Abstract
This edited collection explores themes in the politics and policy of inclusive growth, development and welfare. Chapter 1 introduces the topic of inclusive growth and welfare. Chapter 2 explores recent trends in the growth of in-equality across OECD nations, as well as emphasising the role of institutional reforms in the trade-off between growth and equality. Regarding inclusive growth as the core guideline throughout the book, the authors criticise the insufficiencies of older development models in resolving market failures, social exclusion and a widening social gap. The chapters that follow (3–6) offer persuasive arguments about the pressing need to shift towards new development policies in a range of Asian examples. Chapters 7–9 further develop the idea of a ‘social investment welfare state’. Chapters 10–14 investigate these ideas in the context of empirical material from a range of more or less developed countries. The collection closes with Phillippe van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght’s case for a ‘basic income in a globalized economy’ (chapter 15).
Overall, the book makes a wide-ranging contribution in building the theoretical framework and policy instruments around the issues of growth and inequality, which is worthwhile for policy makers, economists and researchers. In exploring the interaction of ‘social’ elements and inclusive growth, the book offers to bridge the gap between economic growth and social inclusion. The key trends in the development and welfare policies are also reflected in detail with the move from rigid policy prescriptions to a more flexible and pragmatic approach, from classic neo-liberalism towards a restored emphasis on the active role of the state and, more generally, a shift from ‘social spending to social investment’ (p. 114).
Given its case study focus, the emphasis here is still very much on developments within national borders, even though we are witnessing unprecedented economic integration at the global level and an increasing policy role for international and regional institutions. And while the authors pick cases from each of the four groups of nations identified in chapter 1, there is perhaps an imbalance between more and less advanced economies. Moreover, the book seems to miss out the Southeast Asian region which has been recorded in many lessons about inequality and poverty reduction. Finally, one of the most interesting points in the book is the contrasting approach in understanding the notion of ‘citizenship’ in a range of cases and the ways in which this might affect the outcome of welfare policies, as seen especially in the cases of South Africa (chapter 11) and New Zealand (chapter 13).