debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
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 [...]
The IMF’s mea culpa about its wrong assessment of the effects of fiscal austerity in European crisis countries is nice. However, did the IMF really have a new insight? No, not at all. Indeed, already ten years ago, in 2003, the IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) published a thorough study about the effects of the [...]
Yesterday the OFCE, ECLM and IMK presented their joint Independent Annual Growth Survey in Brussels. You can download the report (which still requires a little polishing in places) here. The aim of this initiative, as the name suggests, is to offer an alternative analysis of the economic situation in Europe and of the policies to [...]
Progress and Economic growth, argues Daniela Kolbe, are never ends in themselves. Under what conditions is growth good for society? And what kind of growth? A well-designed, intelligent indicator won’t resolve any political conflicts, but it will make for a more objective debate. My home town of Leipzig is the most beautiful city in the [...]
Sometimes a counter-intuitive statement is based on a clever insight. For example, the statement ‘fiscal austerity can lead to higher government deficit ratios’ sounds implausible, but (most) economists agree that, at least under certain conditions, it may well apply. The reason is that the austerity reduces output, and thus the denominator of the deficit ratio, [...]
We may live in a post-industrial age, in which information technologies, biotech, and high-value services have become drivers of economic growth. But countries ignore the health of their manufacturing industries at their peril. High-tech services demand specialized skills and create few jobs, so their contribution to aggregate employment is bound to remain limited. Manufacturing, on [...]
Olli Rehn, Economy and Finance Commissioner, has described the plunging equity and bond markets of recent days as “unjustified” and “incomprehensible”. I beg to differ. Of course, such panic attacks always have something seemingly irrational about them: the herd suddenly changes direction, there is a lot of dust, and when it settles the ground is [...]
Perhaps for the first time in modern history, the future of the global economy lies in the hands of poor countries. The United States and Europe struggle on as wounded giants, casualties of their financial excesses and political paralysis. They seem condemned by their heavy debt burdens to years of stagnation or slow growth, widening [...]
The European authorities have had a year to address the sovereign-debt-come-banking crisis in the euro area. They have failed. The situation is much worse than a year ago, the latest manifestation being another downgrade of Greek sovereign debt. There is a real and present danger of contagion and the disorderly break-up of the euro area. [...]
The Guardian reports as yet unpublished figures from the International Energy Agency showing a record annual increase in CO2 emissions and a record absolute level in 2010. Climate experts warn that the agreed goal of keeping climate change within 2 degrees is rapidly becoming unattainable. The new numbers confirm a number of things we already [...]
The same sorry tale has now been repeated for the third time: put on a brave face, say you are different, that you have a plan and don’t need help, watch as every passing rumour and data blip sends the cost of your debt spiralling, and then, finally, go cap in hand for a bail-out. [...]
Freedom, solidarity and some notion of equality have become the core values of many, maybe most, political parties across the political spectrum. The political left, however, is characterised by its firm conviction that freedom and equality do not stand against each other; rather, they are mutually dependant. There can be no free society without a [...]
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