Understanding the Care Economy

As part of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies’ Care4Care Program, PERI’s Jayati Ghosh authors three policy briefs on a range of critical questions with respect to the care economy.

“Recognising and rewarding care work: the role of public policies” examines the complex difficulties in gauging care supply and demand and exposes the numerous benefits of investment in care and addresses the under-provision of care alongside demographic changes. 

“Defining Care: conceptualisations and particularities” provides a comprehensive conceptualisation of care and an outline of the distinct characteristics that make it difficult to measure and compare it to other forms of work.

“The structure of care work and inequalities among care workers” delineates the various inequalities directly and inherently linked to care. The paper addresses the distinctive symptoms characterising some of the most common features within care work, from unpaid to underpaid care, and illustrates how the resulting gendered injustice stems from deeply rooted patriarchal structures.