politics, economy and employment & labour
Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher that publishes content examining issues in politics, economy and employment & labour. This archive brings together Social Europe articles on political issues.
In 1928, famed British economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that technology would advance so far in a hundred years – by 2028 – that it will replace all work, and no one will need to worry about making money: For the first time since his creation man will be faced with his real, his permanent problem […]
Whatever else they might disagree about, just about everybody commenting on Europe agree about this: the succession of crises – financial, economic, fiscal, and now refugees – have set Europe’s peoples against one another. Nationalist and racist parties are gaining strength on the Right – with a real risk of Mme Le Pen becoming the […]
How has opposition to the European Union changed in light of the Greek debt crisis, the UK’s planned referendum on EU membership, and the migration crisis in the Mediterranean? In an interview with EUROPP’s editor Stuart Brown, Catherine de Vries discusses the impact the UK’s referendum might have on the continent, the nature of left-wing Euroscepticism, and […]
As Labor Day looms, more Americans than ever don’t know how much they’ll be earning next week or even tomorrow. This varied group includes independent contractors, temporary workers, the self-employed, part-timers, freelancers, and free agents. Most file 1099s rather than W2s, for tax purposes. On demand and on call – in the “share” economy, the “gig” economy, or, […]
For many centuries, Europe was a continent plagued by wars, famines, and poverty. Millions of Europeans were driven to emigrate by economic and social deprivation. They sailed across the Atlantic to North and South America, and to places as far away as Australia, to escape misery and seek a better life for themselves and their […]
1) Poll Results Are Snapshots, Not Predictions Public opinion is seldom fixed. Views change. Good polls tell us what people think at the time they were interviewed. Someone reviewing polling results might make a prediction based on the data, but that is a personal judgement, not a poll finding. Suppose you know that a runner […]
Now that Greece’s Third Memorandum of Understanding has passed (see here for my annotated version), after the SYRIZA government surrendered on 12th July 2015, it is perhaps of interest to compare the ‘Reform Agenda’ in that agreement with the agenda the Ministry of Finance had presented to the institutions on two occasions, in May and June 2015. During the five […]
Today Germany’s migration policy is better than its reputation would suggest. It has improved considerably over the last 20 years, though it has suffered setbacks and contradictions along the way. These improvements have been driven less by a commitment to making migration policy “fit for the future” than by the need to respond to a […]
What is the logic behind austerity? The standard explanations given during the last five years do not hold solid ground. Many – including famous economists and central bankers – had supported budgetary cuts to restore market confidence. Markets, however, were hardly impressed: operators care about profits – usually associated with growth – and cuts in […]
Many economists advocate a sovereign insolvency regime to solve the problems that plague today’s Eurozone. If there were an orderly way to declare a government insolvent and reduce its debts, it could gain sufficient breathing space for a more expansionary fiscal policy; other countries’ taxpayers would not have to bail out reckless banks and those […]
While Syriza slowly recovers from the shock of the last few weeks, prime minister Alexis Tsipras is searching for a role. Greece after the referendum, closure of banks and the Brussels diktat. An investigation. It’s already past eight in the evening and my feet feel like they’re slowly being cooked in my heavy, leather boots. Admittedly […]
The following is the transcript of a speech former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt held at the party congress of the SPD in Berlin on 4th December 2011. Look back at the European developments of the last 4 years and you will see how up to date this speech is. Let me begin on a personal note. […]
