Review of Hemerijck, A. (2017). The Uses of Social Investment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Erosion of the golden era of the welfare state has brought in different views of how it should be developed. Immediate neoliberal response appears to be still alive and present, not only in the academic debates but also in practice. However, there is a growing concern of the consequences of the neoliberal approach and especially after the economic crisis of 2008 and later. Social investment is an approach or set of policies that came into the focus of the attention in the 1990s but since then, the interest for it has only increased. The economic downturn propelled the question of inclusiveness, growth, employment and human capital, just to name a few, to be the major points of interest. There is now a surge of scientific articles on the topic and Hemerijck’s volume is one of the most encompassing. Moreover, introduction of social investment in the European Union’s social policy through the Social Investment Pact and OECD’s stronger emphasis on it support the need of further debate. Hemerijck’s edited book provides ample evidence for this thinking.
