EDAC-ESPAnet Summer School 2015: PhDs, Post-Docs & Early Career Researchers
The Role of Social Policies in Cross-national and Longitudinal Differences in Levels and Distributions of Social Outcomes
14-18 September 2015, Leuven | Belgium
Through their welfare arrangements societies aspire to improve the living standards of broad categories of their citizens, either directly by e.g. the provision of health care, education and income benefits, or indirectly by e.g. decreasing inequalities of various kinds, extending employment opportunities and stimulating general prosperity. Notwithstanding the good intentions that underlie the design and implementation of social policies, their intended social outcomes are rarely achieved to full effect. They may also result in unintended outcomes that might be unwanted. Therefore, one of the leading questions in comparative social policy analysis, with strong relevance for policy making, regards the issue whether the welfare efforts invested in society achieve their intended objectives, and if not, whether alternative designs would work out better or minimise unintended effects. Moreover, policy outcomes may be different for different groups in society. Quite often this is intended, where policies are expressly targeted at specific categories of citizens only. However, there may be unintended differences in the degree to which social categories are benefiting from social arrangements. Thus, the question arises what effect do social policies have on levels of outcomes, and what is their effect on distributions of (inequalities in) outcomes?
This summer school invites PhD students, Post-Docs and early career researchers to present and discuss their work on the analysis of social policy outcomes with a group of international scholars and experts. The deadline for applications is 1 March 2015.
For more information, please write an email to summerschool.edac@gmail.com or have a look at http://www.edac.eu and www.espanet.org