The Swedish face of inequality
Sweden used to be revered for stemming inequality through progressive taxation and universal welfare. Now tax breaks for the wealthy and 'free choice' in public goods such as education cocoon the rich from the rest.
Tackling insecure work in Europe—a critical moment
The good news is that employment in the EU is at a record high. The bad news is that so much of it is insecure work—and a directive currently in train needs to be tough enough to fix that.
Addressing poverty and inequality in Europe
Official EU statistics mask the alarming extent of poverty and inequality in Europe. Despite slight recent easing, its dangerous scale threatens Europe’s social and political cohesion.
Precarious work leads to precarious lives
In Ireland the absence of universal health- and childcare makes the insecurity of precarious work even greater.
Why Alexis Tsipras is still not a social democrat
Social democracy is not the same as populism, argues Dimitrios Kotroyannos. And Alexis Tsipras remains a populist.
The crisis of globalisation: interview with Mark Blyth
Towards the end of 2018, Henning Meyer, editor-in-chief of Social Europe, spoke to the expert on international political economy Mark Blyth, about the crisis of globalisation, populism, Brexit and other political disasters waiting to happen.
The Left must respond to grievances over immigration
Sheri Berman contends that the the left needs to develop distinct and feasible responses to immigration to counter the populists' dystopian visions.
Mass immigration and the growth of inequality
James Wickham looks at mass immigration and the growth of inequality and shows why it is important to link immigration to changes in an economy's occupational structure.
Beyond GDP
GDP figures are often in the public eye but they are insufficient measures for well-being. Economics Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz explains why we need to look beyond GDP.
Averting the death of social democracy
Reformist social democracy has just two problems that result in its crisis. The first is that it’s heading in the wrong direction. The second is
Migration and forgetting in central Europe
The global financial crisis has had a profound effect on European politics. As often happens in such hard times, these events have resulted in an
Social democrats must say another Globalisation is possible
Social democratic parties across Europe are now paying the electoral price for their uncritical embrace of globalisation in the 1990s. Then, responsible politics was equated
If Biedroń is to help rebuild the Polish left, he has to be the opposite of Macron
In any article published in the international press about Robert Biedroń, it seems almost obligatory to describe him as the new ‘Polish Macron’. Biedroń recently
No new narratives, please!
Massimiliano Santini’s recent article here finishes with “…the solution may be in elaborating and putting forward a new narrative. It’s the narrative, stupid!” Please, not
A democratic model for Facebook
Facebook is regularly in the news as a force disrupting democratic politics across the globe but what if democracy could be the model to save
AI’s ethical implications: the responsibility of firms, policymakers and society?
We cannot banalize the power and importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in the modern economy. Nor can we legitimize everything it can be used for
Germany sticks to its mercantilist model
In a recent LSE blog, (reproduced here), Donato Di Carlo presents empirical evidence for what he considers a ‘quiet rebalancing’ of the German economy. Using