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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.

The High-Stakes Gamble of Doing Nothing: Why Business Must Act Now

Stefan Stern

In a world teetering on the edge of chaos, disengagement is a dangerous delusion. Here's why smart leaders know that stepping up.

Labour shortages – an opportunity to rebalance bargaining power?

Wouter Zwysen

Labour shortages have become one of the most pressing issues in the labour market across Europe.

Germany’s Minimum Wage Controversy: Will the EU Directive Be Enforced?

Thorsten Schulten

The EU pushes for a 60 per cent median wage standard—yet Germany resists. What’s at stake for fair wages?

Can the EU’s Tariffs on Chinese EVs Save Its Auto Industry?

Béla Galgóczi

EU imposes tariffs on Chinese EVs—but can this safeguard jobs and competitiveness, or must Europe rethink its clean tech strategy?

Why social investment holds the key to delivering on the Draghi report

Anton Hemerijck and David Bokhorst

A vast untapped potential for improving economic progress and social well-being across the EU needs to be unlocked through social investment.

Nobel Prize in Economics: Do Democracy and Prosperity Really Go Hand in Hand?

Bo Rothstein

This year’s Nobel laureates link democracy to economic success, but their theory ignores autocratic growth and rehashes old ideas.

Industrial relations, work and climate change

Valeria Pulignano, Jane Parker and Bianca Luna Fabris

Addressing the contradiction between economic growth and green transitions requires rethinking industrial relations.

How to fight inflation without subsidizing bankers at taxpayer’s expense

Paul De Grauwe

Central banks are paying billions in interest to commercial banks through remunerated reserves.

An analysis of the new European fiscal rules

Sebastian Gechert, Dario Guarascio, Philipp Heimberger and Francesco Zezza

EU member states submit fiscal plans, influencing economic stability and public debt for years to come.

Is Europe losing the innovation race?

Jean Tirole

Europe faces the challenge of fostering an innovation-driven economy to compete globally and lead in technological advancements.

Amazon’s office mandate: The hidden power play behind workplace control

Nicola Countouris and Valerio De Stefano

Amazon’s office mandate exposes workplace power dynamics and the need to rethink employer control.

Why the Draghi Report on EU markets matters

Howard Davies

Can Europe overcome its capital market flaws and catch up to the US? The Draghi Report sounds a critical alarm for the EU’s future.

Draghi on ‘competitiveness’: new wine in an old bottle

Werner Raza, Michael Ertl and Michael Soder

The Draghi report contains some useful proposals but fails to match up to the challenges the European Union is facing.

Draghi, Putin and economic warfare in Europe

Paul Mason

It has yet to dawn on Europe’s leaders, Paul Mason writes, that the whole continent is implicated in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Ireland, the EU and the Apple tax case

Paul Sweeney

Ireland led the ‘race to the bottom’ on corporate taxation. The tide is beginning to turn.

After the Laffer curve: taxing the rich, at last

László Andor

It’s time finally to jettison the convenient claim that taxing the rich more would only reduce tax revenue.

Draghi report: a social agenda is lacking

Judith Kirton-Darling and Isabelle Barthès

The report on European ‘competitiveness’ is good on industrial strategy but poor from a social perspective.

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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
FEPS Advertisement

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
Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

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
FES Advertisement

“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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