About Francesc Raventós

Francesc Raventós is an economist, former dean of the Official Economist Association of Spain in Madrid, deputy mayor of Barcelona and co-author of Economic and Social Strategic Plan for the future of Barcelona.

Could the dollar be in default?

by Francesc Raventós on 7th March 2019

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, at the end of World War II, a new international monetary system was agreed. This system pegged currencies to the price […]

Is The Monetary System Facing The Risk Of Recession?

by Francesc Raventós on 11th October 2018

The International Monetary Fund, other economic institutions, politicians, experts, and a good number of indicators predict a new economic downturn. The causes will be diverse but the significant one is that debt worldwide has grown at an exaggerated rate. According to the report of the International Finance Institute, IIF, global debt is $247-plus trillion, 318% […]

Time for substantial minimum wage rises and a European minimum wage policy

Minimum wages in most European Union (EU) countries were increased at the start of 2019, with an median increase of 4.8 % compared with the previous year, continuing the recent trends towards faster minimum wage growth. Much of this is accounted for by substantial increases in Eastern Europe together with efforts to undertake permanent and structural increases in minimum wage levels in countries such as Spain. There is also a growing debate over the role of minimum wages for the concept of Social Europe, which is expected to play a significant role in the 2019 European Parliament elections. In this context, the German government has indicated that one of its priorities during its EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2020 will be elaborating a framework for a European minimum wage policy.

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The platform economy and social law: Key issues in comparative perspective

This Working Paper brings together two parallel but complementary approaches to the impact of the platform economy on working conditions and social law. The first part of the study shows that the business models of some platforms is a combination of technological disruption and social evasion. The second part of this working paper confirms that it is in the gaps and ambiguities in social legislation that platforms are trying to legitimise a business model abrogating all social responsibility. It is in this sense that we can talk about the risk of “social evasion” of several major platforms, exactly in the same way as fiscal evasion.

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There are high levels of optimism for the future in most EU candidate countries – including for future generations. However, current material hardships, deprivation, urban-rural disparities, gender inequalities and demographic ageing are fundamental challenges, and could undermine the current positive climate and future social cohesion. Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) provides unique insight into life in the candidate countries, based on a detailed analysis of a range of indicators on living conditions and quality of society. This new report, and associated working life country profiles, present these findings in detail, and serve as a comprehensive source of information on life and society in the candidate countries.

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Zygmunt Bauman was a towering intellectual who saw and analysed – right up to his death in early 2017 – the great socio-political changes, often convulsive, in modern western society long before his peers. Here we highlight his prescient insights into what he dubbed ‘liquid modernity’ with 24 chapters on topics ranging from online loneliness via precarity/poverty/inequality to migration, fear of the ‘Other’ and the decline of the nation state. Chronicle of Crisis, 2011-16, written by one of the great chroniclers of our times, will be read and re-read for decades and more to come.

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About Francesc Raventós

Could the dollar be in default?

Is The Monetary System Facing The Risk Of Recession?

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CLICK FOR MORE INFO

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