Systems thinking for better social policy

A Case Study in Financial Wellbeing

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2116507
AutoresJeremiah Thomas Brown (0000-0002-1899-2541, The University of Melbourne Faculty of Arts, autor de correspondencia), Jack Noone (0000-0003-4106-3449, UNSW Sydney), Fanny Salignac (0000-0002-8687-2963, University of Technology Sydney)
Año2025
Volumen54
Número4
Páginas1-17
Fecha de publicación2025-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Social Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0047-2794 • E-ISSN: 1469-7823
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047279423000727
OpenAlexW4390976854
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas51

Social problems are becoming increasingly complex. Policymakers, thus, cannot solve these issues with a single policy instrument. For example, while decades of research have examined the individual factors that influence financial stress, less is known about how organisations, social structures, policies, social norms, and large-scale events interact to affect one's financial wellbeing. Using a systems approach as the basis of our conceptualisation, we put forward a theoretical model to help policymakers and practitioners to address the root causes of such complex issues. We argue that extant literature does not adequately conceptualise the complex relationships between the micro, meso, and macro-level drivers of financial wellbeing. As a result, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners are under-resourced when it comes to designing interventions to improve individuals' financial situations. We use the examples of affordable housing and social security policy to highlight the utility of a systems approach. In doing so we contribute to ongoing debates by putting forward a model of financial wellbeing in the context of Western countries (specifically Australia) that can better incorporate the moderating, mediating, and reciprocal relationships between financial wellbeing and its drivers

Business · Context (archaeology) · Economics · Extant taxon · Macro · Political science · Psychological intervention · Public economics · Public relations · Scale (ratio) · Finance · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Health disparities and outcomes · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Psychology