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Social Europe articles on the economy

Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher that publishes content examining issues in politics, economy, society and ecology. This archive brings together Social Europe articles on the economy.

remote work,working from home,teleworking

The ‘long Covid’ of work relations and the future of remote work

by Nicola Countouris and Valerio De Stefano on 14th April 2021

The pandemic made us all familiar with ‘social distancing’. Employers are starting to glimpse a future where ‘contractual distancing’ is normalised.

directive on minimum wages,minimum wages directive

Minimum-wages directive: it’s legal

by Susanne Wixforth and Lukas Hochscheidt on 8th April 2021

Last October, the European Commission proposed a framework directive on minimum wages. Whether one likes it or not, the EU is competent to do so.

stimulus,recovery

How to stimulate the economy after the lockdown

by Peter Bofinger on 5th April 2021

A ‘helicopter money’ stimulus of direct payments to individuals, as in the US, would be neither well targeted nor transformatory in Europe.

government bonds, eurozone crisis, ECB

The eurozone won’t work without safe government bonds

by Fabian Lindner on 30th March 2021

The arcane notion of ‘monetary dominance’ lay behind the last eurozone crisis. Unless challenged, it could underlie another one.

market neutrality

Central bankers remain stuck in the myth of ‘market neutrality’

by Jens van 't Klooster and Clément Fontan on 30th March 2021

Monetary policy is never neutral. The recovery must not follow financial markets but rather reflect a shared vision of a green future.

global labour market

A simultaneously expanding and shrinking world

by Branko Milanovic on 29th March 2021

Branko Milanovic warns that the post-pandemic world could see further polarisation in a now global labour market.

Europe-wide inequality,EU-wide inequality

Covid-19 and Europe-wide inequality

by Michael Dauderstädt on 23rd March 2021

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

algorithm transparency

Spain’s platform workers win algorithm transparency

by Ane Aranguiz on 18th March 2021

Legal amendments will not only recognise ‘riders’ as employees but require algorithm transparency from platforms generally.

corporate-tax avoidance, ‘double Irish’

Corporate-tax avoidance after the ‘double Irish’

by Bercan Begley on 11th March 2021

After Ireland closed its notorious corporate-tax loophole, it might have been thought tax avoidance would have gone with it. Not so.

Uber v Aslam,UK Supreme Court

Putting the brakes on the spread of indecent work

by Ruth Dukes and Wolfgang Streeck on 10th March 2021

Legal victories for workers against platform corporations remain partial and limited in the absence of legislative and institutional change.

debt cancellation,cancellation of debt,ECB

Cancelling a debt we already own has a false allure

by Anne-Laure Delatte, Michel Husson, Benjamin Lemoine, Éric Monnet, Raul Sampognaro, Bruno Tinel and Sébastien Villemot on 9th March 2021

The proposal to cancel ECB-held sovereign debt is not the best riposte to the looming renewal of austerity.

SDR,special drawing rights

Europe could make good use of a new SDR allocation

by Jayati Ghosh on 1st March 2021

Jayati Ghosh begins a new Social Europe column by pricking Europe’s conscience on its pandemic-related responsibilities towards the developing world.

Uber,drivers,gig

UK gig drivers recognised as workers—what next?

by Jill Toh on 25th February 2021

The UK’s highest court has delivered another benchmark judgment on gig workers. But the battle is not over.

women workers,services

Covid-19: a tale of two service sectors

by John Hurley on 25th February 2021

If the 2008 crash brought on a ‘mancession’ of lost jobs, the sectors most hit by the pandemic employ mainly low-paid women workers.

platform,crowdworker

Germany adds to recognition of platform workers

by Roman Kormann on 18th February 2021

The Federal Labour Court ruled late last year that a crowdworker was indeed an employee, despite the platform’s contrary claim.

gig workers

Gig workers: guinea pigs of the new world of work

by Pierre Bérastégui on 18th February 2021

Most discussion of gig workers has focused on their material insecurity. More attention also needs to be paid to what goes on in their heads.

algorithmic

Algorithmic control

by German Bender on 12th February 2021

Work in the social sciences on algorithmic systems can inform how unions address their impact on the power balance between workers and employers­.

occupational safety and health,OSH

Building back better workplaces

by Iván Williams Jimenez, Aude Cefaliello and Ana Cristina Ribeiro Costa on 12th February 2021

With the EU strategic framework on occupational safety and health expiring, the post-pandemic version should prioritise prevention and wellbeing.

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Social Europe Publishing book

With a pandemic raging, for those countries most affected by Brexit the end of the transition could not come at a worse time. Yet, might the UK's withdrawal be a blessing in disguise? With its biggest veto player gone, might the European Pillar of Social Rights take centre stage? This book brings together leading experts in European politics and policy to examine social citizenship rights across the European continent in the wake of Brexit. Will member states see an enhanced social Europe or a race to the bottom?

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Renewing labour relations in the German meat industry: an end to 'organised irresponsibility'?

Over the course of 2020, repeated outbreaks of Covid-19 in a number of large German meat-processing plants led to renewed public concern about the longstanding labour abuses in this industry. New legislation providing for enhanced inspection on health and safety, together with a ban on contract work and limitations on the use of temporary agency employees, holds out the prospect of a profound change in employment practices and labour relations in the meat industry. Changes in the law are not sufficient, on their own, to ensure decent working conditions, however. There is also a need to re-establish the previously high level of collective-bargaining coverage in the industry, underpinned by an industry-wide collective agreement extended by law to cover the entire sector.


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Social protection during the pandemic: freelancers in the creative industries

This working paper identifies some key areas of policy intervention for advancing socially sustainable and fair solutions for freelancers working in the creative industries, who are among those who have suffered the most from the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, the authors focus on those who work entirely on their own account, without employees (ie the ‘solo self-employed’), and who undertake project- or task-based work on a fixed-term basis.


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