A discussion of the relationship between both social investment policy starting in the 1970s and policy work of the 2000s, and a possible paradigm shift in Swedish early care and education (ECE), with a consideration of the goals of Swedish early care and education, funding mechanisms, governance and organization, attendance patterns, and changes in ECE settings due to policy changes, illustrated with examples from two evaluation studies of center-based care settings in Sweden after the introduction of a national curriculum in 1998, and with reference to a study based on interviews with parents and center-based early care and education teachers