Corporate tax cuts do not boost growth
Philipp Heimberger and Sebastian Gechert
Implicit in the global ‘race to the bottom’ on corporation tax in recent decades has been that this favours growth. Yet does it?
Economy
Analysis and debate on the European economy: growth and investment, fiscal and monetary policy, trade, industry and inequality.
Minimum wages rise, but more slowly
Carlos Vacas-Soriano and Christine Aumayr-Pintar
Convergence of central and eastern-European EU members towards older ones with high minimum wages is much stronger than in the Mediterranean countries.
A minimum-wage directive could undermine the Nordic model
German Bender and Anders Kjellberg
Several negative effects need to be addressed in the current negotiations on the directive, in the Swedish trade union view.
Climate crisis offers way out of monetary orthodoxy
The ECB’s strategy review, Adam Tooze writes, says more by its silences than its statements.
Covid-19, women and the economy—it’s not all about care
There has been a macroeconomic blindspot in feminist narratives of the pandemic which unwittingly limits the scope of critique.
A future-fit recovery?
Elizabeth Dirth, Jonathan Barth, Jakob Hafele, Christiny Miller and Lydia Korinek
EU member states’ National Recovery and Resilience Plans have been assessed against their capacity for transformative change—and found wanting.
Switzerland: defending workers’ rights
In the standoff between the federal government and the European Commission on wage protection, the former has right on its side.
Teleworking in the public sector
The pandemic has accelerated teleworking in the public sector—but with inadequate planning have come mixed results.
For workers, another year of living dangerously
Workers have stood on the frontline of the pandemic, but the ITUC Global Rights Index documents an anti-worker agenda.
Revised posted workers directive: throwing out the baby with the bathwater?
Ive Marx, Ninke Mussche and Dries Lens
The EU needs to acknowledge the vital economic role of posting and differentiate the rules according to its different types.
The platform economy—time for more democracy at work
The platform economy has intensified power imbalances between companies and their workers, which only collective voice can redress.
When capital relinquishes ownership
As the ownership of firms becomes transferred to algorithmically-controlled index funds, why not put their human employees in charge instead?
A ‘vision zero’ goal for accidents at work
Eva Nordmark, Peter Hummelgaard, Johan Danielsson, Marianne Vind, Manuel Pizarro and Esther Lynch
There are no acceptable levels of workplace fatalities—a focus on prevention is needed.
Strengthening social and labour rights for farmers and farm workers
Romain Schneider, Anette Kramme, Pedro Marques and Agnes Jongerius
The opportunity of CAP reform to cultivate fairer and more sustainable agriculture must not be wasted.
Are social clauses really just hidden protectionism?
Social clauses in trade deals are sometimes represented as a premise for denial of market access to developing countries. The evidence suggests otherwise.
Trading on hope: why projections of the EU-Mercosur agreement are unreliable
Jeronim Capaldo and Özlem Ömer
The EU-Mercosur agreement, on which negotiations ended a year ago, awaits signing and ratification. They should be in no rush.