politics, economy and employment & labour
Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher that publishes content examining issues in politics, economy, society and ecology. This archive brings together Social Europe articles on the economy.
The Great Recession depressed real income levels across European countries. But the impact was very unequal across countries and income groups. Countries in the European periphery have been more affected than those in the core, halting the process of income convergence between European countries that could be observed pre- crisis. Individuals at the bottom quintile […]
Ever since the ‘Great Recession’ of 2007-2009, the world’s major central banks have kept short-term interest rates at near-zero levels. In the United States, even after the Federal Reserve’s recent increases, short-term rates remain below 1%, and long-term interest rates on major government bonds are similarly low. Moreover, major central banks have supported markets at […]
New reforms for the Eurozone are in sight, ready to be implemented in the short term by taking advantage of the stronger than expected European economic recovery. As was clearly hinted by the tenor of official declarations, after the electoral turmoil of recent months, Brussels intends to go on the counter-offensive against populist movements with […]
The old debate concerning the need for a distinct European social model has never been more topical. Trump, Brexit and the unsurprising rise of Marine Le Pen in the second round of the French presidential election show that our actuality may indeed repeat key elements of the ‘Weimar moment’ some 80 years ago. To the […]
Ever since the Second Industrial Revolution petered out, global capitalism has faced a demand crisis. If you think that all we need now is to stop austerity and spend our way out of the crisis, think again. Over the past few decades, developed economies were kept alive through artificially created demand. The inflation of the […]
For years, the eurozone has been perceived as a disaster area, with discussions of the monetary union’s future often centered on a possible breakup. When the British voted to leave the European Union last year, they were driven partly by the perception of the eurozone as a dysfunctional – and perhaps unsalvageable – project. Yet, […]
There have been many ideas put forward to explain the low growth in UK productivity, but among mainstream accounts the impact of austerity is not usually high up on the list of possibilities. I have talked before about what I call an ‘innovations gap’, and how the UK is currently suffering a particularly large innovations […]
When I was student at the LSE many years ago I shared lodgings with a German exchange student from the University of Munich, son of the Bavarian Minister President and leader of the CSU. He later became a Professor of Statistics and what I recall was his amazement at reading Keynes General Theory of Employment […]
Average unemployment rates continue to fall across Europe, employment is growing again in middle-paying jobs, offshoring is on the decline, the proportion of routine jobs is falling, and efforts to make work more sustainable have borne fruit. Despite Brexit, the Trump effect and the pessimists, 2016 was a good year to live and work in […]
Inequality within member states has become a much debated and researched issue over the last decade (see OECD here and here). Reducing the inequality between member states (i.e. convergence) is a target the European Union (EU) has set itself in its treaties and monitors through its cohesion reports. But what about the EU as a […]
In the dying seconds of his first 100 days in office, President Donald Trump published his ‘biggest tax cut in American history’. The spectacular cut on corporation tax shows that he wants to make America great again in the ill-fated game of international tax competition. To resist, Europa should speed up efforts for a joint […]
For US President Donald Trump, the measure of a country’s economic strength is its current-account balance – its exports of goods and services minus its imports. This idea is of course the worst kind of economic nonsense. It underpins the doctrine known as mercantilism, which comprises a hoary set of beliefs discredited more than two […]
