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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.

A Progressive Industrial Policy for the Global South: A Latin American Perspective

José Miguel Ahumada and Fernando Sossdorf

The Global South must redefine industrial policy to build new productive capabilities and address escalating global challenges.

Europe’s Green Transition: A Fund Under Pressure

Valeria Cirillo, Marialuisa Divella, Lidia Greco and Eustachio Ferrulli

The EU's flagship Just Transition Fund, designed to mitigate social inequalities, faces significant challenges in achieving its ambitious goals.

The ECB’s Strategic Review: A Betrayal of Europe’s Workers

Ludovic Voet

The European Central Bank's latest strategic assessment ignores critical lessons, perpetuating a harmful economic myth and undermining labour's vital role.

When Ideology Trumps Economic Interests

Dani Rodrik

The fall of Biden’s green subsidies reveals ideology, not economics, as the true force in US politics.

Why European Security and Sovereignty Depend on Its Digital Sector

Mariana Mazzucato

Mario Draghi’s vision for Europe demands more than investment—it calls for digital sovereignty, state capacity, and strategic power.

Europe’s Bid for Autonomy: The Euro’s Evolving Global Role

Guido Montani

President Christine Lagarde's recent proposal signals a pivotal shift, aiming to elevate the euro's international standing and bolster European foreign policy independence.

How Trump’s Tariff Regime Fuels Global Oligarchy

Gabriel Zucman

Trump’s radical tax vision could dismantle the IRS, reshape global inequality—and fuel a new economic war.

Mind the Gap: Can Europe Afford Its Green and Digital Future?

Viktor Skyrman

Amid vast investment shortfalls, the European Union must rethink its funding strategy to achieve its ambitious goals.

Europe’s Euro Ambition: A Risky Bid for “Exorbitant Privilege”

Peter Bofinger

Christine Lagarde seeks a greater international role for the euro, but Europe's economic realities present a complex challenge.

Europe Must Adapt to Its Ageing Workforce

Franz Eiffe and Karel Fric

As the continent's birth rates decline and its population ages, policymakers face the urgent task of retaining experienced workers and adapting workplaces.

Europe’s Businesses Face a Quiet Takeover as US Investors Capitalise

Tej Gonza and Timothée Duverger

American investors are increasingly acquiring European companies, prompting calls for new ownership models to protect economic sovereignty.

Closing the Chasm: Central and Eastern Europe’s Continued Minimum Wage Climb

Carlos Vacas-Soriano and Christine Aumayr-Pintar

Minimum wages in Central and Eastern Europe continue to rise.

Trump Can’t Kill the Boom: Why the US Economy Will Roar Despite Him

Nouriel Roubini

Markets, innovation, and AI are overpowering Trump’s chaos—and pushing America toward 4% growth, recession or not.

Why Europe Needs Its Own AI Infrastructure

Diane Coyle

Trump’s return highlights why Europe must build its own AI ecosystem—secure, competitive, and true to its values.

Italy’s Minimum Wage Dilemma: Will EU Pressure Force a Policy Shift?

Guglielmo Meardi and Francesco Seghezzi

Despite EU moves, Italy resists a national minimum wage amid trade union scepticism.

Trump’s America: The New Global Tax Haven?

Joseph Stiglitz

Trump is turning America into a tax haven, dismantling safeguards and fueling inequality through global deregulation.

Robots Boost Workplace Safety, But Only in High-tech and Well-protected Economies

Marco De Simone, Dario Guarascio and Jelena Reljic

New research reveals that automation benefits are not universal.

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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
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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.

READ THE BOOK
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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. 

MORE INFO
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“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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