The Uses of Social Investment

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. Contributors to this volume - Evelyn Astor Jean-Claude Barbier Iain Begg Sonja Bekker Giuliano Bonoli Brian Burgoon Marius R. Busemeyer Bea Cantillon Colin Crouch Johan De Deken Verena Drabing Maurizio Ferrera Timo Fleckenstein Lieve Fransen Silja Hausermann Anton Hemerijck Jane Jenson Yuri Kazepov Lane Kenworthy Jonas Kraft Soohyun Christine Lee Daniel Mertens Nathalie Morel John Myles Moira Nelson Alain Noel Brian Nolan Rory O'Donnell Bruno Palier Joakim Palme Sigrid Quack Costanzo Ranci Deborah Rice Charles Sabel Johan Sandberg Chiara Saraceno Gunther 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