IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mul/je8794/doi10.1429-28760y2008i3p271-310.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The workers are not horses: analytical perspectives, economic theories and welfare policy

Author

Listed:
  • Antonella Picchio

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to argue that welfare policies are undermined not only by a lack of pubblic resources and efficiency, but also by a reductive analytical perspective on the life-cycle process of social reproduction of real men and women. In the economic framework, daily lives remain out of focus and with no clear position, and this lack of clarity affects the way welfare policies are argued for and implemented. In this paper we work through the history of economic thought searching fot fruitful insights, concepts and analytical tools with which to study and discuss real lives, expecially those of men and women who belong to the labouring population. Robbins, Marshall, Keynes, and a Sraffian classical politicaleconomy approach, are here surveyd looking for perspectives, concepts and analytical frameworks (sections 2-5). In the final sections (6-7) we introduce two approaches that directly focus on living conditions: 1) Sen's Capability approach to well-being seen as a multidimensional space defined by a composition of capabilities and effective functionings of different individuals, embedded in specific social and relational contexts. 2) An "extended reproductive macroeconomic approach" that includes among the structural processes also the process of social reproduction that enables people to work and live a sustainable life. To clarify the conditions of sustainability this approach makes visible the aggregate of unpaid domestic and care work, which in industrialized countries is slightly larger than total paid work - a growing amount, grossly unequally distributed between men and women. Finally, the reproductive macro economic approach is visualized in a chart showing a process of conversion of means into effective well-being of real individuals, defined by their bodies, relations and personal histories and embedded in a social and policy context (section 8).

Suggested Citation

  • Antonella Picchio, 2008. "The workers are not horses: analytical perspectives, economic theories and welfare policy," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 271-310.
  • Handle: RePEc:mul:je8794:doi:10.1429/28760:y:2008:i:3:p:271-310
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.1429/28760
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

    File URL: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.1429/28760
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mul:je8794:doi:10.1429/28760:y:2008:i:3:p:271-310. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.rivisteweb.it/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.