Care, markets and migration in a globalising world: introduction to the special issue

Over the past two decades three phenomena have grown in social, political and economic significance for welfare states in Europe and beyond: the development of care provision for young children and older and disabled adults; the promotion of markets and the widespread use of market mechanisms to deliver welfare services; and the migration of workers, an increasing number of whom are women, from poorer to richer regions of the world. In this Special Issue we look at these developments and the very specific ways in which these three phenomena have become increasingly intertwined, that is to say, how marketisation and migrant care labour have become central and interrelated features of care policy and provision.