scholarly journals How the Eurozone disempowers trade unions: the political economy of competitive internal devaluation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Rathgeb ◽  
Arianna Tassinari
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Economic Adjustment ◽  
Class Power ◽  
New Economic Governance ◽  
Adjustment Variable ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Quantitative Indicators

Abstract The marginalization of trade unions was a notable feature of the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone periphery. However, governments have recently imposed liberalizing reforms against union protests in the Eurozone core too. We argue that organized labour loses influence across the core-periphery divide because the ‘new economic governance’ puts national governments under enhanced pressure to compete against each other on wage and labour market flexibility—a process known as competitive internal devaluation. The article illustrates this argument through comparative quantitative indicators of liberalization and qualitative process-tracing in three core countries. Whereas Germany’s outstanding competitiveness position allowed its unions to extract significant concessions, their counterparts in France and Finland faced unprecedented defeats from governments aiming to restore economic growth by closing down the competitiveness gap to Germany. Our findings highlight the class power implications of the Eurozone’s reliance on the labour market as the main economic adjustment variable.

The Italian labour market policy reforms and the economic crisis: coming towards the end of Italian exceptionalism?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrik Vesan ◽  
Emmanuele Pavolini
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
The Great Recession

The Italian labour market has been put under very strong pressure since the onset of the financial and economic crisis. After the 2011 sovereign debt crisis a new wave of reforms started in relation to labour market policies. Although it is not possible to detect a single trajectory of change in Italian labour market policies, we can observe an overall tendency toward a peculiar version of ‘welfare readjustment’, a pattern of reform in which governments curtail such policies as income or job protection for insiders, while adopting new social policies. This ‘readjustment process’ has been realised through the adoption of some provisions that favour ‘outsiders’ and, at the same time, the drastic retrenchment of labour rights for workers on open-ended contracts. As a result, the boundaries between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ now appear more blurred than they were before the outbreak of the Great Recession.

Die EWU - Beschäftigungsmotor oder Beschäftigungsrisiko?

1998 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Dohse ◽  
Christiane Krieger-Boden ◽  
Rüdiger Soltwedel
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
European Monetary ◽  
Market Effects ◽  
Asymmetric Shocks ◽  
Labour Market Flexibility ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Eu Commission ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe current paper deals with the labour market effects of European Monetary Union (EMU). We compare the EU-memberstates’ susceptibility to asymmetric shocks and their labour market flexibility under status quo conditions. The findings are related to the question which countries are - from a labour market point of view - fit for EMU and which countries should not join EMU from the start.We then consider different policy scenarios and develop an institutional framework suitable to make EMU a labour market success. Special emphasis is given to the optimal interplay between the relevant agents, i.e. the EU-Commission, national governments, employers and trade unions.

The market impact of the involvement of the EU/ECB/IMF in crisis-affected countries during the European sovereign debt crisis

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-178
Author(s):  
Dimitrios V. Kousenidis
Keyword(s):  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Real Economy ◽  
Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
News Announcements ◽  
National Governments

Purpose This paper aims to examine whether the release of news about policy interventions by the troika [European Union (EU)/the European Central Bank (ECB)/International Monetary Fund (IMF)] in the crisis-affected EU countries (Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain) and whether the policy responses of these countries’ governments had impacts on the return and risk of stocks in the financial and real-economy sectors of these countries. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a broad set of news announcements concerning the troika authorities’ policy interventions and the policy responses of the affected Eurozone states’ governments. To test for the risk and return effects of these announcements during the crisis period, a set of regression equations is estimated under a difference-in-difference approach using intercept and slope dummy variables for news releases from troika authorities and from the national governments of the six EU countries. This enables unraveling the effects of the crisis (first difference) and the effects of news announcements (second difference). Findings The results indicate that the involvement of the troika managed to reverse some of the unfavourable market effects of the crisis. Moreover, the policy response of national governments was found to have stronger favourable effects in the markets of the affected countries implying that investors likely waited for the response of the national governments before they reacted to the policy actions of the troika. The simultaneous release of news from the troika and from national governments had adverse effects on the returns and risk of the firms in the real economy sectors, suggesting that cross-news announcements conveyed negative information in the markets. Originality/value The paper provides evidence on the effects of policy-related news announcements on the development of the recent sovereign debt crisis in Europe. This issue is highly important, as it can reveal the effectiveness of the IMF’s and EU authorities’ policy interventions in affected Eurozone member states during the first major crisis in Europe since the monetary union.

scholarly journals Active labour market policy use in Luxembourg: evidence from a firm survey

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Efstathiou ◽  
Thomas Y. Mathä ◽  
Cindy Veiga ◽  
Ladislav Wintr
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Labour Market Policy ◽  
Active Labour Market Policy ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
Active Labour ◽  
European Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
Firm Survey ◽  
Economic And Financial Crisis

Abstract We analyse the use of active labour market policy (ALMP) measures by Luxembourg firms during the years of economic and financial crisis (2008–2009) and the subsequent European sovereign debt crisis (2010–2013). About 34% of Luxembourg firms used ALMPs between 2008 and 2013. Economy-wide, the use of ALMPs increased along both the extensive margin (more firms) and the intensive margin (more measures per firm). The likelihood that a firm hired with ALMPs is greater for firms that are large, multi-establishment, domestically oriented and firms facing strong demand and competition, with concerns about labour cost pressures.

The Politics of Change. Coalitional politics and labour market reforms during the sovereign debt crisis in Portugal

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
RUI BRANCO ◽  
DANIEL CARDOSO
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Market Reforms ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
Labour Market Reforms ◽  
Coalitional Politics

Abstract This article describes and explains labour market reforms in Portugal during the sovereign debt crisis from 2011 to 2014. Policy outputs were not homogenous, but differentiated between a first phase where recalibration co-existed alongside hard liberalising measures and a second phase, from late 2012, where recalibration was dropped and liberalisation further deregulated employment protection and security and eroded collective bargaining. This variation is explained by the changing coalitional politics and blame allocation underpinning policymaking under conditionality. Initial reforms resulted from a broad informal political coalition spanning the governing centre-right parties, the main opposition party, a trade union and employer confederations; its breakdown in late 2012 led to the executive’s increasing centralisation, the shut down of social concertation, and more radical policy outputs. The article shows that cooperation between government and opposition and government and social partners is possible even under external conditionality, how coalition politics affects the nature and direction of reforms, and highlights how political dynamics of blame allocation drive the process of coalition building and breakdown.

scholarly journals Public service integration in hard times: Merging unemployment benefit and labour market activation measures

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-160
Author(s):  
Stephan Köppe ◽  
Muiris MacCarthaigh
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Service Integration ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
One Stop

AbstractThe creation of Intreo as a one-stop shop for jobseekers in Ireland occurred during the financial and sovereign debt crisis period of 2010–16. The organisational merger was the product of an extensive programme of successful administrative reorganisation and service integration that deserves attention. This article begins with an overview of the policy to merge insurance-based unemployment benefit, discretionary social welfare payments and labour market activation measures, as well as the various political and institutional rationales that led to this development. Drawing on the special issue framework concerning how the interaction of ideology, institutions and interests comes into play during policy change, we consider the contextual factors that facilitated the rapid implementation of the programme and its overall successful execution. Whilst focusing on the success, we also critically point out the inhibitors in the implementation chain, some of which predated the crisis, as well as problems during the implementation process, such as delays in the national rollout and back-office supports. We identify the main contributing factors for successful implementation of a one-stop shop for activation and unemployment services as (a) a high problem pressure, (b) a small and agile implementation team, (c) changing labour relations (e.g. binding arbitration, weakened unions) and (d) a modern communication strategy.

European Economies Stability Faced With Potential Outburst of Sovereign Debt Crisis. An Empirical Study Using Neural Network

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 3255-3260
Author(s):  
Stelian Stancu ◽  
Alexandra Maria Constantin
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
European Level ◽  
Continuous Growth ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
European Economies ◽  
The Impact

Instilment, on a European level, of a state incompatible with the state of stability on a macroeconomic level and in the financial-banking system lead to continuous growth of vulnerability of European economies, situated at the verge of an outburst of sovereign debt crises. In this context, the current papers main objective is to produce a study regarding the vulnerability of European economies faced with potential outburst of sovereign debt crisis, which implies quantitative analysis of the impact of sovereign debt on the sensitivity of the European Unions economies. The paper also entails the following specific objectives: completing an introduction in the current European economic context, conceptualization of the notion of “sovereign debt crisis, presenting the methodology and obtained empirical results, as well as exposition of the conclusions.

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