Ukraine is quietly abandoning neoliberalism
Kyiv’s need for self-defence has pushed the country towards far-reaching expansion of the state’s economic role.
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.
Can the IMF and the World Bank really be changed?
Those with seats at the table of the international financial institutions, Jayati Ghosh writes, cling to their power.
Becoming like Germany: hurdles and dilemmas
The new EU fiscal rules being finalised would still leave central- and eastern-European states such as Latvia in a bind.
Taxing wealth to break billionaire dominance
As men in expensive suits discuss running the world at Davos this week, taxation can rein in their power.
Germany: the ‘sick man’ of Europe—but ‘dumb’ as well?
The austerity package stemming from an adverse Constitutional Court ruling, Peter Bofinger writes, defies logic.
The German debt brake—reform urgent
The Schuldenbremse is often depicted as a bulwark against inflation. Actually, it can contribute to rising prices.
AFL-CIO/Microsoft AI partnership: model to copy?
Workers must have a collective voice in the design of artificial-intelligence systems for the workplace.
A warning to Scrooges: cut long working hours
A right to disconect, collective bargaining and public procurement are the levers to reduce excessive working hours.
Competition policy: turn to the labour market
Weak competition on labour markets means wages are often set below the market-clearing level.
EU fiscal rules: time to face the contradictions
The new version of the pre-pandemic fiscal rules, if imposed, would jeopardise the European economy.
The shadow of austerity—and authoritarianism
European trade unions are mobilising today in Brussels against the austerity which would follow reimplanted fiscal rules.
Central-bank independence: the beginning of the end?
Rising interest rates have devalued central banks’ assets, creating demands for recapitalisation. Time for a debate.
The imperative of reforming EU economic governance
Finance ministers must forestall reapplication of the existing fiscal rules, to prevent a disastrous renewal of austerity.
‘Women’s economics’ goes mainstream
Claudia Goldin’s Nobel prize puts women’s labour-force participation and the gender pay gap at the centre of economics.
Rethinking globalisation in an age of crises
We need to find a path to peaceful coexistence and co-operation, fixing the social and economic damage of the last three decades
US electric-car maker faces Swedish union shock
Tesla faces its first ever strike after refusing to negotiate with the Swedish trade union IF Metall.