It’s more complicated than that!: Unpacking ‘Left Behind Britain’ and some other spatial tropes following the UK’s 2016 EU referendum

an article by Alexander Nurse and Olivier Sykes (University of Liverpool, UK) published in Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit Volume 34 Issue 6 (September 2019)

Abstract

In the aftermath of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, a number of dominant narratives and spatial imaginaries of ‘Brexit’ have come to the fore including the notion of a revolt of a ‘Left Behind Britain’, and of a generational splintering manifested in different political attitudes.

Informed by this context, this paper considers some of these issues at the micro-scale, using voting data from two contiguous local authority districts within the same city region. It presents data from wards that have similar socio-economic conditions and which are highly ranked in the Index of Multiple Deprivation but which voted differently in the referendum.

The data reinforce the arguments of those who have claimed that the phenomenon of Brexit is powerfully contextual and that general socio-economic analyses of its causes do not fully explain why some areas and populations voted to leave the EU and others with comparable profiles voted to remain.

With poorer regions predicted to be the biggest economic losers of ‘Brexit’, an understanding of such issues is of material consequence and might inform progressive responses to such populist phenomena.

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Before Landing: How Do New European Emigrants Prepare Their Departure and Imagine Their Destinations?

an article by Diego Coletto and Giovanna Fullin (University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy) published in Social Inclusion Volume 7 Number 4 (2019)

Abstract

In migration studies, the preparation for the departure of people who decide to migrate has seldom been addressed as a distinct topic.

This article aims at investigating how European migrants who moved or plan to move to another European country prepare their departure.

It analyses stories of migrants who move from Italy, Spain, Romania, and Bulgaria. More specifically, attention is focused on departure preparation in order to investigate what migrants do before they depart and how the free mobility of work is perceived by Europeans and applied to their migration plans.

Different from general statements about European integration and belonging or about obstacles to intra-EU mobility, the analysis of what individuals do in order to get ready to leave their country of origin provides a very realistic idea of how people perceive European Union and the mobility within it.

Full text (PDF 10pp)

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Ten years after: the ‘success story’ of the European qualifications framework

an article by Sandra Bohlinger (Technische Universitaet Dresden, Germany) published in Journal of Education and Work Volume 32 Issue 4 (2019)

Abstract

Launched in 2008 as a ‘Common Reference Framework’ including eight levels of learning and three descriptors that aimed at providing a ‘translation grid’ between national qualifications, the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) aims at numerous educational reforms such as promoting the learning outcomes orientation, transparency of qualifications and fostering mobility across national borders, employment sectors and educational sectors.

More than 10 years after, it is time to re-address these expectations and to question whether and, if so, in which ways the EQF has actually provided an impetus for the numerous reforms that were expected to be initiated by implementing it.

Reviewing policy documents, evaluation results and research on the EQF and therewith-linked national qualifications frameworks, there is little evidence that the EQF solved the challenges it was developed for.

Instead, findings suggest that it might be time to de-mystify qualifications frameworks as a panacea and reveal it as a paradigmatic case of travelling educational reforms around the globe that results in institutional isomorphism.

I looked up isomorphism and freely admit that I am somewhat confused as to it’s use here. I think it means that the more institutions follow the framework the more they become similar to each other.
Does that not, therefore, make mobility across national borders easier?

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Unequal unions? A comparative decomposition of income inequality in the European Union and United States

an article by Stefano Filauro (European Commission, Belgium; Sapienza University of Rome, Italy) and Zachary Parolin (University of Antwerp, Belgium) published in Journal of European Social Policy Volume 29 Issue 4 (October 2019)

Abstract

This study applies improved household income data to measure and decompose trends in pan-European income inequality from 2006 to 2014. To contrast the relative significance of economic homogeneity versus the efficacy of welfare state and labour market institutions in shaping income distributions, we compare the structure of inequality in the 28 Member States of the European Union (EU-28) to that of the 50 United States.

This comparison stands in contrast to the standard practice of evaluating the United States against individual EU Member States.

Despite the greater relative heterogeneity of the EU-28 and our corrections for the under-reporting of household income in the United States, post-fisc income inequality in the EU-28 remains lower than that of the United States from 2006 onward. Moreover, inequality appears to be rising in the United States, while it has remained stagnant since 2008 in the EU-28. In both unions, and particularly the United States, within-state income differences contribute more to union-wide inequality than between-state differences.

In a counterfactual analysis, we find that if the EU-28 matched the between-state homogeneity of the United States, but maintained its relative within-country inequalities, pan-European inequality would fall by only 20 percent.

Conversely, inequality in the United States would fall by 34 percent if it matched the within-country inequality of the EU-28.

Our findings suggest that the strengthening of egalitarian institutions within the 28 Member States is more consequential than economic convergence in reducing pan-European income inequality. We highlight institutional challenges towards achieving a ‘more equal’ Europe and discuss implications for future EU policy-making.

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Measuring regional social inclusion performances in the EU: Looking for unity in diversity

an article by Nicky Rogge and Ryan Self (KU Leuven, Belgium) published in Journal of European Social Policy Volume 29 Issue 3 (July 2019)

Abstract

This study measures and benchmarks regional social inclusion performances in Europe using a composite index constructed on the basis of the commonly agreed sub-indicators of the Europe 2020 headline indicators. The multidimensional nature of these issues and the disparate social policy priorities of nations/regions in addressing them call for a reconciliatory performance evaluation framework, for which this article advocates the use of benefit-of-the-doubt (BoD) weighting.

Based on the composite scores, leading and lagging regions in social inclusion are identified and the impact of regional contextual characteristics is examined.

Overall results show that regions of Denmark and Sweden are consistently strong performers, while the Continental regions of Italy and Spain typically perform poorly.

As to the poverty and social exclusion determinants, results show that low educational attainment and a high percentage of single-parent households relate negatively to regional social inclusion.

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Migration aspirations and migration cultures: A case study of Ukrainian migration towards the European Union

an article by Christof Van Mol (Tilburg University,The Netherlands / Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, The Hague / Universiteit Antwerpen, Belgium), Erik Snel (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (EUR), The Netherlands), Kenneth Hemmerechts (Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium) and Christiane Timmerman (Universiteit Antwerpen, Belgium)  published in Population, Space and Place Volume 24 Issue 5 (July 2018)

Abstract

An abundant body of research focused on macrolevel, mesolevel, and microlevel factors explaining why individuals move across international borders.

In this paper, we aim to complement the existing literature by exploring how, within a single country, mesolevel factors differently impact migration aspirations, focusing on a case study of Ukraine. We particularly focus on how migration aspirations of individuals in two different regions can be explained by their international social networks with family members, on the one hand, and with friends, on the other.

Furthermore, we explore whether regional migration characteristics play a role, as well as the interaction of such characteristics with individuals' frequency of contact with transnational networks.

Our analyses are based on the EUMAGINE project and suggest that the interplay between regional migration characteristics and transnational social contact are key for explaining the decline of migration systems over time.

Full text (PDF 11pp)

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The establishing of a European industrial relations system: Still under construction or chasing a chimera?

an article by Sergio González Begega and Mona Aranea (University of Oviedo, Spain) published in Employee Relations Volume 40 Issue 4 (2018)

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine European Union (EU) industrial relations in their development over time. It describes and analyzes their main constituent parts, which are deployed along four interlinked institutional dimensions: tripartite concertation; cross-industry social dialogue; sectoral social dialogue; and employee representation and negotiation at the transnational company level. The focus lies strictly on the emerging EU layer of industrial relations, which is common to the different Member States and not on comparative European industrial relations.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper is conceptual in nature. It considers the differences and mutually interdependent legal and political processes, policies and institutions between EU industrial relations and national industrial relations.

Findings
The findings substantiate that EU industrial relations constitute an incomplete but perfectly traceable transnational reality distinct from industrial relations in the Member States. EU industrial relations are not to supersede but to supplement national industrial relations. Neither the EU institutional framework nor the European social partners have the mandate, legitimation or desire to perform a more ambitious role.

Research limitations/implications
More empirically oriented research would further support the findings in the paper.

Originality/value
The paper presents a conceptual review based on a comprehensive and critical reading of the literature on EU industrial relations. It also puts labor strategies at the forefront of the analysis in corporate relocation.

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Resolving the ‘Highland Problem’: The Highlands and Islands of Scotland and the European Union

an article by Katie Louise McCullough (Simon Fraser University, Canada) published in Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit Volume 33 issue 4 (June 2018)

Abstract

Popular perception has historically constructed the Highlands and Islands of Scotland to be economically and socially backwards in comparison with the rest of the United Kingdom. As evoked in the phrase the ‘Highland Problem’, the area has been considered by outsiders to be beyond help and destined to remain in a state of underdevelopment and chronic depopulation.

Despite the history of economic intervention in the area from the late 18th century onwards from private and government initiatives intended to alleviate poverty and bring wealth to the area, it was not until the 1980s with the implementation of sustained and tailored structural assistance from the European Union that emigration slowed and the population of the Highlands and Islands began to grow significantly. This economic success has largely been the result of not only a significant injection of capital but also the willingness of the EU to use local knowledge and collaborate with local agencies.

This remarkable development, which is far from over, is being directly threatened by the Brexit phenomenon.

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Same material different recycling standards: comparing the municipal solid waste standards of the European Union, South Korea and the USA

an article by Seejeen Park (KwangWoon University, Seoul, South Korea) and T.J. Lah (Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea) published in International Journal of Environment and Waste Management Volume 21 Number 1 (2018)

Abstract

Extant comparative research in municipal solid waste (MSW) management has conducted analyses across multiple countries and regions in an attempt to identify successful MSW management practices and increase MSW recycling.

Furthermore, international organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have published annual reports discussing the status quo of MSW management and recycling practices in their member countries. As the characterisation of waste and recyclables varies across nations, comparability problems can occur.

Nonetheless, extant research has not yet conducted a national-level comparison of MSW characterisation and calculation methods across multiple countries.

The current study attempts to fill this gap by investigating the variations in MSW definitions and calculation standards in the European Union (EU), South Korea and the USA The findings indicate that recycling performance fluctuates significantly depending on which standard is adopted.

South Korea is found to use the most conservative standards, yet its recycling rate is the highest regardless of which standard is applied.

Future directions and implications for both research and practice are discussed.

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The anti-European tradition of Europe

an article by Andrei Pleșu published in Eurozine 5/2018

North and South, East and West, centre and periphery – the dichotomies with which Europe’s constitution is riven have profound cultural-historical roots. Particularly the schism between the Byzantine and Graeco-Roman cultures is a persistent source of friction, writes the renowned Romanian art historian and philosopher Andrei Pleșu.

Allow me to begin with a personal recollection. In the first half of 1998, I took part in a meeting of the Council of the European Union. At the time, the presidency of the Council was held by the United Kingdom, represented by Foreign Secretary Robin Cook. The other participants were the foreign ministers of EU countries and prospective members. With the exception of Bronislaw Geremek, everybody spoke in English during the meeting. To me, Romania’s foreign minister at the time, it seemed polite to speak the language of the meeting’s chairman, Robin Cook.

But, during a break, my French counterpart, Hubert Védrine, took me aside and said, in a friendly but rather perplexed tone: ‘I thought Romania was a Francophone country. Why did you choose to speak in English?’

So, after that brief conversation, at the working lunch that followed, I delivered my contribution in French. Romania was then endeavouring to become a member of the European Union and wanted to show it was co-operating with all its potential future partners. However, after lunch, Cook approached me. ‘This morning you spoke in English. Why did you suddenly switch to French?’

Continue reading

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Liability of Online Service Providers for Copyright Protected Content – Regulatory Action Needed?

a post by Jan Bernd Nordemann (Boehmert & Boehmert) for the Kluwer Copyright Blog

In an in-depth analysis for the European Parliament, the author has looked at liability of online service providers with regard to infringements concerning copyright protected content. In particular, the paper tries to answer the question of whether regulatory action is needed in relation to the liability of online service providers for copyright protected content.

The full paper may be downloaded here (PDF 30pp in English).

Summary

• The liability privileges in Articles 12 to 15 E-Commerce Directive can remain unchanged; they seem to be sufficiently flexible to adopt to new business models, which also makes them, in general, future-proof.
• These privileges do not, however, establish liability.
• With regard to injunction claims, Article 8(3) Copyright Directive provides for a satisfactory pan-EU solution.
• EU rules establishing liability beyond injunctions (e.g. damages) should be harmonised to incorporate the requirements of (1) sufficient intervention by the internet provider; and (2) breach of an adequate duty of care by the internet provider.

The study comes to the following conclusions:

1. Articles 12 to 15 E-Commerce-Directive

The first part of the analysis is dedicated to the assessment of the necessity of a reform of the liability privileges in the E-Commerce Directive. Although Articles 12 to 15 E-Commerce Directive are more than 15 years old, there seems to be no pressing need for a reform. The provisions seem to be sufficiently flexible to adopt to new business models, which also makes them, in general, future-proof. Of course, certain legal questions arising with regard to Articles 12 to 15 E-Commerce Directive have not yet been finally answered by the CJEU. But such open legal questions do not in themselves justify a reform, as it can be expected that the case law will answer the questions in a way that adequately respects the different rights and interest at stake.
• Hosting providers (Article 14 E-Commerce Directive)
  While false hosting providers (Article 14 E-Commerce-Directive) may have emerged as a new category of hosting providers, not envisaged at the time of the adoption of the E-Commerce Directive in 2000, the E-Commerce Directive has proven fit to treat the issue adequately. The delineation between passive service providers caught by Article 14 and active role providers remains an issue for the Court, without it being necessary to change the article.
  In relation to insufficiently collaborative hosting providers, running a dangerous business model which fosters infringements, the case law still has to find final answers as to whether, and to what extent, such hosting providers should profit from the liability privilege. But the concept and wording of Article 14 E-Commerce Directive seems to be sufficiently flexible to allow an adequate case by case result in such scenarios. No change of Article 14 E-Commerce Directive is deemed necessary.
• Access providers (Article 12 E-Commerce Directive)
  Concerning access providers, there seems to be no need to change the liability privilege of Article 12 E-Commerce Directive. Upstream providers, which operate at the borderline between access and hosting providers, may be adequately treated by the liability privilege.
• Cache Providers (Article 13 E-Commerce Directive)
  The liability privilege for caching providers (Article 13 E-Commerce-Directive) lacks practical importance. Therefore, there is no pressing need to change it.
• Linking Providers
  Linking providers, and more particularly search engines, are important players on the internet, and in principle deserve regulatory attention. So far, it has only been clarified by the CJEU that search engines may enjoy the liability privilege of Article 14 E-Commerce Directive in as far as they provide links against remuneration for advertising purposes. It can be expected that the CJEU will clarify in the near future whether Article 14 also applies to editorial links provided by search engines. As the Court has developed a flexible system of adequate duties of care to establish liability of linking providers in case of links to illegal content, there seems to be no need, however, to further refine the liability privileges of the E-Commerce Directive to linking providers. The system of duties of care seems to be sufficiently flexible to provide for just results in all different linking scenarios.
• Prohibition on imposing general monitoring duties (Article 15 E-Commerce Directive)
  On the prohibition on imposing general monitoring duties (Article 15 E-Commerce Directive) the CJEU case law is abundant. But it still lacks a final word from the Court with regard to such an important question as the delineation between general monitoring obligations (prohibited by Article 15 E-Commerce Directive) and specific monitoring duties, which may be imposed on providers, in particular to prevent infringements notified.
  But as Article 15 E-Commerce Directive, pursuant to the CJEU case law, is strongly dominated by a balancing of fundamental rights, it can be expected that any solution provided by case law will respect all relevant interests in an appropriate way. No legislative action seems to be necessary concerning Article 15 E-Commerce Directive.
  
  
2. Need for pan-EU Liability rules
   
   The second part of the paper analyses the existence of a need for pan-EU liability rules. The EU legal framework provides for harmonised law concerning liability privileges in Articles 12 to 15 E-Commerce-Directive. They do not, however, establish liability. The EU system does not seem particularly developed yet so far as rules to establish liability are concerned.
   
   
   • Injunction claims (Article 8 (3) Copyright Directive)
     With regard to injunction claims, Article 8(3) Copyright Directive provides for a flexible and satisfactory solution with regard to internet providers.
   • Damages Claims: New CJEU case law
     With regard to other claims, in particular damages claims, EU law only provides for a harmonised answer in cases of primary infringement, i.e. unauthorised use of the harmonised exploitation rights in copyright. For the (secondary) liability of other persons, until now different national secondary liability concepts have applied, which may lead to different results from member state to member state. This is unsatisfactory against the background of European harmonisation; in particular, this does not create a level playing field, e.g. for damages claims for right holders in the EU. But there is a development from CJEU case law which may harmonise secondary liability within the primary liability rules of EU law, in the series of judgments in GS Media/Sanoma, Filmspeler and BREIN/Ziggo.
   
   
3. Proposal for pan-EU liability rules
   
   The last part of the paper consists of a proposal for a copyright sector specific regulation of liability. The liability of internet providers for damages would typically be seen as a form of secondary liability. Nevertheless, the CJEU is already starting to develop such an EU liability rule within the harmonised field of primary liability. Further development in Luxembourg at the CJEU could be awaited. Or the legislator could also take the initiative, but any such legislative initiative should go in the same direction as the CJEU: EU rules establishing liability beyond injunctions, and in particular establishing liability for damages, should require
• (1) a sufficient intervention by the internet provider; and
• (2) a breach of an adequate duty of care by the internet provider.

Hazel’s comment
I have done my best to replicate the format from the original post in order to make the Summary more readable.
It is complex law which I presume Britain will need to take into account once we have left the EU.

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Democratic legitimacy in regional economic organizations: the European Union in comparative perspective

an article by Francesca Duina (Bates College, Lewiston, ME, USA) and Tobias Lenz (University of Goettingen, Germany published in Economy and Society Volume 46 Issue 3-4 (2017)

Abstract

Regional organizations have been widely criticized for lacking democratic legitimacy, but these criticisms have been rather ad hoc, concerned with single case studies and reliant on unclear standards or metrics.
Are all organizations similarly deficient?
And how does the European Union (EU), the target par excellence of the criticisms, fare in comparative perspective?

In this paper, we take a first step towards answering these questions by leveraging the rich debate on the EU to identify several institutional dimensions of democratic legitimacy and operationalizing them for comparative analysis. We then investigate the most important regional economic organizations (REOs) in the world.

Our findings are three-fold:

1. there is systematic variation across REOs, with a group doing rather well, one mixed, and one poorly;
2. procedural dimensions fare better than those related to representation or local self-determination;
3. no organization exhibits or lacks legitimacy in all dimensions.

These results qualify the perception that democratic legitimacy deficits are indiscriminately pervasive and indicate that the EU belongs to the most democratically legitimate group.

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Evaluating the prevalence of employees without written terms of employment in the European Union

an article by Colin C. Williams (University of Sheffield, UK) and Aysegul Kayaoglu (Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Turkey) published in Employee Relations Volume 39 Issue 4 (2017)

Abstract

Purpose
Until now, there has been scant evidence on the proportion and characteristics of employees working without a written contract or terms of employment. To begin to fill this gap, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the prevalence and distribution of employees without written contracts or terms of employment in the European Union (EU), examining whether they are unevenly distributed across countries and EU regions, and whether it is vulnerable population groups who are more likely to be without such written contracts.

Design/methodology/approach
A 2013 Eurobarometer survey comprising 11,025 face-to-face interviews with employees in the 28 member states of the EU (EU-28) is reported.

Findings
The finding is that it is less socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics, and more firm size, institutional environment and spatial factors that are important in explaining the prevalence of employment without a written contract. Thus, governments should address not individuals but rather the formal institutional failings and asymmetry between civic and state morality, in order to reduce the level of employment without a written contract, and focus their attention on smaller firms, larger towns and Southern European countries, especially Cyprus, Malta and Portugal.

Research limitations/implications
Future research needs to evaluate whether and how the conditions of employment (e.g. wage rates, health and safety conditions, holiday entitlements) of employees without written contracts or terms of employment differ to their equivalents who have written contracts or terms of employment. This will reveal the implications of workers not being issued with written contracts or terms of employment.

Originality/value
This is one of the first extensive evaluations of the prevalence and distribution of employees without written contracts or terms of employment.

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Labour Market Policy under Conditions of Permanent Austerity: Any Sign of Social Investment?

an article by Mattias Bengtsson and Kerstin Jacobsson (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) and Caroline de la Porte (Copenhagen Business School, Denmark) published in Social Policy & Administration Volume 51 Issue 2 (March 2017)

Abstract

Social investment (SI) is part of a strategy to modernise the European welfare states by focusing on human resource development throughout the life-course, while ensuring financial sustainability. Recognising that this strategy was only partially implemented by the EU member states prior to the financial and Eurozone crises, this article investigates whether reforms and expenditure patterns in labour market policy (LMP) have moved more towards or away from SI following the 2008 financial crisis.

We use quantitative and qualitative data to investigate the degree to which there have been shifts in the SI aspects of LMPs in eight countries across four welfare state regimes. We also investigate which aspects of LMPs have been strengthened and which have been weakened, enabling us to make a nuanced assessment of labour market SIs across the EU in a period of permanent austerity.

We find that although the eight countries under examination have different starting points, there is little evidence of increased SI-orientation of LMPs. Upskilling, which is at the heart of SI, did not increase from 2004–08 to 2009–13, while incentive reinforcement and employment assistance – more about labour market entry and marketing of skills – grew in importance.

If this trend continues across Europe, there is a risk that SI will become lost in translation and end up as a clearer neo-liberal version of workfarism.

Full text (HTML)

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Labour mobility and labour market adjustment in the EU

an article by Alfonso Arpaia (Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission, Brussels) and Aron Kiss, Balazs Palvolgyi and Alessandro Turrini (Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission, Brussels) published in IZA Journal of Migration Volume 5 Article 21 (2016)

Abstract

This paper assesses the role of labour mobility in the adjustment to asymmetric economic shocks in the EU.

After presenting a series of stylised facts of mobility in the EU, it assesses mobility as a channel of economic adjustment by means of a vector autoregression (VAR) analysis in the vein of Blanchard and Katz (BPEA 1:1–75, 1992).

Results indicate that, over the period 1970–2013, mobility absorbed about a quarter of an asymmetric shock within 1 year. Movements in response to shocks have almost doubled since the introduction of the euro. In contrast to previous papers on the labour market adjustment in the EU, the response of wages is integrated to the analysis.

It is found that real wages have also become more responsive to asymmetric shocks.

JEL Classification: J61, J64

Full text (HTML) PDF also available

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Fuel poverty in the European Union: a concept in need of definition?

an article by Harriet Thomson (The University of York, Heslington, York, UK) and Carolyn Snell and Christine Liddell (affiliations unknown) published in People, Place and Policy Volume 10 Issue 1 (April 2016)

Abstract

The European Commission has stated that it does not support a European definition of fuel poverty, and that a common definition would be inappropriate due to the diverse energy contexts found across the European Union. Using official EU policy documents from 2001 to 2014, this paper will demonstrate that contrary to the European Commission’s stance, many of the EU institutions and consultative committees are in favour of a common European definition of fuel poverty, and have been arguing for the establishment of a definition for at least seven years.

This paper will argue that a definition is vital for raising the profile of fuel poverty and ensuring it is recognised as a policy issue by all Member States of the EU, particularly at a time of rising energy prices, stagnating wages and growing concerns about energy security and climate change.

Full article

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Unemployment benefits and immigration: evidence from the EU

an article by Corrado Giulietti, Martin Guzi and Klaus F. Zimmermann (IZA – Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany) and Martin Kahanec (Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, IZA – Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany and CELSI – Central European Labour Studies Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia) published in International Journal of Manpower Volume 34 Issue 1 (2013)

Abstract

Purpose
Economic theory predicts that unemployment benefits may increase expected income and reduce its volatility, thereby attracting immigrants to countries which implement such programs. This article aims to explore whether and how changes in countries’ unemployment benefit spending (UBS) affect immigration.

Design/methodology/approach
Data are collected for 19 European countries over the period 1993-2008. The relationship between immigration flows and UBS is first tested using the OLS technique. Instrumental variable (IV) and generalised method of moments (GMM) are then used to address reverse causality.

Findings
While the OLS estimates suggest the existence of a moderate within-country welfare magnet effect for the inflows of non-EU immigrants, the IV approach reveals that the impact is substantially smaller and statistically insignificant when GMM techniques are implemented.

Research limitations/implications
Since information on the immigrants’ country of origin is not available, it is not possible to exclude that for immigrants coming from certain areas, unemployment benefits constitute a strong incentive to immigrate. This hypothesis awaits further research, once detailed data is available.

Originality/value
This paper complements previous literature on immigration and welfare by exploring the endogenous nature of welfare spending. The empirical results provide insights into the interaction between immigration and welfare policies.

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Unemployment and Spell Duration during the Great Recession in the EU

Working Paper: 12/05 by Carlos Gradín, Olga Cantó and Coral del Río (Universidade de Vigo) published in September 2012

Abstract

The current economic recession has had unequal consequences on employment depending on the country considered. It is generally accepted that the negative impact of unemployment on individual welfare can be very different depending on its duration.

However, conventional statistics on unemployment do not adequately capture to what extent the recession is not only increasing the incidence of unemployment but also its severity in terms of duration in time of ongoing unemployment spells.

In this paper, we follow Shorrocks’s (2009a,b) proposal of a duration-sensitive measure of unemployment in order to analyse the different dynamic characteristics of unemployment in a selected group of European Union countries during the current Great Recession. Our results add some evidence on the relevance of incorporating the duration dimension in measuring unemployment and provide a tool for dynamic analysis based on cross-sectional data.

JEL Classification: D30, D63, I31, J64

Full text (PDF 26pp)

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Digital divide across the European Union

an article by Frederico Cruz-Jesus, Tiago Oliveira and Fernando Bacao (ISEGI, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal) published in Information & Management Volume 49 Issue 6 (October 2012)

Abstract

Our research analyses the digital divide within the European Union 27 between the years of 2008 and 2010.

To accomplish this we use multivariate statistical methods, more specifically factor and cluster analysis, to address the European digital disparities. Our results lead to an identification of two latent dimensions and five groups of countries.

We conclude that a digital gap does, in fact, exist within the European Union. The process of European integration and the economic wealth emerge as explanatory factors for this divide. On the other hand, the educational attendance is not proven to be significant, as one would expect.

Figures and tables from this article [which are very informative to my visual brain (and attractive)]

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Towards a European labour market? Trade unions and flexicurity in France and Britain

an article by Susan Milner (University of Bath) published in European Journal of Industrial Relations Volume 18 Number 3 (September 2012)

Abstract

The flexicurity approach to labour market policy may offer advantages for trade unions but also poses challenges, given their weak situation in policy formulation at EU level and in many member states.

This article explores unions’ capacity to mobilise around flexicurity issues and to influence policy debates and outcomes in two member states.

In the UK, flexicurity has low political salience and unions have little capacity for mobilisation or influence, although they have linked flexicurity to campaigns on agency workers and restructuring.

In France, unions have developed alternative proposals on making employment pathways secure and have succeeded in shifting debate towards these proposals rather than the Commission’s flexicurity recommendations, although differences with the positions of employers and the state have limited outcomes to date.

EU policies provide only weak leverage, since trade unions’ ability to influence labour market policy depends on their position within domestic institutions.

Related post
Flexicurity under the spotlight

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