Towards a Social Investment Welfare State? ─ Ideas, Policies and Challenges

Since the late 1990s, new strategies concerning the role and shape of welfare states have been formulated, many of which are guided by a logic of social investment. This book maps out this new perspective and assesses both its achievements and shortcomings. In doing so, it provides a critical analysis of social investment ideas and policies and opens up for discussion many of Europe’s most pressing concerns—such as an aging population, the current economic crisis, and environmental issues— and whether social investment can provide adequate responses to these challenges.

Nathalie Morel is a research associate at the Centre d’etudes europeennes at Sciences Po Paris. Bruno Palier is the CNRS Research Professor at the Centre d’etudes europeennes at Sciences Po Paris. Joakim Palme is a social policy expert, professor in the Department of Government at Uppsala University, and director of the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm.