Project description
A mixed methodology to assess social investment policies
Investing in people means investing in policies designed to strengthen people’s skills and capacities to support them in fully participating in employment and social life. Key policy areas include education, quality childcare, healthcare, training, job-search assistance and rehabilitation. The EU-funded WellSIRe project will assess the 'returns' on social investment, which hinge on how efficiently and effectively social budgets are allocated. Specifically, it will review the effects of policy (in-)complementarities and interactions as well as the challenge of delineating effects across different time dimensions. The project will develop a mixed methodology using different layers, ranging from quantitative macro analysis of long-term welfare performance to qualitative institutional analysis of subnational social investment policy delivery. The findings will provide fresh insights into the social investment policy paradigm.
Objective
The concept of ‘social investment’ has gained traction in debates over welfare state futures. Like any notion of investment, social investment posits measurable ‘wellbeing returns’ on investment in advanced societies. Fundamental to any empirical assessment of social investment is the critical role of three complementary policy functions: (1) improving the stock of human capital; (2) easing the flow of gendered labour market and family life-course transitions; and (3) maintaining and updating inclusive social protection buffers, both in the present and over time. Assessing social investment ‘returns’ is complex: The multidimensional character of social investment policy interventions, their implications for different social groups, the effects of policy (in-)complementarities and interactions, and the challenge of delineating effects across different time dimensions are not properly addressed by existing research, still based on methods devised for the analysis of the industrial welfare state. WellSIRe develops a mixed methodology using five layers: (1) quantitative-macro analysis of long-term welfare performance; (2) quantitative-micro analysis of individual socioeconomic conditions over in- and out-of-work transitions; (3) quantitative-micro analyses of subjective wellbeing and capabilities over the life-course; (4) qualitative-institutional analysis of temporal sequences of national social investment reform; and (5) qualitative-institutional analysis of subnational social investment policy delivery. Each layer provides distinct inferential leverage for causal explanations about (non-)returns on social investment reform across countries, with a focus on vulnerable groups in the working-age population. The five-layered methodology will cumulatively provide new insights, ultimately allowing for a fair empirical assessment of the social investment policy paradigm in its own right.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2019-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
50014 Fiesole
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.