How I Became a Manufacturing Skeptic
The industrialization-led growth model is faltering. Developing economies' best hope now lies in raising productivity across labour-absorbing services.
Economy
Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher driven by the core values of freedom, sustainability, and equality. These principles guide our exploration of society’s most pressing challenges. This archive page curates Social Europe articles focused on economic issues, offering a rich resource for innovative thinking and informed debate.
Europe’s Largest Companies Now Lend More Than They Invest
Europe drowns in cheap capital yet starves for investment — because its biggest firms now lend rather than build.
The EU Trades One Gas Dependence for Another
The bloc has swapped Russian pipelines for American tankers — without breaking its addiction to imported fossil fuels.
A New Economics for the 21st Century
By coming out in favor of industrial policy after many decades of advising against government intervention in the economy, the World Bank has taken an important step.
Trump’s Tragedy of Errors
Trump's unchecked Iran war is wrecking supply chains, reigniting inflation, and deepening a global affordability crisis.
China’s Overcapacity Problem Is Europe’s Problem Too — But Not in the Way You Might Think
As Beijing acknowledges its own overcapacity problem, new research reveals a more complex and more enduring threat to European manufacturing.
The World Needs an Oil Buyers’ Club
As the world is plunged into another energy crisis, market allocation is leading to grossly unjust outcomes, as the rich outbid the poor.
Europe Is Losing Its Industry To China’s Second Shock
Surging Chinese exports, a sliding renminbi and a depleted European industrial base are colliding — and Brussels has run out of time to respond.
Beyond Affordability: Why an Economy Built Only for Consumers Fails Everyone
Progressive politics has rediscovered affordability, but an economic agenda that ignores the dignity and quality of work is only half a strategy.
Fiscal Consolidation Costs Europe Jobs and Deepens Inequality
New research reveals that EU fiscal tightening reduces output, raises unemployment, and widens income gaps — especially during recessions.
Deregulating Workers’ Rights Will Not Save European Industry — It Will Only Deepen the Crisis
Blaming labour protections for factory closures is not industrial policy — it is avoidance dressed as reform.
The Digital Omnibus: Eroding Worker Protection and Rights
The European Commission's "simplification" package is, in fact, a deregulatory intervention that weakens workers' data rights.
Will the European Union Protect Workers from Deadly Heat?
Marouane Laabbas-el-Guennouni, Andreas Flouris, Sergio Salas, Sebastian Schneider, Marike Schooneveldt, Ivan Ivanov and Dimitra Theodori
Current legal frameworks leave workers dangerously exposed; only a binding directive can close the gaps.
Should Comparative Economics Still Exist?
Branko Milanovic asks whether we should continue to teach comparative economic systems to broaden students' horizons, or if the global ubiquity of capitalism renders such historical study obsolete.
AI Note-Takers at Work: The Silent Threat to Privacy and Compliance
AI transcription tools promise efficiency but bring legal exposure, surveillance risks, and threats to fundamental rights.
Romania’s Tiger Economy Is Running Out of Fuel
The EU's fastest-growing economy of the past two decades risks stalling unless it dramatically increases its rock-bottom spending on research and education.
Germany’s Middle-Technology Trap: Industrial Policy Blindness and the Path Out
Germany's faith in free markets has left it squeezed between China and America — but a defence-spending loophole offers unexpected hope.