Funding an ecological transition in Europe via 'green money' bonds would be economically justifiable.To what extent can the money created by the central bank be used to finance investments in … Read More
Columns & Interviews
Could Europe face the next recession?
The eurozone lacks the scaffolding to withstand the symmetrical shock of the next recession, which could imperil the euro itself.That the eurozone is incomplete is an assessment shared by … Read More
What are central banks for?
The eurozone remains mired in unemployment while the European Central Bank targets only inflation. Adam Tooze begins a series of Social Europe columns by explaining the hidden history of the Fed’s … Read More
Women under austerity—a frontal attack
Women are disproportionately dependent on public services. They can’t afford austerity and it’s time that governments recognised this.Austerity. From the left to the right, governments have … Read More
‘Imaginable utopias’: financing a European recovery
Julio López G adds to the debate, initiated by Thomas Piketty and colleagues, on how to spur a European recovery and green transition.On Social Europe, a discussion has been taking place on a … Read More
Siege of Sarajevo: perpetrators of deadly attacks remain unprosecuted
Twenty-seven years since the siege of Sarajevo began, a handful of commanders have been tried, but Bosnian prosecutors have not yet filed any indictments against direct perpetrators of sniping and … Read More
Dignity for drivers: the DGB campaign for ‘fair mobility’
When is a posted worker in Europe not a posted worker? When he’s a truck driver, it seems.‘A monthly pay of €1,000, no holidays, living separately from their families for two years—the bare … Read More
Chief executives’ pay: reversing the race to the top
Eye-watering remuneration for chief executives is economically wasteful as well as socially divisive. Non-profits should pioneer compressed wage hierarchies.As Oxfam reports that the top 1 per … Read More
Capitalism and democracy: what if we have it backwards?
It has become fashionable on the left to suggest that capitalism and democracy are now incompatible. In her latest column, Sheri Berman reviews the contrary case.For most on the left the story … Read More
Could the dollar be in default?
The US has been able to run growing budget deficits by issuing more dollars as the reserve currency. If a polycentric world ends its indulgence, the shock to America could be great.In 1944, … Read More
Blogs
It is time to restore the wage share
The wage share has been falling across the world as inequality has increased in recent decades. A co-ordinated rise is needed, starting in Europe, to reverse that.Old economic ‘truths’ are … Read More
Why top rates of income tax should be much higher
The new US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has kickstarted a debate on taxation. Arguments for high income tax rates are not punitive—but they are political as well as pecuniary.When … Read More
Why weak competition can increase inequality in Europe
Like many other advanced economies around the world, the Eurozone is experiencing a productivity slowdown. Data from the ECB show that labour productivity growth has practically halved over the last … Read More
Germany sticks to its mercantilist model
In a recent LSE blog, (reproduced here), Donato Di Carlo presents empirical evidence for what he considers a ‘quiet rebalancing’ of the German economy. Using 2010 as a reference point, he bases his … Read More
Growing Eurozone Inequality And What To Do About It
Growing inequality between eurozone members is one of the least welcome legacies of the euro- and sovereign debt crisis. The idea that the less well-off member states would catch up with the … Read More
Collective Bargaining And Greek Labour Market Reforms
The main feature of the successive economic adjustment programs implemented in Greece in the period 2010-2018 concerning industrial relations was a radical decentralization of the collective … Read More
Creating Good Quality Jobs: If Not Now, Then When?
Everybody at the European level agrees that we need more quality jobs to build momentum for recovery and climb out of the years of crisis. But what does this actually mean? And what realistic plans … Read More
Income Inequality And Trust In National Governments In Central, Eastern And Southeastern Europe
Trust in national governments has reached worryingly low levels in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE), at least compared to the EU-15 average. In addition, trust in the EU is generally … Read More
