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Katharina Pistor — author portrait, Social Europe Katharina Pistor

Katharina Pistor is professor of comparative law at Columbia Law School. She is the author of The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality.
Man climbing ladder on European flag, Social Europe.

Why Europe Needs A New Social Federalism

Étienne Balibar, Justine Lacroix, Dominique Méda, Thomas Piketty, Katharina Pistor, Guillaume Sacriste, Antoine Vauchez and Jonathan White

As empires grab resources and discard international law, the EU must forge a new social federalism—or become a vassal.

Donald Trump — author portrait, Social Europe.

Trump Puts America Up for Sale: Everything Now Comes With a Price Tag

Katharina Pistor

From $100,000 work visas to million-dollar “gold cards,” Trump turns government services into transactions for the highest bidder.

People casting votes at a polling station, Social Europe.

Ballots or Bans: How Should Democracies Respond to Extremists?

Katharina Pistor

As extremists exploit democracy’s freedoms, should constitutions strike back—or always leave judgment to the ballot box?

Socialeurope.eu — logo on red background, Social Europe.

Outsourcing our future to for-profit AI

Katharina Pistor

The recent AI Nobel Prize win and California’s vetoed AI safety bill highlight the growing trend of placing our future in the hands of private corporations, with little public accountability.

Socialeurope.eu — logo on red background, Social Europe.

American business will regret writing off democracy

Katharina Pistor

By endorsing Donald Trump’s run for the US presidency, business leaders are embracing a man with only contempt for the law.

Socialeurope.eu — logo on red background, Social Europe.

Will Boeing crash ‘shareholder value’?

Katharina Pistor

Boeing’s self-inflicted woes hold broader lessons for contemporary corporate governance.

Socialeurope.eu — logo on red background, Social Europe.

How finance became the problem

Katharina Pistor

Finance has become the driving force behind most decision-making. We seem to have unlearned politics.

Socialeurope.eu — logo on red background, Social Europe.

How the public loses out when politicians cash in

Katharina Pistor

Gerhard Schröder has clearly breached the trust of the German people.

Socialeurope.eu — logo on red background, Social Europe.

From shock therapy to Putin’s war

Katharina Pistor

Putin is alone responsible for the war in Ukraine but prominent westerners played a key role in Russia's post-Soviet trajectory.

Socialeurope.eu — logo on red background, Social Europe.

The Pandora Papers and the threat to democracy

Katharina Pistor

In demonstrating how some of the world’s most powerful people hide their wealth, the Pandora Papers have exposed the details of a global system.

Socialeurope.eu — logo on red background, Social Europe.

The myth of green capitalism

Katharina Pistor

Rallying behind market-based measures to address climate change allows the owners of capital yet another way to avoid a reckoning.

Socialeurope.eu — logo on red background, Social Europe.

Green markets won’t save us

Katharina Pistor

Markets are an unreliable guide for navigating a problem as large and complex as climate change.

Socialeurope.eu — logo on red background, Social Europe.

The debt predators

Katharina Pistor

The financial system has turned credit intermediation into a debt mint.

Socialeurope.eu — logo on red background, Social Europe.

Limited liability is causing unlimited harm

Katharina Pistor

The purpose of limited-liability protection was to encourage investment in corporations, yet it has evolved into a source of systemic market failure.

Socialeurope.eu — logo on red background, Social Europe.

Facebook’s Libra must be stopped

Katharina Pistor

After years of disregarding privacy, exploiting user data and failing to control its platform, Facebook has unveiled a cryptocurrency and payment system that could take down the entire global economy.

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S&D Housing Storytelling

Europeans are struggling with rising housing and rental costs, and we have been working in various ways to address this, because we believe a home is a right for everyone.
 Recently, we travelled across Europe to hear directly from people who struggle to afford a decent place to live. They shared a glimpse of how the housing crisis has affected their lives and why having a home is so important to them. Take a moment to check out their stories. They remind us why it is so urgent to act.

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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
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The Summer issue of The Progressive Post is out! 

The EU is belatedly awakening to a changing Mediterranean sea, where more assertive regional powers are reclaiming a role.

The new issue of the magazine also reflects on how we struggle to keep pace with AI innovations, examines the uncertainties surrounding the execution of the Pact on Migration and Asylum and the risk to human rights posed by the Return Regulation, and focuses on the EU Commission's newly proposed Industrial Accelerator Act.

READ THE MAGAZINE
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Author portrait, Social Europe.

In the face of escalating crises, we need a strong understanding of just transition that includes a democratisation of the economy and imagines the socio-ecological transformation from an internationalist perspective.

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“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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