A Social Provisioning Employer of Last Resort: Post-Keynesianism Meets Feminist Economics

Abstract

This article proposes a collaboration between post-Keynesians and feminist economists with regard to macroeconomic policies aimed at the socialization of investment, in particular the proposal for the government to act at once as the Employer of Last Resort and as a social provider. This is particularly important in the UK because the coalition government's Spending Review and Plan for Growth have dismantled public services and welfare benefits while emphasizing a narrow range of productive activities. This strategy threatens to widen the inequality that has led to low levels of demand and reliance by low- and middle-income households on unsustainable borrowing in order to maintain living standards. The article therefore contributes to current debates about alternative macroeconomic policies: it argues that the current emphasis on austerity needs to be replaced by a social provisioning approach that requires us to first pose the question of what the economy should be for.