Special issue: The future of the social investment state: Politics, policies, and outcomes

In all advanced democracies, policies related to the welfare state are the largest part of public policy activity. Cross-pressured by globalization, deindustrialization, rising public debts, demographic changes, permanent austerity and the rise of 'new social risks', welfare states in post-industrial democracies have entered a new phase of consolidation and transformation since the 1980s. Against early fears, retrenchment has not been 'the only game in town'. Rather, many countries have expanded new welfare policies such as 'social investments'.

This collection adds to the recent literature on the emergence of the 'social investment state' in several ways: (1) it assesses to what degree social investment policies have become established across countries and at the EU level; (2) it demonstrates that and why the politics of social investment are different from those of compensatory social policies on the micro and macro level; and (3) it points at important socio-economic effects of social investments.

Articles:

+ The future of the social investment state: politics, policies, and outcomes | Marius R. Busemeyer, Caroline de la Porte, Julian L. Garritzmann & Emmanuele Pavolini
+ Social investment as a policy paradigm | Anton Hemerijck
+ Agents of institutional change in EU policy: the social investment moment | Caroline de la Porte & David Natali
+ Public demand for social investment: new supporting coalitions for welfare state reform in Western Europe? | Julian L. Garritzmann, Marius R. Busemeyer & Erik Neimanns
+ The multidimensional politics of social investment in conservative welfare regimes: family policy reform between social transfers and social investment | Silja Häusermann
+ The Matthew effect in childcare use: a matter of policies or preferences? | Emmanuele Pavolini & Wim Van Lancker
+ Good intentions and Matthew effects: access biases in participation in active labour market policies | Giuliano Bonoli & Fabienne Liechti
Political participation in European welfare states: does social investment matter? | Paul Marx & Christoph Giang Nguyen
+ Pro-elderly welfare states within child-oriented societies | Róbert Iván Gál, Pieter Vanhuysse & Lili Vargha