Military secrets and the World Trade Organization
A world at peace depends on making knowledge which could be of military as well as commercial value a public good.
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.
Behind Britain’s strike wave
The Tory government, Paul Mason writes, is a victim of the skills shortages its ‘free markets’ have engendered.
Unions are giving workers a European voice in the crisis
Trade unions have been winning battles across Europe to halt the erosion of real wages but can’t win this war alone.
Corporate power: arbitrage in a fractured world
At Davos the corporate elite are discussing a more co-operative world—yet their arbitrage relies on its rifts.
How not to deal with a debt crisis
Jayati Ghosh warns against historically disastrous approaches to the sovereign-debt crisis hitting low- and middle-income countries.
Will NextGenerationEU assist Europe’s cohesion?
Addressing Europe’s huge challenges requires treating Europe as more than the sum of its national parts.
Gendering labour time—regulating domestic work
Too few countries have ratified the ILO convention on domestic work. Too many don’t see the need.
Democracy and the future of work
Anxiety about the state of democracy amid political polarisation should direct us to an unexpected answer—economic citizenship.
Pay transparency yes, but we need more for equal pay
The gender pay gap is stubborn because several factors underpin it. Action is needed on all of them.
A feminist view of working-time reductions
Reducing working time is necessary to decouple work from growth. Well designed, it could redistribute care more evenly.
Tackling the cost-of-living crisis
Inflation is a number. But addressing it is not just a technical issue, best left to (usually male) economists.
The digital euro: a flawed concept doomed to flop
Peter Bofinger argues that on the ‘digital euro’ the European Central Bank has dug itself into a hole it would do best to vacate.
ECB lobbies for banks, instead of supervising them
The ECB has taken upon itself to challenge the Spanish government over a temporary tax on the profits of commercial banks.
Social-ecological public procurement
The vast sums disbursed in procurement and subsidies by public institutions must lever good work amid the green transition.
Taxing super-profits to beat inflation, defend rights
Pandemics, wars and recessions do not exempt states from human-rights commitments. They must tax multinationals and the richest more to protect the most vulnerable.
Political leaders sabotaging corporate sustainability
EU member-state governments have flinched at the challenge of enforcing responsible business conduct.
Inflation: free markets or freeriding?
Companies with market power are increasing prices beyond rising energy costs—because they can.