Social investment and social welfare : international and critical perspectives / edited by James Midgley (Harry and Riva Specht Professor Emeritus and Professor of the Graduate School, School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley, USA), Espen Dahl (Professor of Health and Social Policy, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Norway), Amy Conley Wright (Associate Professor of Social Work and Director of the institute of Open Adoption Studies, University of Sydney, Australia).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

This book contributes to the growing social policy literature on social investment by discussing the way social investment ideas have been adopted in different countries and in various academic and professional fields, including social policy, development studies and non-profit management. Documenting the experience of implementing social investment in different communities, it urges the adoption of a One World perspective that integrates these diverse experiences and promotes policy learning between different nations. This book fills a major gap in the literature, which, in the past, has focused largely on European welfare states and their employment and educational policies. Contrary to the view that social investment is a new stage in the development of these welfare states, it shows that social investment has been promoted in other countries and in different policy fields for many years, including housing, child welfare, community development, social protection and rural development. The contribution to social investment by international development organizations such as the United Nations, World Bank, International Labour Organization and others are discussed, specifically looking at how these have fostered the adoption of social investment policies in development.