SI as a framework for analysing well-being returns and reforms: Agenda-setting article in Socio-Economic Review

The article “Social investment as a conceptual framework for analysing well-being returns and reforms in 21st century welfare states” by Anton Hemerijck, Stefano Ronchi and Ilze Plavgo was recently published in Socio-Economic Review. 

This agenda-setting journal article calls for a multi-disciplinary and multi-method re-engagement in welfare state research. It argues that a distributive approach does not sufficiently capture the complexity of contemporary welfare state dynamics and proposes to re-conceptualize welfare provision as (non-) complementary policy mixes of three distinct but interconnected social investment functions. The article underscores how methodological pluralism remains key for grasping welfare outcomes and institutional change in a research endeavour that involves both generalization and contextualization.