Introduction : from social problems to social policies -- The social worldview of medieval Christianity as prologue -- Secular transitions and assumptions -- Marx, Durkheim, and the limits of laissez-faire capitalism -- From theory to ideology -- Origins of social policy in Europe and the United...

The idea that saving is the force driving private investment and economic growth has become ever more entrenched in mainstream economic thought as well as in the minds of policymakers and the general public. Even though the empirical evidence that increased household saving will directly...