How Social Investments Can Increase Wellbeing

Jon KvistRoskilde University

Edinburgh, June 16, 2014

The Goal of the Welfare State?

1 To create a room where everybody can develop their human potential

OR2 The sum of all public welfare policies

OR3 Public policies aimed at developing

the human capital of the population

Parents Offspring

Intergenerational transmission

CapitalEconomicCulturalSocial

NOT NECESSARILY THE SAME PICTURE FOR PENALTY AND PREMIUMS

NOT NECESSARILY THE SAME PICTURE FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

Skill formation

Insurance to promote risk

taking

Safety net to ameliorate poverty

The Social Investment Circus

The intergenerational contract

Children and youth Working aged Old age people

T +1

T

T +2

Example childhood policies directed at children, families and companies

• Children– Childcare: availability, affordability, quality– Childcare: general and targeted (disadvantaged, solo parents,

mainly women)• Families– Cash– Councelling– Time

• Companies– Reconcile work and family life– Combat gender discriminatory practices

Child Care ModelsAffordable

Availability

Quality

Employment gap of mothers:DK 1.9 %-point, UK – 16.4, DE -18.4

UK: 10% not available, 4% insufficient quality, 73% too expensive DE: 25% not available, 31% too expensive

Denmark Germany Italy Poland UK

77

20 22

8

35

87

2117

4

20

83

2328

4

53

Childcare coverage, < 3 years, % Total Poorest quintile Richest quintile

Young people not in employment AND not in education OR training

EU 28

United Kingdom

Lithuania

Germany

Finland

Sweden

Denmark

Norway

0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0

13.1

14.0

11.2

7.1

8.6

7.8

6.6

5.2NEET Rates, 15-24 years

Source: Eurostat (2013)

0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96100

-70000

-60000

-50000

-40000

-30000

-20000

-10000

0

10000

20000

30000

Women get moreeducation than men

Men more often cared for by women than women by men

Gender pay gap,glass ceiling for women,

more women than men havecareer breaks and

part-time work

Women havelower pension income

than men

Men’s take-upof leave is low

Euro

Age

Men

Women

Example: Combatting gender stereotypes in early years

• Increase men’s time with children• More children in childcare• More men in female dominated jobs• Curricula and awareness in childcare

There are additional important dimensions:

• Skills• Ethnicity• Spatial stuff• advantage and disadvantages tends to

compound, i.e. intersectionality matters (e.g. gender, age, skills, and etnicity)

Concluding remarks• Social investments can improve wellbeing and equality• Men: more and better participation in the family + men in

female dominated jobs• Women: better use of human capital in the market -> less

discrimination + credits for care and birth• Both: fighting gender stereotypes + more, cheaper and

better childcare• Theoretically frame: dynamic, multi-dimensional outcomes,

configurational policy packages, intersectional target groups• End result: less gender inequalities, more wellbeing

• Thanks for your attention!