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Avatar photoMichael Dauderstädt

Michael Dauderstädt is a freelance consultant and writer. Until 2013, he was director of the division for economic and social policy of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

The Relative Rise of Europe’s Poor

Michael Dauderstädt

Europe's poorer nations and citizens are climbing the income ladder — and the data show the Union is more cohesive than its critics claim.

In difficult times, social cohesion has improved

Michael Dauderstädt

Inequality has been falling across Europe. But a backlash driven by fiscal ‘discipline’ and ‘competitiveness’ could reverse that.

Strengthening social cohesion amid the polycrisis

Michael Dauderstädt

Unconventional policies buttressed a decline in inequality and poverty in the EU. Renewed austerity might endanger it.

Europe-wide inequality during the pandemic

Michael Dauderstädt

The pandemic increased inequality between member states but Europe-wide inequality has continued to decline, if more slowly.

Global inequality and the pandemic: exaggerated hopes and fears?

Michael Dauderstädt

The pandemic has barely increased global income inequality—but it has made other inequalities worse.

Covid-19 and Europe-wide inequality

Michael Dauderstädt

Between 2017 and 2019, income disparities in Europe decreased. The pandemic stopped that decline.

EU-wide inequality is back to pre-crisis levels

Michael Dauderstädt

After almost a decade, EU-wide inequality finally regained its previous low of 2009 due to relatively strong growth in the poorer member states between the Baltic and the Balkans.

Inequality in Europe—wider than it looks

Michael Dauderstädt

Most discussion of inequality in Europe is confined to individual member states. Aggregating incomes across the EU, however, presents a sobering picture.

Addressing poverty and inequality in Europe

Michael Dauderstädt

Official EU statistics mask the alarming extent of poverty and inequality in Europe. Despite slight recent easing, its dangerous scale threatens Europe’s social and political cohesion.

Europe-Wide Inequality

Michael Dauderstädt

Inequality within member states has become a much debated and researched issue over the last decade (see OECD here and here). Reducing the inequality between

Reducing European Inequality: Cohesion Through Convergence

Michael Dauderstädt

When founded in 1957, the then European Economic Community comprised six relative prosperous countries, albeit including a very poor region, the Italian Mezzogiorno. With the

Inequality in Europe: complex and multidimensional

Michael Dauderstädt

Talking about inequality in Europe brings one face-to-face with a complex pattern of possible issues and dimensions, which can be measured in different ways. As

Reducing Inequality: Social Europe And Cohesion

Michael Dauderstädt

‘Social Europe’ implies for most experts the development of national welfare states and their protection against the forces of globalization and international competition as most

S&D Group in the European Parliament Advertisement

S&D Housing Storytelling

Europeans are struggling with rising housing and rental costs, and we have been working in various ways to address this, because we believe a home is a right for everyone.
 Recently, we travelled across Europe to hear directly from people who struggle to afford a decent place to live. They shared a glimpse of how the housing crisis has affected their lives and why having a home is so important to them. Take a moment to check out their stories. They remind us why it is so urgent to act.

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New Edition - Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2025

Can Europe preserve its distinctive social model while simultaneously rearming, reindustrialising, and reorganising its economy in a more conflictual and competitive world? This is the central question raised in this new edition of the Bilan social, a reference publication released every spring for more than 25 years by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Social Observatory (OSE).

READ HERE
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Is financial resilience and trust in Europe faltering?

In this episode of Eurofound Talks, host Mary McCaughey and senior researcher Eszter Sandor unpack the results of the 2025 Living and Working in the EU e-survey. While headline inflation has stabilised at 2.1%, the data reveals a continent gripped by chronic precariousness, with 57% of respondents now at risk of depression. Mary and Eszter explore how this economic insecurity is impacting institutional trust and democratic engagement.

LISTEN HERE
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The Summer issue of The Progressive Post is out! 

The EU is belatedly awakening to a changing Mediterranean sea, where more assertive regional powers are reclaiming a role.

The new issue of the magazine also reflects on how we struggle to keep pace with AI innovations, examines the uncertainties surrounding the execution of the Pact on Migration and Asylum and the risk to human rights posed by the Return Regulation, and focuses on the EU Commission's newly proposed Industrial Accelerator Act.

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Climate policy measures are often met with feelings of powerlessness and disempowerment, triggering fears and resentment. This blog series asks: What does a socially just climate transition look like? How can we create acceptance for just climate policies? 

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“What is the actual purpose of the state?” – this central question is the focus of the analysis. At a time when bureaucratic processes are making life difficult for citizens, the paper proposes a three-part model. It aims at a conception of the state as a platform that helps society build the capabilities it needs to address its problems effectively.

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