Welfare, Inequality, and Social Reproduction

International Political Economy is not only concerned with the visible sphere of production, but also with the less visible—but equally vital—sphere of reproduction. Chapter 10 begins by explaining the latter’s role in capitalist economies and the significance of the welfare state as a specific organizational form of social reproduction. With reference to its typological diversity and cross-type tendencies, the chapter discusses respective distributional consequences. It goes on to discuss the emergence of transnational care chains and the development of social inequality from a global perspective. The chapter shows that the first elements of a “global social policy” have emerged, but that this has not yet been able to substantially reduce economic inequality. In particular, development cooperation as a global redistributive policy lacks sufficient volume.