The assets agenda : principles and policy / Rajiv Prabhakar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Prabhakar, Rajiv, 1970-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social policy.

Infrastructure (Economics).

Physical Description:

xi, 167 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Political interest 2

Policy interest 3

Academic interest 6

Capital grants 6

Personal accounts 7

Forerunners 9

Renewed interest 12

Policy examples 15

Criticisms and challenges 17

Problems 20

Chapter structure 25

2 Social Policy 27

Character development 29

Investment 29

Asset effect 31

Evidence on the asset-effect 33

The incentives approach 38

Matching 40

Hybrid approaches 43

Differences between character development and incentives approach 43

Availability 44

Time 45

Restrictions on use 47

Education 48

Funding 48

Other agencies 51

Relationship of assets to income and public services 52

3 Citizenship 57

Equality and liberty 58

Liberal citizenship 59

Stakeholder grant 61

Third way 62

Civic republican citizenship 63

Restrictions 66

Wealth taxes 69

Taxing transfers of wealth 71

Taxing stocks of wealth: land value taxation 72

Alternative to wealth taxes: the community fund 74

Earmarking 75

Criticisms of capital grants 77

Basic income versus basic capital 79

4 Policy Options 83

Differences between social policy and citizenship 86

Example: the Child Trust Fund 88

A hybrid system 91

5 The Child Trust Fund 95

Focus groups 96

What do parents think about the present version of the Child Trust Fund? 98

Size 98

Progressive universalism 100

Sibling rivalry 101

Locked nature of grants 104

Saving 104

Too much information 104

Saving 107

What do parents think about alternatives? 109

Responsible use 109

Spending on income benefits or public services 112

6 Paying for Assets 117

Focus groups 118

Results 122

Government inefficiency 122

Wealth taxes 123

Inheritance tax 123

Paris Hilton benefit fund 125

Life chances 126

Income tax versus inheritance tax 127

Land tax 129

Alternatives to wealth taxes 130

Community fund 130

Cuts in public spending 131

Higher education 131

GP pay 132

Pension age 133

A liberal welfare policy? 140

Sabbatical accounts 143

The third way 146

Assets and the right 148.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780230522190

023052219X

OCLC:

163616479