Abstract

In Europe, and elsewhere, the on-going economic crisis has triggered a quest for a new policy paradigm. In his contribution, Anton Hemerijck is not only providing a good case for making social investment policies an important part of such a paradigm, he is also optimistic about the prospect for such a policy shift. In this context, I am deeply worried about the negative correlation between growth and education spending as proportion of GDP; the richer we get, the less we spend on education. The fact that we also can observe a negative correlation between education expansion and fertility, suggests that we have to be more serious about modernising family policy than Hemeijck gives expression to. And there is no way around the fact that investment today is putting a pressure on higher taxes. This comes into conflict with the EU 2020 Agenda, with its focus on controlling expenditures rather than raising the revenue side.