private Investment ◽  
Tax Incentives ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Infrastructure Projects ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Indian Economy ◽  
Economic Rationale ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
Infrastructure Services

The demand for infrastructural services has increased rapidly after industrial liberalisation of the Indian economy. Recent years have witnessed substantial progress from the old paradigm of public monopoly provision of infrastructure services to the new paradigm which also encourages private investment and provision of infrastructure services within a stable, predictable and commercially viable regulatory framework. The case for attracting FDI is also significantly strengthened through the provision of an adequate level of infrastructure. There is thus adequate economic rationale for encouraging the sponsorship of infrastructure projects and to facilitate investments in this sector. In this context, the provision of fiscal benefits implies a contribution from government that is supported by benefits accruing from the externalities of the project. In the absence of such contribution, the private investment flows may not take place at all. This paper looks at the types of tax incentives being offered in the infrastructure sector that can contribute to mobilising private resources in the financing of projects.

scholarly journals The role of governance in explaining the relationship between public social expenditure and economic growth An econometric study on the organization of Islamic Cooperation Countries (OIC) during the period 1996- 2016: دور الحوكمة في تفسير العلاقة بين الإنفاق الاجتماعي الحكومي والنمو الاقتصادي دراسة قياسية على بلدان منظمة التعاون الإسلامي خلال الفترة 1996- 2016

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (15) ◽  
pp. 29-1
Author(s):  
Basheer Hezam Mahdi, Mohamed Ben Mimoun Basheer Hezam Mahdi, Mohamed Ben Mimoun
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Social Expenditure ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
Governance Indicators ◽  
World Governance Indicators ◽  
The Impact

  The paper aimed to study the impact of government social spending with its various components (education, health, social care) on economic growth in light of the role of governance indicators. It considered the OIC countries' experience during the 1996- 2016 period and estimated an econometric model using the "Generalized Moment Method" (GMM). The World Governance Indicators (WGI) have been used to proxy for the governance variable. The results showed that: (i) there is a negative impact of government spending on education and health in the OIC countries, and an unstable effect of spending on social transfers on economic growth; (ii) there is an interaction between government social spending on the one hand and governance on the other hand, and that the effectiveness of government social spending increases in Islamic countries with good governance indicator; and (iii) there is a positive effect of the six sub- governance indicators- except for the “voice and accountability” indicator on economic growth, and on the effectiveness of social spending on education and health on economic growth.

scholarly journals Welfare States’ Social Investment Strategies and the Emergence of Dutch Experiments on a Minimum Income Guarantee

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loek Groot ◽  
Ruud Muffels ◽  
Timo Verlaat
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Personal Autonomy ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Policy Practice

The focus in welfare state support in the Netherlands has been shifted from workfare and activation policies to social investment strategies. The discourse on basic income and the related municipal experiments highlights this shift. We address the inspiration found in basic income and behavioural economic and motivational psychological theoretical insights for the design of the experiments and for new avenues of minimum income protection and providing participation opportunities for the disadvantaged. The emerging new paradigm also implies a shift in the cultural values and principles on which welfare state policies are implicitly founded. This means that in these endeavours particular social values are put more upfront, such as personal autonomy (capacitating people by providing opportunities and therewith ‘free choice’) and trust (activating people by putting trust in their self-management capacities) which in day-to-day policy practice means more tailor-made, demand-oriented integrated mediation and coaching while rewarding people instead of penalising them.

The Redistributive Impact of ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Social Spending

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 513-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARIA VAALAVUO
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
The Rich

AbstractThe welfare state literature has recently identified a shift from the protection against traditional risks to social investment. In this new future-oriented and activation-based social policy, the focus is on the redistribution of opportunities instead of income. Even if vertical redistribution from the rich to poor may be only one rationale of social action, it should not be overlooked when directing social policy from insurance to investment. This article has two objectives: first, it investigates how real this shift is in macro-economic terms, and, secondly, whether the increased focus on new social risks and social investment has possibly changed welfare states’ commitment to redistribute from the rich to poor. I compare the distribution of benefits from ‘old’ spending categories (such as retirement or unemployment) with those from ‘new’ ones (such as having care responsibilities). Analysing six European countries representing different welfare state regimes, I find no evidence that new social spending would mean necessarily renouncing egalitarian ambitions. On the contrary, in all countries the distribution of new spending is more equal or pro-poor than the spending on old social risks. Different households benefit in distinct ways: the elderly benefiting the most from traditional spending (with the exception of elderly care that is categorised here as ‘new’ social spending) and families with children and single parents from new spending.

scholarly journals Economic growth, welfare models and inequality in the context of globalisation

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pasquale Tridico ◽  
Walter Paternesi Meloni
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Real Income ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Income Dynamics ◽  
Gross Domestic Product Growth ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
The Welfare State

The recent economic crisis was a test case for many advanced countries to determine the capacity of their socio-economic model to cope with the challenges of globalisation and financial crash. From this perspective, the aim of this article is to explore whether the expansion of the welfare state should be seen as a barrier to economic growth and competitiveness, as ‘neoliberal’ economists often argue, or whether increasing public social provision might contribute to enhancing real income. After a comparative discussion of the evolution of different welfare models in developed countries, we advance our argument that public social spending is not a drain on competitiveness or an obstacle to economic efficiency. On the contrary, we explore the possibility that increasing welfare expenditure can stimulate economic growth along with lowering inequality, while the so-called ‘efficiency thesis’ (according to which globalisation needs to be accompanied by the retrenchment of welfare states in order to promote external competitiveness) produces worse economic performance and higher inequality. As a test of this hypothesis, we analyse empirical data on 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries from 1990 to 2013. We use econometric analysis to indicate that the so-called ‘compensation thesis’ (a process whereby globalisation is regulated through expansion of welfare states) may contribute to real income dynamics, while greater income inequality may inhibit per capita gross domestic product growth. JEL Codes: I380, P510, F600, G010

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