The World Politics of Social Investment: Volume I: Welfare States in the Knowledge Economy (International Policy Exchange)

Welfare states around the globe are changing, challenged by the development of knowledge economies. In many countries, policy-makers' main response has been to modernize welfare states by focusing on future-oriented social investment policies that focus on creating, mobilizing, and preserving human skills and capabilities. Yet, there is massive variance in the development of social investment strategies. The World Politics of Social Investment: Welfare States in the 21st Century is the first of two volumes of the World Politics of Social Investment (WOPSI) project, which systematically maps and explains different welfare reform strategies in democratic countries around the world. This volume develops a theory on the political and socio-economic conditions for the development of social investment policies around the globe, and studies the impact of the main explanatory factors on the empirical variety of social investment reforms (and non-social investment reforms). It also proposes a new typology of different welfare reform strategies, distinguishing nine types of social investment strategies depending on their functions (creating, mobilizing and preserving human skill and capabilities) and their distributive profiles (inclusive, stratified or targeted), and three types of non-social investment welfare strategies (market liberalism, social protectionism and basic income). The chapters of this volume are written by leading social policy scholars from different disciplines and countries, who apply the WOPSI global theoretical framework in a range of contexts and policy fields, shedding light on the scope conditions of social investment, as well as political demand- and supply-side drivers of social investment reforms. This volume on its own or in conjunction with the second volume is an invaluable resource on the state of modern welfare and social investment policies from around the globe. Dedication Contents Contributors 1. Toward a Worldwide View on the Politics of Social Investment • Bruno Palier, Julian L. Garritzmann, and Silja Häusermann 2. The Politics of Social Investment: A Global Theoretical Framework • Silja Häusermann, Julian L. Garritzmann, and Bruno Palier PART I. THE IDEATIONAL CONTEXT OF SOCIAL INVESTMENT POLITICS 3. Multiple Sources of the Social Investment Perspective: The OECD and the World Bank • Jane Jenson and Rianne Mahon 4. The Politics of European Union’s Social Investment Initiatives • Caroline de la Porte and Bruno Palier PART II. THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SCOPE CONDITIONS OF SOCIAL INVESTMENT REFORMS 5. Social Investment and Social Assistance in Low- and Middle- Income Countries • Armando Barrientos 6. Political Linkage Strategies and Social Investment Policies: Clientelism and Educational Policy in the Developing World • Haohan Chen and Herbert Kitschelt 7. State Capacity and Social Investment: Explaining Variation in Skills Creation Reforms in Latin America • Juan A. Bogliaccini and Aldo Madariaga 8. The Emergence of Knowledge Economies: Educational Expansion, Labor Market Changes, and the Politics of Social Investment • Julian L. Garritzmann, Silja Häusermann, Thomas Kurer, Bruno Palier, and Michael Pinggera PART III. DEMAND FOR AND SUPPLY OF SOCIAL INVESTMENT: PUBLIC OPINION AND SOCIAL PARTNERS’ SOCIAL INVESTMENT POLICY PREFERENCES 9. Employers and Social Investment in Three European Countries: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly • Emmanuele Pavolini and Martin Seeleib- Kaiser 10. Social (Investment) Partners?: Trade Unions and the Welfare State for the Knowledge Economy • Niccolo Durazzi and Leonard Geyer 11. Trade Unions, Labor Market Dualization, and Investment in Early Childhood Education and Care in Latin America • Melina Altamirano and Bárbara A. Zárate-Tenorio 12. Public Preferences Toward Social Investment: Comparing Patterns of Support Across Three Continents • Björn Bremer PART IV. THE COMPARATIVE POLITICS OF SOCIAL INVESTMENT REFORMS 13. Social Investment and Neoliberal Legacies in Latin America: Breaking the Mold? • Evelyne Huber, Claire Dunn, and John D. Stephens 14. Different Paths to Social Investment?: The Politics of Social Investment in North East Asia and Southern Europe • Margarita Estévez-Abe and Margarita León 15. Social Investment or Childcare on the Cheap?: Quality, Workforce, and Access Considerations in the Expansion of Early Childhood Education and Care • Kimberly J. Morgan 16. The Politics of Social Investment in the Knowledge Economy: Analytical Insights from a Global Comparison • Julian L. Garritzmann, Silja Häusermann, and Bruno Palier Index ## Abstract Welfare states around the globe are changing, challenged by the development of knowledge economies. In many countries, policymakers’ main response has been to modernize welfare states by focusing on future-oriented “social investment” policies that focus on creating, mobilizing, and preserving human skills and capabilities. Yet, there is massive variance in the development of social investment strategies. This is the first of two volumes of the World Politics of Social Investment (WOPSI) project, which systematically maps and explains different welfare reform strategies in democratic countries around the world. This volume develops a theory on the political and socioeconomic conditions for the development of social investment policies around the globe and studies the impact of the main explanatory factors on the empirical variety of social investment reforms (and non-social investment reforms). It also proposes a new typology of different welfare reform strategies, distinguishing nine types of social investment strategies depending on their functions (creating, mobilizing, and preserving human skill and capabilities) and their distributive profiles (inclusive, stratified, or targeted) and three types of non-social investment welfare strategies (market liberalism, social protectionism, and basic income). The chapters of this volume are written by leading social policy scholars from different disciplines and countries, who apply the WOPSI global theoretical framework in a range of contexts and policy fields, shedding light on the scope conditions of social investment, as well as political demand- and supply-side drivers of social investment reforms. The second volume focuses on inter-regional variation of social investment reforms. Jointly, the project offers the first worldwide analysis of social investment reforms around the globe. "Around the turn of the 21st century, new social policies started to develop all around the world. Bolsa Familia in Brazil, Progresa in Mexico, Superémonos in Costa Rica, Juntos in Peru... almost all Latin American countries have developed "conditional cash transfers" (CCTs), a new type of social policy usually conditioning benefits for poor families on their children going to school or attending health checkups. At the same time, some old industrialized countries famously known for being the heaven of the male breadwinner model have introduced surprising innovation in their welfare systems: in Germany massive investment in preschool childcare (Kita) since the early 2000s and the introduction of two "daddy months" in a German parental leave scheme in 2007; in Japan a well-paid parental leave in 2014 and universalization of free preschool education for ages 3-5 in 2017; in South Korea childcare facilities for children below the age of five made free of charge in 2013. Policies aimed at investing in children's care and education and in mothers' labor market participation seem to have bloomed almost everywhere. Worldwide there has been a sharp increase in access to secondary and tertiary education. Youth training programs have spread in many Latin American countries, while European countries have introduced youth guarantees, an innovative inclusive policy for their NEETs (young people not in education, employment, or training)"-- Provided by publisher