After The Swiss Minimum Wage Referendum
On 18 May 2014, Swiss voters clearly rejected the popular initiative for the introduction of a statutory national minimum wage of CHF 4000 per month
The ECB’s Troubling Future Policy Conundrum
In the German Constitutional Court ruling on the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) programme by the European Central Bank (ECB), judges said they were “inclined to
Piketty And The Zeitgeist
I get the same question these days wherever I go and from whomever I meet: What do you think of Thomas Piketty? It’s really two
Where Now After Ten Years Of Eastern Enlargement?
The ‘Eastern enlargement’ in May 2004 opened the EU’s doors to ten countries. Of these, the four Visegrád states, the three Baltic countries and a
Scotland And Oil: Avoiding A Disastrous Precedent
In September the Scots will vote on secession. For decades, the key slogan of the Scottish Nationalist Party has been ‘Its Scotland’s oil’. Yet this
How To Combat Inequalities Produced By Global Capitalism
Rising inequality is one of the most salient issues in global and European politics. Guy Standing writes that what we have witnessed in recent decades is not
Europe’s Underappreciated Success: 10 Years Of Post-Enlargement Convergence
On May 1st 2004 ten countries joined the EU in the biggest enlargement of the Union to date. Moreover it was a step heavy with
The Mismeasure Of Technology
There is nothing better than fuzzy language to wreak havoc – or facilitate consensus. Ludwig Wittgenstein argued that philosophical puzzles are really just a consequence
Ukraine And EU Enlargement 10 Years After Big Bang
While the world watches nervously the developments in Ukraine, one cannot but ask oneself what would have happened if the EU (and/or NATO for that
The Real Problems Of Migration And Work And How To Solve Them
Sitting in nice wine bars or cosy restaurants in superbly gentrified inner city areas, the chattering liberal middle class expresses its disgust about the xenophobic
The Future Of The Captured State
Concerns about state capture are nothing new. Special interests hold undue sway over official decision-makers in many countries, and regulators are always prone to see
Why The Left Must Address Inequality And Poverty
Gently, slowly one can sense the terms of intellectual trade changing. The long era of individual accumulation with the massive transfer of power from the
Why The Future Of Social Europe Lies In The Member States
Unlike the simple anti-EU rhetoric of populist parties, those parties who take a more moderate stance towards the EU face a difficult task in the
Some Reflections On Thomas Piketty’s ‘Capital’
Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century is a six hundred and eighty-five page tome that definitively characterizes the empirical pattern of income and wealth
Losing Interest
Two of the world’s most prominent economic institutions, the International Monetary Fund and Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, recently warned that the global economy may
Ten Steps To Revive The European Economy
Economistas Frente a la Crisis (Economists Confronting The Crisis) is a group of Spanish economists founded in 2011, who refuse to remain indifferent to the
Digital Risk In The Modern Society
The issue of privacy and the surveillance of digital communications has been a key topic of concern across Europe, particularly in the aftermath of Edward