Greece in the Eurozone: Lessons from a decade of experience

This study examines Greece's experience as a member of the Eurozone over the period 2002 to 2011. In evaluating the Greek experience within the Eurozone, we derive the following fundamental policy lessons that apply both to similar small peripheral EU countries that plan to enter the Eurozone, or any other economic union, and to the Eurozone itself in terms of facilitating their integration in a large monetary union. First, countries with inefficient public systems must re-engineer and restructure the decision making process in the public sector before they become members of an economic union. Second, countries must generate a friendly environment toward business and provide (a) a simple, stable tax system, (b) an effective and efficient justice system, and (c) a high quality educational system. Third, the living standards of the people are determined by the productivity and competitiveness of the economy and not by an inefficient and overspending public sector. Fourth, structural funds should be used to improve the competitiveness of the economy, not serve the political clientele of the party in power. Fifth, the admission requirements to an economic union must be strict and these requirements must be enforced. Sixth, capital market investors must always differentiate default risk within the country-members of a monetary union.     

Union status of young men in Britain: a decade of change

Previous empirical studies of individual union status in Britain have been cross‐sectional. In contrast, we use longitudinal data from the National Child Development Study, to estimate the determinants of male trade union membership over the period 1981–1991. As suggested by union theories, we find that it is important to control for unobserved individual heterogeneity, and our preferred model allows for correlation of individual heterogeneity with observable variables. Our estimates reveal that the observed decline in very large workplaces, and the contraction of the public sector, explain about one third of the predicted decline in union membership over the period. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ripping off Aunt Agatha: a decade of the Financial Services Act

The new Financial Services Authority will put the public interest first. These were the words of the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, when announcing that the Financial Services Act 1988 was to be overhauled and self regulation was to be abandoned. This paper argues that the regime put in place by the Act in 1988, has manifestly failed to deliver the protection that was promised to 'Aunt Agatha.' It argues that regulatory failure is ubiquitous and that the cause of this failure is that regulatory agencies are invariably captured by the people that they are supposed to be regulating. Finally, it presents an alternative to state regulation, by highlighting the considerable protections offered by the common law, by self regulation and, most importantly by a free, competitive and open market.     

European congresses of accounting: a review of their history

The history and scientific development of many professions can be studied from the evidence of their annual or occasional conventions. Typically professions originated in major towns and were brought together nationally through state recognition. Subsequently and especially in the twentieth century, international links and co-ordinating professional bodies have been founded.

The accountancy profession has gone through these stages. The processes for national recognition and for statutory powers have been well studied. Less attention has been given, however, to the agendas and effectiveness of accountants' congresses at national, European and international level. Evidence has been available on an American conference in 1904; and this has been declared the first of a series of international accounting congresses which continues today. More frequent and more international congresses based in Europe (and in Brussels in particular) deserve attention now, such as has been denied them for some fifty years.

The present review is based largely on secondary sources; but it shows the aims of European conferences, which were often occasioned by international expositions, and which evolved from the qualified success of national accountants' conventions. The achievements of congresses are also discussed, in relation to agendas which reveal contrasting expectancies from state intervention and an inverse defence of professional freedoms. The views expressed by accountants differ according to their country of origin and to changing economic climates and conflicting political views. Continental European accountants rather often betray some envy of the state recognition and protection accorded to British chartered accountants.     

Research into product costing practice: a European perspective

The period 2007–2010 marked one of the most severe economic and financial crises in living memory. In this paper, we focus on two of accounting's key functions within organisations and markets, financial reporting and governance. In this respect, we find that accounting exhibited shortcomings in its structural foundation and in its application. Salient is its failure to account for uncertainty and to adequately capture, measure and disclose the impact of risk-taking on the financial statements, thus undermining their reliability and, potentially, their relevance as indicators of economic performance. Consequently, boards were provided with misleading numbers, and compensation was based on paper profits that did not materialise. As such, accounting carried undesirable elements that interacted with other malicious market characteristics such as excessive risk-taking by bankers, and failure in regulatory and market oversight, thus potentially contributing to deteriorating economic conditions. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research in this area.

Guns don't kill people, but they sure help. (Exchange between Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti, Shoot 'Em Up, 2007)     

Maastricht: a fundamental change in European labour law

The Maastricht Treaty's Protocol on Social Policy provides a new framework for participation of labour and management in the formulation and application of labour law at national and Community levels. Following the Charter of Fundamental Social Rights of Workers, it marks a fundamental change of direction in European labour law     

Accounting and capital markets: a survey of the European evidence

The relationship between accounting information and capital markets has been the subject of numerous studies, especially in the US. The purpose of this article is to examine the corresponding evidence in Europe. This review classifies the European literature into three groups: studies of the market reaction to newly released accounting information; studies of the long-term association between stock returns and accounting numbers; studies devoted to the use of accounting data by investors and to the impact of market pressure on accounting choices. The paper reviews and summarizes the main results related to each of these topics. It also addresses some methodological issues and provides suggestions for future research.     

Social dialogues—the state of the art a decade after Maastricht

The article asks whether social dialogues, according the procedures of the Social Protocol and the Amsterdam Treaty, have proved to be valuable instruments able to make major contributions to the development of social integration. More recent developments at the inter‐professional as well as at the sectoral level are evaluated. Furthermore, major trajectories for likely future trends at both levels are highlighted. The final part discusses the problem of whether social dialogues will profit from the introduction of new modes of governance, especially the more recently preferred open method of co‐ordination.     

The emergence of the Euro-company: towards a European industrial relations?

The growth of European-scale companies represents a further centralisation of management organisation in large enterprises. But processes of decentralisation are also evident. Implications of these opposing trends for labour relations are unclear. Taking account of differences between national systems, the article considers two paths that management approaches could follow.     

Inequality and Growth in European Regions: Towards a Place-based Approach

Abstract

Does agglomeration matter for growth? This paper addresses this question by evaluating the impact that intra-regional income distribution has on regional growth in Europe. By using a spatially augmented Solow growth model, we investigate the convergence process among 188 EU regions between 1991 and 2004 and extend the traditional growth models to account for the impact of regional inequality on growth, as well as the effects of interaction among regions. Our assumption is that existing levels of inequality between sub-regional territorial units could positively contribute to regional economic growth in Europe, through the positive effects generated by the emergence of agglomeration economies. Our results show that while we cannot find any overall significant relationship in Europe between agglomeration and growth, once we distinguish between Objective 1 and Non-objective 1 regions we are able to find that agglomeration positively impacts subsequent growth, but only in the less developed regions.     

Industrial relations in the next decade

Here the authors discuss current trends in British industrial relations and their likelihood of continuing. The central question is that of the probable consequences for management and unions of the sustained rise in unemployment.