Overview
Asset-based policies are becoming an increasingly important form of public and social policy globally. The idea of spreading the individual ownership of assets such as capital grants, homes and savings, has taken hold in countries such as the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Implementing an assets agenda has potentially radical implications for the way that economic and social institutions are constituted and paves the way for a potentially radical redistribution of wealth.However, this agenda has provoked criticism as well as support. Critics argue that it will mean the retrenchment of the welfare state and that asset-ownership will adversely affect notions of citizenship. Taking an international perspective, this timely study combines a clear theoretical approach with new research into specific policies and public perceptions of them, throwing fresh light onto the debates that surround this subject.
About the Author:
Rajiv Prabhakar is Economic and Social Research Council Fellow at the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences at the London School of Economics, UK
Synopsis
Asset-based policies are becoming an increasingly important form of public and social policy globally. The idea of spreading the individual ownership of assets such as capital grants, homes and savings, has taken hold in countries such as the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Implementing an assets agenda has potentially radical implications for the way that economic and social institutions are constituted and paves the way for a potentially radical redistribution of wealth.However, this agenda has provoked criticism as well as support. Critics argue that it will mean the retrenchment of the welfare state and that asset-ownership will adversely affect notions of citizenship. Taking an international perspective, this timely study combines a clear theoretical approach with new research into specific policies and public perceptions of them, throwing fresh light onto the debates that surround this subject.
About the Author:
Rajiv Prabhakar is Economic and Social Research Council Fellow at the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences at the London School of Economics, UK