Tag archive for ‘economic crisis’
Europe at the Crossroads: It’s Now or Never!
The European Union is one of the grandest projects in human history – the creation of a new economic, and eventually social, super-state out of the ashes of post-war despair. The founders had a cunning plan: They would create an economic imperative around the production of essentials such as coal and steel, convinced that a [...]
An Idea Whose Time Has Come
In 2002 I published an article on a maximum wage in the centre-left theory journal Renewal. The idea of putting a ceiling on what people could earn was left-field, to say the least. It was more a thought experiment than a serious attempt to influence political debate. The article and the idea sank without much [...]
The Future of Social Democracy: A Spanish Vision
To solve our current problems realist and practical policies are required, but they must also always retain a social-democratic ethos.
The European election of July 2009 showed an interesting paradox: despite the fact that, according to data from the European Election Study (1986-2004), 58 per cent of European citizens position themselves as centre-left or left, the [...]
The Credibility Gap
Faith in politics is on the wane – particularly in social-democratic politics.
The search for reasons for the disastrous defeat of the German social democrats in the September elections, and the poor prospects of parties of the left across Europe, has led to various and detailed explanations. Most of these are right in some respect, but [...]
The Party-Union Link and the Future of Social Democracy
A rejuvenation of the party-trade union link could play an important part in the recovery of European social democracy.
Coinciding with the biggest financial crisis since the second world war, and an economic crisis whose full consequences have yet to emerge, the ‘good society’ debate offers social democrats an opportunity for reflection and programmatic rejuvenation. [...]
The Future of Social Democracy
In spite of their rhetoric, the right’s solutions to the crisis will lead to ordinary people paying the costs.
This past year has been overshadowed by the dark clouds of economic crisis. Ordinary people have taken many hard knocks. Unemployment is rising. Businesses are going bust. Homes have been repossessed. Pensions have been decimated by stock [...]
Hypotheses on high youth unemployment rates in Scandinavian countries
Several of the comments in response to my previous post on “European youth unemployment” encouraged me to explore the causes of high youth unemployment in Scandinavian countries. In-depth research on this issue might give complete answers; here I only aim to propose some hypotheses which require further investigation.
First of all, I would generally exclude the [...]
Six Things that didn’t cause the Crisis – But really ought to have
Experts, soothsayers and pundits have been falling over themselves to list the factors that combined to produce the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. (My ha’penny’s worth is here). A partial consensus has emerged on some issues (excessive deregulation of the financial sector, current account imbalances) while debate continues to rage on others (such [...]
European youth unemployment and the Scandinavian challenge
Eurostat indicators on employment in the EU, released in September 2009, report a general increase of unemployment rates (July-2008/July-2009) in the EU27 of about 2%, with dramatic picks in Spain and Ireland (+6-7%), once considered the rising economies of the EU, and in Baltic countries (+9-10%).
Youth unemployment rate, which is a largely unexplored topic [...]
Where’s the plan for climate change’s implications?
December 7-18, 2009 will be a historic moment for humankind with a make or break deal on climate change up for discussion at the UN Conference in Copenhagen. But, when future generations look back, the real missed opportunity of this period may be the failure to discuss a globally coordinated response to the implications of [...]
The Rollercoaster of EU Politics
It’s time to take our seats on the thrilling rollercoaster ride that is European Union politics. The next three months will be one long white knuckle ride with political careers being made, broken and in some cases smashed to smithereens. By Christmas the EU could be forging ahead with new dynamism and confidence or it [...]
What is the Point of Economists?
The FT is asking an interesting question:
“Why did no one see the crisis coming?” Queen Elizabeth asked last year. “A failure of the collective imagination of many bright people” who were all “doing their job properly on its own merit”, was the answer many of those bright people gave in a letter to the Queen [...]