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The difficult dilemma between inequality and unemployment1
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 05/08/2016
For decades now, European countries chose to curb inequality through rigid employment laws, strong labor unions and generous unemployment benefits – often at the expense of the young and unemployed. The dilemma between inequality and unemployment is difficult, but successful solutions should strike a balance between job flexibility and security.
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Less employment protection, more jobs?0
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 04/08/2016
Following the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and the subsequent great recession, many of the OECD countries implemented structural reforms on employment protection legislation, aiming to enhance the flexibility of the labor market. This was believed to have a positive influence in preventing the reduction of existing jobs and promoting the creation of new ones. But do flexibility-enhancing reforms actually contribute to boosting employment?
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Pokémon GO: To regulate or not to regulate?18
Pokémons are running amok in the digital world and children and adults alike are running amok in the real world trying to catch them: since its release in July 2016, the augmented-reality mobile game Pokémon GO has taken the world by storm. The unprecedented popularity of the game and player experiences have raised safety and privacy concerns however, leading many to question whether or not policymakers should now regulate augmented-reality games such as Pokémon GO.
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A lesson for policy makers – teachers say ‘no’ to the nationalization of education0
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 21/07/2016
The globalized labor market brings a lot of opportunities – but do all of us really have the same chances? What is the defining factor that decides whether or not we will succeed in such a highly competitive environment? To be fair, it can’t be boiled down to one single element, but it all starts with quality education.
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Stagnation – temporary or a new normal?1
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 20/07/2016
The global financial and economic crisis has exposed a chasm between the theory and the practice of policy. Not only did the models underpinning policy choices not help anticipate the crisis, but now arguably they cannot even help fight it. Concerns are rising in the policymaking field that something structural – that models cannot capture – has changed. The stagnation afflicting the global economy could hence be a new normal, from which we can escape only by thinking out of the box of deceptively comfortable models.
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The European Pillar of Social Rights: towards a fairer Europe?0
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 20/06/2016
On 8 March 2016, the European Commission presented a first preliminary outline of the European Pillar of Social Rights, as part of the on-going work for a deeper and fairer Economic and Monetary Union. But does this first draft actually present the potential to meet the existing expectations on the social field for a fairer Europe?
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