Asbestos: eradicating the hidden killer
Workers facing asbestos exposure need much more protection—through tighter limits and proper equipment and protocols.
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.
A noble award for a ‘popular misconception’
Peter Bofinger questions last week’s award of a prestigious economics prize to an orthodox school which could not anticipate the 2008 crash.
‘Greedflation’: who wins, who loses?
With inflation driven largely by corporate rent-seeking, rather than suppressing wage claims windfall profits must be taxed.
Achieving wage justice in Europe
Making public contracts for private firms conditional on collective agreements can help stem the falling labour share.
Toward a progressive economic agenda
To win power, progressive leaders must articulate a coherent economic policy, focusing not only on redistribution but also value creation.
Regulating platform work in Europe: a work in progress
Divergences between the European Commission and the European Parliament reveal the real challenges of regulating the platform economy.
Health and safety: Europe’s patchy commitment
The European Union must stop compromising on the fundamental right of workers to health and safety.
Tackling forced labour—without the labourers
Simply banning products made with forced labour won’t help the workers affected.
Belgium: heat rising over cost of living
Thousands of workers join a union rally in Brussels to defend their purchasing power.
Fresh-start Truss faces a ‘sudden stop’
The UK is staring into an economic abyss for which it is wholly unprepared.
How can we build an international labour court?
Multinationals dominate the economy but no global body defends workers in supply chains.
Equal rights for domestic workers (finally) in Spain
Labour rights are to be extended to this large, female—and largely informal—sector.
Tourism in southern Europe: potential and perils
The return of tourists to southern Europe’s squeezed resorts is not an unmixed blessing.
Trade unions on the frontline in the cost-of-living crisis
Defending workers' living standards has become trade unions' primary concern.
Are workers going to pay the bill for Putin’s war?
Real wages could fall by 2.9 per cent in the European Union in 2022.
Ukraine could abandon key labour principle
The government’s post-war reconstruction plans threaten a ‘Mad Max-style dystopia’.
Blurring of boundaries in work’s ‘new normal’
The good news is that ‘hybrid’ working favours employee self-determination. The bad news is it’s hard to keep work at bay.