Affiliation:
1. Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley
Abstract
Abstract
In this chapter, Phyllis Jeroslow surveys family policies that are seen as providing “social investments” in early childhood, which are divided into three types of benefits: children’s allowances, paid parental leave, and early childhood education and care (ECEC). The survey examines the historical development of these early childhood benefits and the pattern of expenditures on these benefits in 10 advanced industrialized countries that represent alternative welfare regimes. In analyzing the expenditure trends, Jeroslow suggests that the policies developed less in response to unified principles and well-defined goals than to political contingencies and challenges arising at different times. In closing, she contrasts the social investment perspective, designed to meet the needs of the market economy, to an alternative view that promotes the humanistic goal of developing children’s potential to the fullest without regard to market demands.