Publications

Sabine Stephan (November 2014): It is often argued that the transatlantic free trade agreement will open up substantial growth and employment opportunities to the participating countries. In her paper Stephan presents the findings of the three most influential investigations – the study by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and two studies by the ifo Institute – in terms of their expected growth and employment effects. Stephan argues that even with extraordinarily optimistic assumptions the expected growth and employment effects are tiny.

László Andor (January 2015): In this new paper, published by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the Social Europe Journal (SEJ), former EU Commissioner László Andor examines the discussion about mobility within the European Union with a specific focus on the United Kingdom. Responding to a tone of debate that he considers “distorted and unfair”, Andor proposes several ways in which migration could be managed better without the need for treaty change to “cap” numbers.

Alice Martin, Helen Kersley, Tony Greenham (December 2014): The report shows how rising economic inequality was a major cause of the financial crisis. This is the conclusion of an emerging body of research into the links between inequality and the growth in scale and influence of the financial sector. To reduce the risk of future crises, the report argues that financialisation needs to be rolled back and policies to reduce inequality have to be implemented.

Giacomo Corneo (November 2014): The increase of income and wealth concentration threatens the European project of a good society. In his essay, Corneo argues that capital taxation alone cannot stop this process, but a combination of moderately higher capital taxes and a novel role of public capital will do. He believes the governance of public capital requires carefully designed institutions: a sovereign wealth fund and a special public investment agency called Federal Shareholder. Corneo is Professor of Public Finance and Social Policy at the Free University of Berlin, and managing editor of the Journal of Economics.

Michael Dauberstädt (October 2014): EU discourse these days tends to conceive of convergence in terms of the Maastricht criteria. By contrast, this volume concentrates on the alignment of economies in terms of economic growth, income and social conditions. In the period under examination, from 1999, the findings are not clear-cut, but the majority of growth indicators point on convergence. Growth on Europe's southern periphery was weaker and since 2009 has even been negative, due to austerity. The driver of the catch-up process was productivity, which increased rapidly in the poorer countries. Income distribution in the member states varies considerably. There are also substantial differences with regard to social protection ratios.

Cecilia Bruzelius, Elaine Chase and Martin Seeleib-Kaiser (December 2014): National welfare states within the European Union have become semi-sovereign and can no longer limit benefits and services to national citizens. Significantly limiting the social rights of EU migrant citizens would very likely require treaty changes. Some countries, such as Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, absorb a large proportion of intra-EU, East-West migration. Nevertheless, the overall proportion of EU migrant citizens resident in Germany and the UK is slightly less than 4 percent, and in Spain about 4.5 percent, of the total population. Semi-sovereign EU welfare states require strong state capacities to deal with the complexities of EU citizenship and associated social rights.

Richard Wilkinson, Kate Pickett (September 2014): The speed and magnitude of rising social inequality has reached new dimensions. The quality of life for the vast majority of people is declining whilst the few accumulate riches. The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung is not only committed to addressing the issue in order to remind us of the negative impact inequality has, but also to stimulate an active debate that initiates change. Together with the Fabian Society, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has launched a pamphlet that serves as a guide towards a future that maximises human wellbeing.

Joe Dromey (September 2014): There has been growing debate about Britain's membership of the European Union in recent years. For those who would repatriate powers from the EU, one of the main focuses of discontent is the influence it has over employment regulation in the UK. Together with the Involvement and Participation Association the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in this research examines the process by which the EU has influenced rights at work, taking the UK as an example. The impact of EU employment regulation on British businesses and the economy is also examined. The claim that Britain is over-regulated an over-burdened by red tape coming from Brussels is challenged - the UK labour market remains one of the least regulated in the developed world.

FES London and NEF (July 2014): The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the New Economics Foundation (NEF) launched a new report on tackling inequality and the living standards crisis at root. The public and politicians are waking up to the corrosive effect of vast income and wealth divides on society, economy and democracy. The question is, what policies can break the spell? Tax and redistribution measures alone are no longer keeping inequality at bay, even in traditionally more equal countries like Sweden. Rather than a silver bullet, tackling the drivers of disparity requires concerted action in multiple areas– from childcare to the jobs market.

Daniel Buhr (April 2015): Industry 4.0 – a digitised and networked production – is still a vision, but global competition for the best ideas and most successful concepts is already steaming ahead. In order to understand Industry 4.0, Daniel Buhr outlines the vision behind the concept, the impact on society and the tasks for a successful innovation policy. Buhr argues that society will play a major role in the innovation process as driver of technical and social innovations. Systemic innovation policy is needed which includes firms, unions, civil society and academia, besides mere policy-makers. Only a holistic approach to Industry 4.0 allows technical innovation to contribute to social progress.