Introduction: social investments and welfare reform in Europe and East Asia

This chapter brings together leading experts from across two world regions, Europe and East Asia, to discuss social investment strategies — currently one of the most influential policy approaches around the world. It tackles some of the key challenges faced by contemporary welfare states — namely greater social inequality and the decline in social mobility. By inviting a number of authors to address the same social issue using different country cases (rather than just examining cases side by side), the chapter not only deepens our understanding of varieties of social investment strategies, but also discusses how some of the drawbacks connected to social investment may be overcome. The chapter shows that, despite remarkable differences, at the level of the problems associated with social investment measures, the countries studied also show significant similarities. Ultimately, it presents the case studies of East Asian countries which provide important lessons for benchmarking or cautionary tales for more established Western welfare states as well as the emerging welfare geography in the Global South.