Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • A ‘manifesto’ for 2024
    • Global cities
    • Strategic autonomy
    • War in Ukraine
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

Paul Collier

Sir Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University. His latest book is ‘Exodus: Immigration and Multiculturalism in the 21st Century’ published by Penguin and Oxford University Press.

Paul Collier

Meeting The Migration Challenge And Reforming Capitalism Through Mutual Solidarity

Paul Collier 25th July 2018

How would you characterise the migration issue today? How has it become such a hot topic, and how do you think it’s likely to develop in the future? At the moment, obviously, public policy on migration and refugees is a complete mess. It’s a broken system. In fact, it doesn’t really deserve the word ‘system’. […]

Migration Cannot Be Cast In Terms Of Individual Rights

Paul Collier 8th December 2016

The Jungle in Calais is closed and the deal with Turkey is in place. Is the refugee crisis over? Not at all. The refugee crisis is first and foremost about refugees, not about migration to Europe at all. It became very salient once refugees or some refugees, a relatively small minority, started moving to Europe […]

Beyond The Boat People: Europe’s Moral Duties To Refugees

Paul Collier 15th July 2015

Part of the world is still awash with conflict and poverty. Europe is a haven of peace and prosperity. Unsurprisingly, many people whose home is in the former wish to live in the latter. European policy towards these desires is catastrophically muddled. Yet solutions are not difficult. I will focus on displaced Syrians who comprise […]

On Exits And Hegemony

Paul Collier 11th May 2015

Greece is again hovering at the exit door of the Eurozone; Scotland is again hovering at the exit door of the United Kingdom. The impetus for these unanticipated phenomena is the same: hegemony generates potent antibodies. From the 1980s I have been witness to hegemony through the Structural Adjustment Programs of the IMF in Africa. […]

Good And Bad Nationalism

Paul Collier 10th March 2015

Nationalism has come to be associated with attempts by majority ethnic groups to exclude and persecute minorities. Not only is this detestable, it is quite clearly an abuse of the term: an attempt to appropriate for one component of a society, a designation which by definition must include the whole. In effect, exclusionary nationalism asserts […]

Democracy And The Erosion Of The Centre Ground

Paul Collier 7th January 2015

According to the simple two-party voting model of Anthony Downs, democracy privileges the centre ground: parties compete to attract the median voter. This is no longer working: the centre ground is losing political power to the extremes. Across Europe, new populist-extremist parties have broken in: Greece, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Scotland and England. […]

Banks, Bonuses And BankSlaughter: How To Make European Banks Less Dangerous

Paul Collier 13th November 2014

In trying to make the banking system less dangerous, European and global regulators are trying three approaches. First, they have just undertaken stress tests. Second, they have specified new requirements for the banks to hold more capital and fewer risky assets. Third, they have tried to weaken the incentives for frontline dealmakers to expose their […]

Illegal Migration To Europe: What Should Be Done?

Paul Collier 9th September 2014

There is a real and present danger of overt hostility of majority populations towards the minorities established in the EU. An important factor fuelling rising hostility is the sense that immigration is out of control, most visibly manifested in the rapid increase in illegal and dangerous forms of entry. Migration policies are in evident need […]

Rent-Seeking, Living Standards And Inequality

Paul Collier 16th July 2014

Rent-seeking is the activity of generating and allocating transfers between economic actors. It results in waste and inequality. The rise of rent-seeking, with its epicentre in the accountancy, legal and banking professions, has been seriously damaging. In the OECD the damage is most evident in the USA, where rent-seeking has faced fewer policy impediments than […]

Scotland And Oil: Avoiding A Disastrous Precedent

Paul Collier 13th May 2014

In September the Scots will vote on secession. For decades, the key slogan of the Scottish Nationalist Party has been ‘Its Scotland’s oil’. Yet this claim has never been subject to serious scrutiny. I will argue that it is spurious: ethically, legally, and practically. The philosopher of justice, John Rawls, grounded justice in those social […]

What Is Europe About?

Paul Collier 12th March 2014

At its foundation the European project was primarily about peace. Following the murderous preceding decades this was rightly the overriding priority. It was also about power: squeezed between the imperial powers of USA and the USSR unity was essential. These goals determined the path: rights would shift from nations to a United States of Europe […]

Why Coal Production Must End

Paul Collier 10th January 2014

Germany is now producing more coal than for twenty years. This has occurred in a society that prides itself on its concern about climate change and has the largest Green party in Europe. Underlying this evident disconnection between concern and behaviour is an international failure to link the challenge of tackling climate change to big, […]

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

New Progressive Post magazine available!

In this new edition of the Progressive Post, the Special Coverage looks at EU fiscal rules, particularly at the long-awaited proposal to reform EU fiscal governance which was presented by the European Commission in April. The plan aimed to address the shortcomings of the current framework, promote growth and sustainability and reduce high public debt ratios but it lacks ambition. It falls short of enabling the green and social transition, and lacks instruments to improve the democratic legitimacy and transparency of the decision-making process.

The Focus is dedicated to Turkey, a heavyweight of the European neighbourhood, an EU candidate country—but one with which the EU has a progressively deteriorating relationship. One Dossier looks at Latin America, whose nations are increasingly breaking free from the traditional alignment of their foreign policy with more powerful allies in the northern hemisphere. The other Dossier on progressive cities in Europe offers a range of examples from European cities where a transformation towards sustainability is currently taking place concretely and on the ground, thanks to the vision and ambition of progressive administrations.

Discover the Progressive Post website and stay tuned!


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI European Collective Bargaining Report 2022 / 2023

With real wages falling by 4 per cent in 2022, workers in the European Union suffered an unprecedented loss in purchasing power. The reason for this was the rapid increase in consumer prices, behind which nominal wage growth fell significantly. Meanwhile, inflation is no longer driven by energy import prices, but by domestic factors. The increased profit margins of companies are a major reason for persistent inflation. In this difficult environment, trade unions are faced with the challenge of securing real wages—and companies have the responsibility of making their contribution to returning to the path of political stability by reducing excess profits.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ETUI advertisement

Response measures to the energy crisis: a missed opportunity to feed the socio-ecological contract

With winter coming and Europe ready to get through it without energy shortages, power cuts and recession, new research conducted by the ETUI in seven EU member states (AT-FR-DE-GR-IT-PL-ES) highlights that, with some 80 per cent of spending being directed to broad-based measures, short-term national government support during the recent energy crisis was poorly targeted. As a result, both social- and climate-policy goals were rather sidelined, with the biggest beneficiaries of public fossil-fuel subsidies being higher income groups and the wealthiest people.


AVAILABLE HERE

Eurofound advertisement

How will Europe’s green transition impact employment?

Climate-change objectives and decarbonisation measures are vital for the future of Europe. But how will these objectives affect employment and the labour market?

In the latest episode of the Eurofound Talks podcast series, Mary McCaughey speaks with the Eurofound senior research manager John Hurley about new research which shows a marginal increase in net employment from EU decarbonisation measures—but also potentially broad shifts in the labour market which could have a profound impact in several areas.


LISTEN HERE

Friedrich Ebert Stiftung advertisement

It‘s all about jobs: investing in Europe’s workers and qualifications for a competitive clean economy

An ecological miracle on the labour market? Or rather job losses? The impact on employment and job profiles in Europe of ecological modernisation is a question driving politics and society.

We have taken a close look at studies and forecasts on the development of the European labour market. One thing is clear: without qualified and motivated workers, the economy will not flourish and the modernisation process will come to a standstill. Europe must deliver on a massive scale in the coming years to remain at the forefront.

We spoke to trade unionists and experts: what trends do we need to shape, what risks do we need to avoid, what course do we need to set now? Key findings in this study from FES Just Climate.


DOWNLOAD HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us

RSS Feed

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641