debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
The G20 Leaders Declaration at the Toronto Summit (June 2010) endorsed an ambitious agenda of ‘structural reforms’ cutting across both labour and product markets that would lift global output significantly, create ‘tens millions more jobs’, sustain poverty reduction and reduce global imbalances significantly.[1] The latest (18-19 April, 2013) Communique of Finance Ministers and Central Bank [...]
The downfall of communism in Poland cried for the rebirth of entrepreneurship, believed to be one of the tools for rebuilding civil society. With time passing by faith in entrepreneurship has brought it to schools as a subject taught to young people on the threshold of adulthood. Accession to the EU mainstreamed the term, which [...]
In case of severe economic depressions, even the OECD considered public works programmes (PWPs) a reasonable option in fighting the rise of unemployment: “… increased reliance on public sector job creation schemes targeted to the hardest-to-place jobseekers might provide a useful, temporary backstop to activation regimes during the recession.” (OECD Employment Outlook 2009, p. 14). [...]
This blog introduces a project commissioned by the International Labour Office (ILO). The wage-led growth strategy aims at an economic regime where real wage growth leads to increased demand and technological progress and thereby provides the foundation for a sustainable growth process. But what determines wage growth or changes in income distribution in the first [...]
Euro Area economies remain stuck in recession but in the corridors of the European Council, the austerians in charge are congratulating themselves, pretending that their strategies are starting to deliver good results. Falling external deficits: Not a sign of success but of an economy in meltdown A first fairy tale is to claim that wage [...]
Average wages around the world The global financial crisis had significant negative repercussions for labour markets in many parts of the world. The most significant impact has been on employment figures. But the ILO Global Wage Report 2012/13, entitled “Wages and Equitable Growth”, shows that the weakening of the global recovery in the two years after [...]
The biggest economic debate is between Keynesians (who want more government spending and lower interest rates in order to fuel demand) and supply-side “austerics” (who want lower taxes on the wealthy and on corporations to boost incentives to hire and invest, and who see government deficits crowding out private investment). But both approaches have problems. [...]
Paul Krugman picks up on the Eurostat statistics on wages and wage developments in the private sector across Europe. He concludes that the experiment of an ‘internal wage devaluation’ which the Euro Area in particular is trying to practise is very hard to achieve since downwards nominal wage rigidities (DNWR) are preventing nominal wages from falling. [...]
A very interesting video on the link between inequality and the origin of the financial crisis on The Real News. This is in line with recent research in Europe.
There has been a substantial debate of youth issues on SEJ [Youth Unemployment Debate]. This is a further contribution seen from the perspective of a so-called ‘success’ country. In principle, there are two ways to answer the question raised in the title: I. To be frank: nobody really knows! Whenever you take a closer look [...]
A simultaneous increase in the profit share by 1% point in the major developed and developing countries, leads to a 0.36% decline in global GDP. The dramatic decline in the share of wages in GDP in both the developed and developing world during the neoliberal era of the post-1980s has accompanied lower growth rates at [...]
ECB President Mario Draghi made a presentation to heads of state and government at last week’s European Council on the economic situation in the euro area. His intent was to show the real reasons for the crisis and the counter-measures needed. In this he succeeded – although not in the way he intended. Draghi presented [...]
All Content