Gender mainstreaming in the enlarged European Union: recent developments in the European employment strategy and Social Inclusion Process

The European Union (EU) has an explicit commitment to raise the employment rate for women and to advance gender mainstreaming (GM) and gender equality in both employment and social inclusion policies. In this article we assess developments in the latest round of National Action Plans (NAPs), with particular attention to the situations in the 10 new member states. GM continues to be patchy and inadequate, with a similarly narrow focus in both ‘old’ and ‘new’ member states. After enlargement, the greater diversity of national situations in conjunction with ongoing reforms to EU policy frameworks create new challenges for GM.     

The Eurozone and financial integration: the employment relations issues

Together the macroeconomic and financial attributes of monetary union are changing the rules governing the European economy. This paper assesses the consequences of these changes for employment relations in member states. The analysis focuses on three matters in particular. First, how labour market actors are responding to the fact that macroeconomic policies are not only out of their own control but may therefore fail to correspond to the needs of particular countries. Second, how employment relations are adapting to the new microeconomic challenges released by the move towards deeper financial integration inside the EU, which has its main impact on the structures of corporate finance and thus on corporate strategy. Finally the implications of both patterns of change for the EU employment policy are assessed to gauge the impact of monetary union on the European social model.     

Determinants of European stock market integration

We analyse the determinants of stock market integration among EU member states for the period 1999–2007. First, we apply bivariate DCC-MGARCH models to extract dynamic conditional correlations between European stock markets, which are then explained by interest rate spreads, exchange rate risk, market capitalisation, and business cycle synchronisation in a pooled OLS model. By grouping the countries into euro area countries, “old” EU member states outside the euro area, and new EU member states, we also evaluate the impact of euro introduction and the European unification process on stock market integration. We find a significant trend toward more stock market integration, which is enhanced by the size of relative and absolute market capitalisation and hindered by foreign exchange risk between old member states and the euro area. Interest rate spreads and business cycle synchronisation are also significant factors in explaining equity market integration.     

乡镇企业税收负担、利润水平与农民非农就业——基于协整分析方法

利用1978年至2009年的乡镇企业有关数据,采用协整检验方法、误差修正模型和Granger因果关系检验方法,对乡镇企业税收负担、利润水平与农民非农就业三者之间的相互关系进行实证研究,结果表明:三者之间存在显著的长期均衡关系;安置就业和税收负担在短期内影响企业盈利情况;安置就业与企业盈利在长期内互为Granger因果关系.因此,国家应综合采取税收优惠、金融支持与政府培训等政策,以提高乡镇企业盈利水平和扩大农民非农就业.     

EUROPE – HOW CAN THINGS GET BETTER?

In the 2010 Wincott Lecture, the author – a former European Commissioner – explains how the process of policy‐making within the European Union can be improved. In order to gain the full benefits of an open and integrated single market, the EU must stop interfering in areas that should properly be the responsibility of member states. However, in the context of the current economic crisis, the EU should take a greater role in financial regulation and in ensuring fiscal responsibility among members of the eurozone.     

Frontier-free Europe: a study of female migrants in the banking sector

Legislation on 'freedom of movement' guarantees the recognition of qualifications between countries of the European Union (EU), and is meant to provide migrants with access to employment in all member states. This paper reports on a study undertaken of EU migrant women in the banking sector in Britain, Germany and Spain. The discusses the experiences of migrants with regard to access to employment and positions abroad comparable to those held prior to migration. Migrants in this case experienced obstacles in the access to such employment. Although their experiences influenced by labour-market needs, findings suggest that the determining factors for barriers encountered were differences in the education and training cultures of countries pre- and post-migration, and the values and attitudes attached to these in of expectations by employers and migrants themselves.     

Enlargement and the European employment strategy: turbulent times ahead?

The European Employment Strategy (EES) is set to remain centre stage as the EU embraces ten new member states. The evidence regarding the prospects of the accession countries meeting the increasingly explicit targets that the EES has set for the years up to 2010 does not yield a favourable prognosis.     

Mapping circular economy activities in the European Union: Patterns of implementation and their correlates in small and medium‐sized enterprises

With the European Commission looking for ways to incentivize the adoption of circular economy (CE) activities by small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union (EU), further insights into the implementation of CE activities across member states are needed. We analyse a European Commission survey conducted in 2016 among approximately 11,000 firms in EU‐28 member states in order to throw light on the conditions in which SMEs engage in five specific CE activities. In contrast to previous studies arguing that CE activities are independent of each other, we present novel findings demonstrating that seven patterns of engagement in CE can be identified in which activities are systematically interdependent. Further, we show that these patterns are associated with the organizational properties of SMEs and are differentially distributed among EU member states and industrial sectors. The interdependency of activities forms a hierarchy in which waste minimization is the most likely activity to be implemented in SMEs, followed, in descending order of likelihood, by replanning of energy use, redesigning products and services, and finally using renewable energy and replanning water usage. The findings have theoretical, managerial, and policy implications for the adoption of interdependent CE activities.     

The global financial crisis: Lessons for European integration

The EU's limited fiscal capacity has proven to be the most critical constraint in responding to the global financial crisis in a coordinated manner. The EU does not have enough resources to rescue the troubled financial institutions and member states. This leads to a nationalization of rescue operations, which undermines the Single European Market and requires IMF involvement with respect to member states in distress. The EU must also complete the lacking elements of the Single European Market architecture (such as European financial supervision) and help in strengthening global policy and regulatory coordination.     

Neutral carbon tax and environmental targets in Brazil

We evaluate the effects of a carbon tax in the Brazilian economy using an input–output framework. First, we consider the impacts of a carbon tax of US$ 10 and US$ 50/metric ton of CO₂ equivalent. As usual, the adoption of the carbon tax generates adverse effects on GDP, wages and jobs in the short term, but reduces emissions and generates new government revenues, especially in the case of the greater tax. Second, we consider a broader tax system reform. In this reform, we replace distortionary taxes by a tax on value added. To compensate for the loss of government revenue, we assume a carbon tax with equivalent revenue. We find that the net effect is a GDP increase of 0.47%, the creation of 533 thousand jobs and reduction of 1.6 million tons of CO₂ emissions. Both scenarios exempt exports and levy imports to correct adverse effects on the country’s competitiveness.     

Macroeconomic effects of R&D tax credits on small and medium enterprises

Research and development (R&D) is regarded as a core factor for the long-run performance of both large enterprises (LEs) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper analyzes the economic effects of R&D tax credits by firm size. It mainly aims to compare the results of tax policies oriented towards LEs to those towards SMEs. In order to estimate the impact numerically, we use a computable general equilibrium model, which incorporates some essential characteristics of knowledge. First, we introduce a social accounting matrix that differentiates between SMEs and LEs in manufacturing industries. Then, a knowledge-based macroeconomic model estimates outcomes for policy scenarios regarding tax incentives. The results show that SMEs support more rapid growth than do LEs when the same volume of tax credits is offered to both enterprise types. We suggest that the intensity of knowledge spillovers induced by SMEs is driving this result.     

The Fading Attraction of Central Regions: an Empirical Note on Core–Periphery Gradients in Western Europe

Abstract

This paper describes sectoral core–periphery gradients across Western European regions over the period 1975–2000, and it estimates the impact of EU membership on countries’ internal geography. Overall, it is found that the centrality of European regions has been losing importance as a determinant for the location of employment. Central regions have gained employment share in none of the eight broad sectors analysed, whereas peripheral regions have significantly gained employment share in four of these sectors. Accession to the EU has favoured countries’ peripheral regions in terms of manufacturing employment and their central regions in terms of service employment.     

The Spatial Effects of Wage or Property Tax Differentials, and Local Government Choice between Tax Instruments

This paper considers the spatial effects (on wages, employment, and business capital as functions of location) of a localized differential in source-based wage tax rates or business property tax rates between (for example) a central city and the surrounding suburbs. A simple model is used in which business production uses only labor and capital inputs. Consumers have fixed residential locations but may commute to work. Wage and property tax differentials have effects that are similar in some ways but different in other ways. If given a choice, a local government would choose to set its business property tax rate equal to zero and use only a wage tax.     

Profit efficiency in the European Union banking industry: a directional technology distance function approach

We employ the directional technology distance function approach and present estimates of profit efficiency in the 25 European Union (EU) member states over the period 1998–2008. This method decomposes profit efficiency into its technical and allocative components. We investigate potential efficiency differences across the old EU region and the new EU member states, across countries and across banks of different size. Our results indicate a significant level of profit inefficiency for the EU region, which is predominantly attributed to allocative inefficiency. Our findings also suggest that banks operating in the old EU region are, on average, more profit efficient than credit institutions in the new EU member states. Overall, we observe considerable variation of efficiency scores across countries and different patterns in efficiency change over time, as well as a negative relationship between bank size and efficiency.     

Benchmarking institutional variety in the eurozone: An empirical investigation

The European debt crisis has shown that the future of the European Union (EU) depends on the willingness of each member country to implement responsible policies, avoid moral hazard and uncooperative attitudes, and ensure stability and soundness. However, the European institutional variety means that each member country reacts differently to shocks and policies, follows a different path of recovery, and adapts to common institutions, including the common currency, in different ways. Helping countries to converge toward a situation that guarantees well-being, stability, and development at the national and community level is the goal of the European benchmark. This benchmark is a framework inspired by European treaties that, through the distance-to-frontier score methodology, aims to measure member countries’ performance and identify inefficiencies and negative externalities within the economic, social, and political institutions of each member country. The paper presents an empirical investigation of the European benchmark. Based on the results obtained, all countries can improve their performance, and none of them can be considered a model for the others. However, the Mediterranean and post-communist countries have more challenges to face and therefore need to make greater efforts.     

财税政策对我国制造业创新激励的影响研究

运用面板模型对2009—2015年规模以上工业企业数据进行实证分析，考察自2006年创新型国家战略思想提出以来施行多项税收激励政策带来的创新驱动作用，研究表明：税收激励政策对企业创新存在正向激励作用。结合2018年下半年稳杠杆的经济大环境，建议依据产业特征调整我国税收政策的力度与范围，以提高税收激励政策效率，从而更好地服务于创新型国家建设。     

Is the emperor wearing new clothes? A social assessment of the European Union 2007–2013 financial framework

ABSTRACT

Over the years, European leaders have proudly waved a social flag as one of the European Union’s (EU) constituent and differentiating elements. This commitment is assessed here through the social footprint of the European 2007–2013 multiannual financial framework among the EU countries and, worldwide, using an extended multiregional input–output model. The focus is on the quantity and the quality of income and jobs generated. We find that well-known differences among its northern, southern and eastern regions threaten the EU’s intentions for high social standards, enabling first- and second-class winners. Core EU countries account for the most of the Funds and, thus, most of the positive economic and social impacts, mainly through spillovers from peripheral regions. Beyond the EU borders, Funds expenditures induce capital compensation boosts in emerging countries not balanced by a similar labor compensation impulse. Indeed, China captures the bulk of low-skilled and temporary employment.     

Living flexibly? How Europe's science researchers manage mobility,fixed-term employment and life outside work

This paper draws from interviews with mobile science researchers to explore experiences of mobility and fixed-term employment in the EU. The paper takes a socio-legal approach, aiming to understand the contribution of EU law and policy to the resource framework within which career decisions are made. The high incidence of fixed-term employment and the expectation of geographic mobility in science labour markets has made science researchers very ‘flexible’ employees and, arguably, model EU citizens. But how are these factors managed in the context of every-day life? Developing sound empirical evidence of how individuals experience mobility and fixed-term employment could lead to more sensitive and effective policy making. This is particularly pertinent as human resource issues in science research have become central to achieving the EU's overarching strategies for growth and jobs (the Lisbon Strategy and Europe 2020). A range of policies designed to increase the mobility of researchers and to manage the use of fixed-term contracts have been put in place. This paper draws on empirical evidence to inform our understandings of these developing areas of law and policy in the EU.     

DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL SOCIAL ACCOUNTING MATRICES WITH DETAILED AGRICULTURAL LAND RENT DATA AND IMPROVED VALUE-ADDED COMPONENTS FOR THE USA

We describe a method for creating social accounting matrices (SAMs) with detailed agricultural land rent data for any arbitrary subset of the 48 contiguous states in the USA. Data on land use and land rents from various public sources is merged with national accounts data. The method reorganizes the rental income of persons concept present in national accounts to payments to conventional primary factors of production. This method also reallocates portions of the indirect business tax account to the appropriate sales and import tax accounts. SAMs created using this method should be useful inputs into input–output or computable general equilibrium models explicitly representing a heterogeneous land market and analyzing the economic effects of agricultural, bioenergy, water and climate policies on land-use change, land rents, agricultural commodity markets, trade and households’ welfare. The method's implementation is freely available, enabling others to rapidly create SAMs with their own desired region and sector aggregations.     

How to close the gender pay gap in Europe: towards the gender mainstreaming of pay policy

The European Employment Strategy includes a new commitment to a substantial reduction in the gender pay gap in European Union (EU) member states, but progress requires a radical shift away from the traditional policy emphasis on the supply‐side deficiencies of women compared with men. Mainstream theory argues that gender inequality is reduced once the pay gap is ‘adjusted’ for differences in individual characteristics (education, experience, etc.). But new empirical studies in many EU member states demonstrate that the work environment—the general wage structure, job and workplace characteristics—shapes gender pay inequality. Given the negative gender impact of trend declines in minimum wages, moves towards more decentralisation of wage‐setting and public sector restructuring, the article argues for a holistic, gender mainstreaming approach to pay policy.