Digital dystopias are overdone but inequality is rising. The answer lies in treating data as a commons and Big Data as a collective-action problem.
Columns & Interviews
An industrial policy for good jobs
Competition by public authorities to attract large companies with tax breaks or other subsidies is not the route to good jobs. An iterative dialogue with firms offers a better way.
Finland stepping up to climate leadership—will the government deliver?
The new social-democrat led government in Finland has committed the country to carbon neutrality by 2035. Can, will it be done?
Europe’s coal problem
The eurozone muddled through its crisis at Germany’s behest. The climate emergency is much too serious for that.
Curbs on migration or freedom of movement—the Swiss experience
Arguments about immigration have polarised between restriction and liberalisation. But key are accompanying measures to ensure freedom of movement is associated with wage and social protection.
Why should governments give cash-handouts before providing free, quality public services to all?
Universal Basic Income without quality public services is a neoliberal paradise.
Populists, greens and the new map of European politics
In light of the gains by green parties and right-wing populists in the Euro-elections, Sheri Berman explores how the traditionally dominant parties respond to such challenges.
Welcome to GAFA land—where the winner takes it all
The Big Tech platforms have established monopolies which disempower their competitors as well as their workers. EU competition law can be used by unions seeking to bring them to heel.
How European telcos are monitoring our online activity
The security and privacy of personal data are being jeopardised as Deep Packet Inspection is deployed by internet service providers.
The Euro-elections in microcosm: Macron versus Le Pen
Marine Le Pen didn’t surge forward in France, yet Emmanuel Macron lacked a winning alternative. It was the populists versus the progressives in the Euro-elections writ small.
Blogs
Social imbalances in the EU
Despite the economic recovery of recent years, persistent social imbalances—such as those affecting women and young people—must be taken into account in the debate on Europe’s future.
ICT-enabled flexible working—all plain sailing?
Tech-based flexible working conjures up the independent consultant tapping on her tablet with a latte to hand. But the picture may not be so positive.
Redefining austerity: a lesson from Greece
What can an elected left-wing European government do when faced with imposed austerity? Redefining austerity can bring a turnaround.
Structural crisis and robotisation require more Europe, less austerity
The Great Recession, as with the Great Depression, is proving to be a structural crisis, which only a Euro-Keynesian programme of public investment can tackle.
Modern monetary theory: a simple macroeconomic model
Why has modern monetary theory come out of the academy? Because it helps model the current economic predicament and how to get out of it.
Sovereign spreads and the frailty of the eurozone
The failure to provide for risk-sharing in the eurozone architecture has sustained chronic mistrust, reflected in sovereign spreads.
The Celtic Tiger leaves Irish workers scarred
Workers in Ireland are still bearing the brunt after the Celtic Tiger’s demise—but with a modest gain against the precarisation of work.
Unequal Europe—collating the data
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a website collating the sources of data on inequality across the European Union and exploring evidence-based policy prescriptions? Now there is.
