Aim of the project
Social welfare, or wellbeing, can be achieved through many channels. This can be by way of well-functioning, open markets or by way of state interventions, including welfare programs and regulation, but of particular interest in the SCOOP program is how other organizational solutions such as unions, charities, cooperatives, or corporate paternalism could play a role. This prompts us to ask which sort of solutions were dominant in given cases, how this changed over time, and how successful they were at increasing wellbeing in society.
The latter relates to the shift in policy and academic debates from measuring success of societies in terms of GDP per capita to wanting to measure wellbeing in more direct ways. Increasingly, we want to go "beyond GDP". This also links to the question how economic growth and wellbeing are related, being a founding question in the field of economic history. Periods where they were seemingly decoupled have been studied intensively. A next step would now be to try and better understand the drivers of well-being and the role of different organizational solutions in this.
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Postdocs
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Dr. S.F.F. (Felix) Schaff -
Supervisors
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Dr. A. (Auke) Rijpma -
Prof. dr. B. J. P. (Bas) van Bavel -
Prof. dr. R. P. M. (Rafael) Wittek, Coordinating researcher
- Discipline
History, Sociology - Location
Utrecht University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Economic and Social History
