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Options for national social investment reforms and implications for the European governance

This text discusses social investments over the life course, including policies, returns, and transitions. It explores the importance of different types of returns, such as cognitive and social skills, and examines various policies and measures that can improve outcomes at different stages of life. The text also highlights the challenges of connecting ideas with facts, understanding causation, and aggregating data for effective policy making. It suggests that adopting a life course perspective on social investments can lead to more inclusive and evidence-based policies.

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Options for national social investment reforms and implications for the European governance

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  1. Options for national social investment reforms and implications for the European governance Jon Kvist, Roskilde University, DK Expert Workshop on Social Investment European Policy Centre, 23 February, 2016, Brussels

  2. Social investments over the life course: Policies, returns and transitions Rate of return Brain development Types of returns Cognitive skills Social skills Prenatal care Basic skills Personal traits Occupational skills Less social isolation Nurseries Babies Improved health Work Nutrition Childcare Education Early childhood education Active labour market policies Pension ages Types of policies Health campaigns and tests Early preventive measures Stipends Maternity and daddy leave Lifelong learning Healthcare Parental leave and support Vocational training Home help Rehabilitation Social protection Her stor Life course Her stor Her stor Adolescence Infants + Children Unborn Prime age Old age Transitions between life stages Source: Kvist, J (2015) A framework for social investment strategies: integrating generational, life course and gender perspectives in the EU social investment strategy, Comparative European Politics.

  3. Social investments over the life course: Policies, functional capacity and socioeconomic trajectories Functional capacity Maintaining highest possible level of function Growth and development Preventing disability and maintaining independence Range of function in individuals ≈ socioeconomic status Disability treshold Rehabilitation Facilitating transitions between life stages Her stor Life course Her stor Her stor Her stor Her stor Youth Infants + Children Unborn Prime age Old age

  4. Develop Invest Sustain Gain + = +

  5. From micro to macro: 3 hurdles

  6. First hurdle: The art of connectingideas (concepts) with facts Does observations meaningfully measure the ideas of concepts? (content validation) Does scores of measures mean the same in different contexts? (equivalence of meaning)

  7. Twoconcerns in contentvalidation 2.Exclude non-essetialstuff • Includeessentialstuff

  8. Equivalence of meaning? And functional equivalence

  9. Second hurdle: Causation • Investment now in one dimension and multiple returns later in other dimensions • Interdependence, e.g. learning begets learning • Equifinality • Multifinality • Configurational conjunctural causation • Context matters  Correlation is not causation

  10. Third hurdle: aggregation • Not policy areas, but policy programmes • Policy programmes that interact with other factors • Local delivery -> differences across space + aggregation tricky • Economy matters -> effects differ

  11. Not (always) the usual suspects • Housing policies • Long-term care • Minimum income protection • Sickness benefits • Disability benefits

  12. Housing policy • If housing policies would adopt a life course social investment approach what kind of policies would we expect? • We would expect • a general housing policy that provide low income groups with affordable housing • special policies for socially disadvantaged groups • policies aiding youth make the transition from parents home to own home

  13. Housing policy • General generous housing allowances (1 in 5 households receive € 282 per month) • (social housing) • Disadvantaged groups: Housing First with evidence-based intensive support (i.e. Assertive Community Treatment, Critical Time Intervention, Intensive Case Management) • Transition from parents to own home: Stipends, student housing, unemployment benefits for graduates

  14. Social investment reforms • Aims • Evidence-based • Professional • Integrated • Big Five

  15. Social investments and European governance • Financial room for national SI maneuvering in European Semester • Assessment of member state social investment plans • Commission a halfway house between academia and MS’ policy makers: • Fund and direct projects and programs • Disseminate knowledge

  16. Why adapt a life course perspective on social investments? • Enable engagement of many disciplines • Sensitive to social and structural change • Address population diversity and context • Acknowledge dynamic and multi-dimensional nature of social issues and of social investments • High on policy relevance: help identify for and by whom, where, when and what to do  • Established standards for cost-benefit assessments • But (still) difficult to integrate in European Semester and Macro-economic coordination • Invest in good times, benefit in bad times

  17. Thank you! • European Social Policy Network (2015) Social investments in the EU, European Commission. • Kvist, J. (2015) A framework for social investment strategies: integrating generational, life course and gender perspectives in the EU social investment strategy, Comparative European Politics. • Kvist, J. (2015) Social investments as risk management. In: Bengtsson et al (eds.) The Danish Welfare State, Palgrave Macmillan. • Kvist, J. (2016) Social investments against poverty and social exclusion: Policy review on 16 EU FP7 projects, European Commission (forthcoming) www.jonkvist.com

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