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Economy


Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher. We use the values of freedom, sustainability and equality as the foundation on which we examine society’s most pressing challenges. We are committed to publishing cutting-edge thinking and new ideas from the most thought-provoking people. This archive page brings together Social Europe articles on the economy.

Ukraine could abandon key labour principle

Thomas Rowley and Serhiy Guz 10th August 2022

The government’s post-war reconstruction plans threaten a ‘Mad Max-style dystopia’, says Ukrainian labour lawyer.

Blurring of boundaries in work’s ‘new normal’

Rolf Schmucker 27th July 2022

The good news is that ‘hybrid’ working favours employee self-determination. The bad news is it’s hard to keep work at bay.

‘Whatever it takes’, ten years on

László Andor and David Rinaldi 26th July 2022

A decade ago Mario Draghi helped save the euro and the EU. Yet the lessons have still fully to sink in.

Dealing with inflation, really

Jayati Ghosh 25th July 2022

Jayati Ghosh bemoans the economics profession’s inability to think beyond crude analyses of inflation—and crude policies to stem it.

The productivity slowdown, inflation and austerity

Alfred Kleinknecht 22nd July 2022

Calls for the ECB to raise rates to stem inflation have missed the negative impact of ‘structural reforms’ of labour markets on innovation.

Ukraine to pass laws wrecking workers’ rights

Thomas Rowley and Serhiy Guz 22nd July 2022

Zero-hours contracts are set to be legalised and 70 per cent of the workforce exempted from workplace protections.

How to restore workers’ rights

Sharan Burrow 19th July 2022

The grim statistics on workers’ rights will only be righted if global standards are properly enforced.

How board quotas influence gender-equality policies

Audrey Latura and Ana Catalano Weeks 13th July 2022

Quotas can encourage corporate leadership to assign more importance to equality.

Labour shortages offer trade unions valuable opportunity

Claes-Mikael Ståhl 11th July 2022

A ‘tight’ labour market is not such a bad thing for trade unions—and therefore for workers.

Short-time working: lessons for the next recession

Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Lukas Lehner 6th July 2022

Best practices in short-time working can prepare for the looming downturn.

Airport chaos: security guards and cleaners still key

Mark Bergfeld 4th July 2022

The ‘key’ workers of the pandemic need sustained recognition. The chaos at airports shows what happens otherwise.

Minimum-wages directive—history in the making

Torsten Müller and Thorsten Schulten 1st July 2022

The directive fundamentally strengthens collective bargaining and trade union power.

Growing out of inflation: a new supply-side policy

Philippa Sigl-Glöckner and Enzo Weber 30th June 2022

Reining in demand via monetary policy will not solve a supply problem.

Ensuring adequate minimum wages in an age of inflation

Carlos Vacas-Soriano and Christine Aumayr-Pintar 27th June 2022

Minimum wages have risen across Europe this year. Inflation is eroding them.

Public services should not be the victims of inflation

Irene Ovonji-Odida 23rd June 2022

On UN Public Service Day, many public-service workers and the services they provide remain needlessly impoverished.

Let’s count what really matters

Jayati Ghosh 22nd June 2022

Tracking four alternative economic indicators would provide a very different view of comparative performance than GDP.

Why we are on Brussels’ streets

Marie Hélène Ska, Miranda Ulens and Olivier Valentin 20th June 2022

Tens of thousands of Belgian workers today demand better wages and purchasing power.

Working from a distance: remote or removed?

Nicola Countouris and Valerio De Stefano 16th June 2022

Remote work will outlast the pandemic. But workers must be inoculated against the risks.

Getting deglobalisation right

Joseph Stiglitz 7th June 2022

This year’s gathering of business and political elites in Davos recognised a basic truth—without reckoning with past mistakes.

Recovery and Resilience: stop-gap or sea-change?

Andrew Watt 30th May 2022

The Recovery and Resilience Facility could remain a one-off crisis measure—or point to a permanent EU fiscal arrangement.

Control the vampire companies

Jayati Ghosh 23rd May 2022

Jayati Ghosh highlights the vicious circle between spiralling wealth and corporate political influence.

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