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Economy

Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher driven by the core values of freedom, sustainability, and equality. These principles guide our exploration of society’s most pressing challenges. This archive page curates Social Europe articles focused on economic issues, offering a rich resource for innovative thinking and informed debate.

Ryanair—on the side of Europe’s citizens?

Darragh Golden

The low-cost carrier has presented a petition to the European Commission attacking the right to strike.

ECB president Lagarde: has she become unstoppable?

Peter Bofinger

Asserting the need for further interest rate rises, Peter Bofinger writes, is not the same as evidencing them.

Due-diligence directive—key issues for final negotiations

Johannes Blankenbach and Saskia Wilks

Corporate due diligence is not just about auditing. Key to sustaining people and planet, ambition is required.

New EU fiscal rules: a democratic deficit

Andris Šuvajevs

The proposed new rules would give member states more role in defining their ‘fiscal paths’—just not parliaments.

Reform of EU fiscal rules—more ambition needed

Philipp Heimberger

What the European Commission proposes makes sense as far as it goes. But that is not nearly far enough.

How much work is enough?

Anne-Marie Slaughter and Autumn McDonald

Three years of pandemic-related disruptions could herald the most significant labour-market transformation since the dawn of industry.

Rust out: boredom at work can be harmful

Valerie van Mulukom

Autonomy and intrinsic motivation spur productivity and creativity in workplaces where time is flexible and relationships good.

The economic case for affordable housing

Gerald Koessl

Providing affordable housing is not only doing the right thing. There is an economic spinoff for everyone.

A tale of two countries: Belarus and Lithuania

Thorvaldur Gylfason and Eduard Hochreiter

In 1991, Belarus did not join the Baltic states in striking out independently from the Soviet Union. Now the jury is in.

Quick commerce—not turning a fast buck

Steve Rolf, Sacha Garben, Wil Hunt and Rachel Verdin

The good news is most ‘q-commerce’ workers have employment contracts. The bad news is they still get squeezed.

The discreet (but dubious) charm of tax treaties

Jayati Ghosh

Jayati Ghosh writes that, as with much else, bilateral tax treaties binding rich and poor countries are not equal partnerships.

Not so much a shortage of skills as a shortage of pay

Wouter Zwysen

Labour shortages following the pandemic have increased most and are most severe in jobs with lower wages and poorer conditions.

Financing the common good

Mariana Mazzucato

The UN has warned that ‘humanity’s very survival’ is threatened. Radical reform of international finance is required.

A message for May Day: come together, win change

Esther Lynch

Workers are under tremendous pressure amid the cost-of-living crisis. But trade unions are showing resilience to inspire.

Mayday, mayday: a warning from the labour movement

Veronica Nilsson

Having battled one crisis after another, a fresh round of austerity could be the last straw for workers.

Why AI might not take your job, just yet

German Bender

Recent developments in artificial intelligence have rekindled fears of technological unemployment—fuelled by technological determinism.

Price and profit curbs—or how really to fight inflation

Susanne Wixforth and Kaoutar Haddouti

A crude, one-club monetary policy has already caused bank collapses. More damage will follow more interest-rate hikes.

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ETUI Advertisement

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
FEPS Advertisement

Read the book "The open future and its enemies" 

A robust democracy must not leave the future in the hands of the alliance between Big Tech and the far right. AI must be politically reined in and democratically shaped so that humanity retains its sovereignty.

Artificial intelligence is regarded as the driving force of progress. Yet it has long since become a challenge to democracy. The book argues that uncontrolled AI will erode our freedom, self-determination and democracy.

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Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2026

Minimum wage policy across Europe has shifted significantly, with many EU countries raising wages above average and anchoring them to adequate living standards. This trend is consolidating as countries increasingly adopt the reference values recommended in the European Minimum Wage Directive — recently upheld by the European Court of Justice.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT
S&D Group in the European Parliament Advertisement

S&D Africa Days 2026

We are pleased to invite you to save the date for the S&D Africa Days 2026, taking place on 30 June and 1 July 2026, in Brussels. 

At a time when Africa is too often viewed through narrow and one-sided narratives, this initiative reflects a key political priority for the S&D Group: to advance a renewed, forward-looking partnership of equals between Europe and Africa based on equality, solidarity, social justice and shared progress. 

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FES Advertisement

“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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