The economy of Portugal within the European Union: 1990–2002

This article analyzes the impact of the EU on Portugal’s economy, how the EU rules and regulations have affected the country’s policy-making style, and the impact of EU’s transfer of resources. It shows that Portugal has greatly benefitted from joining the EU: the rapid exposure to foreign competition has forced modernization of many sectors; there was a retreat of the state from direct involvement in economic activities and the creation of a number of new export-oriented sectors, and EU transfers were effectively applied in modernizing the country’s infrastructure. However, increased productivity has not improved equity from both an income distribution point of view and from regional income concentration.     

Tackling Social Exclusion in the European Union? The Limits to the New Orthodoxy of Local Partnership

This article is based on recent transnational research on partnership‐based initiatives to promote local development and regeneration and combat social exclusion in the EU. The increasing reliance on partnership as the basis for local policy initiatives is first situated in the context of contemporary debates about social exclusion. The main part of the article then draws on the literatures on local governance and urban regime theory to examine three issues critical to the impact of the ‘new orthodoxy’ of local partnership: the capacity of partnerships as interorganizational forms of local governance; their inclusiveness; and the extent of outcomes which can be attributed to partnership as a distinctive mode of local governance. On all three issues, the evidence points to the limited claims that can be made for most local partnerships as ‘inclusion coalitions’ capable of effectively tackling social exclusion, and suggests that structural features of the currently dominant version of partnership entrench a model of elite rather than inclusive governance. Local partnership is associated with weak rather than strong discourses of social exclusion and inclusion, and its significance lies as much as anything in the way in which the practice of partnership tends to foreclose the sphere of debate and action, excluding more radical options. Cet article se fonde sur une récente étude transnationale concernant l'UE et portant sur les initiatives de partenariat visant à promouvoir le développement et la régénération sur le plan local, tout en combattant l'exclusion sociale. Le recours croissant au partenariat comme base des initiatives de politique locale est d'abord resitué dans le cadre des débats contemporains sur l'exclusion sociale. L'article, qui s'inspire des travaux sur la gouvernance locale et les régimes urbains, examine trois points essentiels pour l'influence de la ‘nouvelle orthodoxie’ du partenariat local: la capacité des partenariats en tant que formes de gouvernance locale inter‐organismes, leur nature inclusive, ainsi que la part des résultats qui leur revient au titre de mode distincif de gouvernance locale. Sur ces trois aspects, les faits soulignent la portée limitée que peuvent revendiquer la plupart des partenariats locaux comme ‘coalitions d'inclusion’ capables de traiter efficacement l'exclusion sociale; les résultats suggèrent en outre que les caractéristiques structurelles du partenariat, dans sa version dominante actuelle, enracinent un modèle élitiste plutôt qu'une gouvernance inclusive. Le partenariat local est associéà des propos sur l'exclusion et l'inclusion sociale plus complaisants que percutants, et sa place tient tout autant à la manière dont son exercice tend à figer la sphère de débats et d'actions, excluant toute option plus radicale.     

Unemployment shocks and material deprivation in the European Union: A synthetic control approach

This paper analyzes how material deprivation responds to drastic changes in unemployment levels. We explore unemployment shocks registered in some European Union countries during the so-called Great Recession. To do so, we apply the synthetic control methodology, which has been rarely used in the field of distributive analyses. We use this approach to identify the impact of unemployment shocks on material deprivation and conduct different sensitivity analyses to test the results. We find that contrary to the traditional assumption of the low sensitivity of material deprivation measures to changes in the economic cycle, unemployment shocks have a significant and rapid impact on material deprivation. This conclusion holds even when extending the period of analysis, changing the indicator of material deprivation, or modifying the definition of unemployment shock.     

The economy of Portugal and the European Union: From high growth prospects to the debt crisis

This paper documents some of the recent economic history of Portugal, since its accession to the EEC, to the adoption of the Euro and more recently to the financial and economic crisis. In the first part of the paper we show the economic performance of Portugal during the last 25 years till now, from the fast growth of the late 1980s and early 1990s to the current recession. We point out some of the reasons for this trajectory – slow productivity growth, disconnection between productivity and wages, continued external and public deficits – and choose three areas that must be improved in order to reverse the current downward spiral – justice needs to be more effective and faster, education needs to improve its quality and distribution across the population, and the public administration must become more efficient.     

Prospects for an ordoliberal reform of the European Union

This article discusses the prospects for an ordoliberal reform of the European Union in order to tackle its multiple crises. It shows what an ordoliberal European Union would have to look like and examines the constraints its implementation faces. Three reasons are identified that make an ordoliberal reform of the EU at present unlikely. First, in the EU's most powerful member state, Germany, where ordoliberalism has its origins, economic policy adheres increasingly less to this strain of economic thinking. Second, given the primacy of European integration in domestic politics, Germany values European unity higher than economic principles. Third, once Brexit is complete Germany will lack influential allies for an ordoliberal reshaping of the EU.     

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.     

Secession in the European Union

This paper argues the case for the right of secession in Western democracies. I suggest that the winners gain more than the losers may lose. Indeed, the external effects of secession may well be positive. However, the political economy of secession is highly problematic. Ideally, the rules for secession should be set at the international level but international organisations have a vested interest in preventing secession. It is easier to establish the right of secession at the national level. The opinion of the European Union institutions that Catalonia and Scotland, after seceding, would have to reapply for EU membership has no basis in the European treaties. Nor has this question been settled in any UN agreement or Vienna Convention. There are merely practices, and they vary among international institutions. The paper concludes with suggestions on how secessions from EU member states and withdrawals of member states from the EU might be implemented.     

Complementary pensions in the European Union

In some countries of the European Union (EU) complementary pension schemes represent a major part of pension provision, whereas in others they play a relatively marginal role. An important factor is whether the social security scheme provides earnings-related benefits and whether the ceiling on eligible earnings for social security purposes leaves room for there to be a demand for supplementary pensions arrangements, in particular for the higher paid. Pressures on the financing of social security, especially with the expected ageing of the population in the first 30 years of the next century, are encouraging many countries to develop complementary provision, and a number of new pension laws have been passed in recent years. However, important though the growth of complementary provision is, it should not be forgotten that investment markets are also likely to be affected by the ageing of the population. There are increasing pressures for greater investment freedom for complementary pension schemes, but little progress has been made by the EU in harmonisation of the regulatory regimes for complementary pensions. If mobility of labour between the countries of the EU is to become a reality, progress needs to be made soon on these pensions issues.     

Evaluating the participation of the self-employed in undeclared work: some evidence from a 27-nation European survey

In recent decades, it has been widely assumed that undeclared work is rife amongst the self-employed. Until now, however, few have evaluated the extent and nature of the participation of the self-employed in undeclared work and whether they do so out of choice or necessity. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap. To do this, an extensive 2007 Eurobarometer survey on undeclared work is reported comprising 26,659 face-to-face interviews conducted in the 27 member states of the European Union. The finding is that some 1 in 12 of the 1,842 self-employed respondents surveyed had participated in undeclared work in the previous year, although the propensity of the self-employed to engage in undeclared work varies significantly both socio-demographically and spatially. Analysing whether they do so out of choice or necessity, meanwhile, various ratios of involuntary-to-voluntary participation in undeclared work are found to prevail across different populations, places and types of undeclared work. The paper concludes by reviewing the implications for policy. Its argument is not only that state authorities targeting the self-employed alone will fail to eradicate undeclared work but also that a more variegated approach is required if the participation of the self-employed in undeclared work is to be efficiently and effectively tackled.     

Human resource management and innovation in the Canary Islands: an ultra-peripheral region of the European Union

This study attempts to answer the question about how firms in an ultra-peripheral region innovate to compete in a global market when they often seem not to have the basic conditions to innovate identified in the literature. On that line, and based on the notion that firms in ultra-peripheral regions must recognise the value of their human capital in order to overcome the limitations typical of their social and geographical context, this research aimed to analyse the relationship between the human resource (HR) policy and innovation in an ultra-peripheral region of the European Union, namely the Canary Islands. The objective of this study is to identify the HR-related internal factors that can affect the innovation capability of firms. In particular, this paper considers the HR management policy, the formalisation of that policy in an HR plan, and job stability. To achieve this goal, an empirical study of 157 Canarian firms was carried out and arrived at the conclusion that high commitment human resource management (HRM) has a positive influence on organisational innovation in processes. The results also show that the formalisation of the HR policy in a plan, and job stability also increases innovation in processes.     

Regional Bipolarization: The Case of the European Union

This study examines the degree of bipolarization of regional per capita income distribution in the European Union between 1977 and 1999. The results obtained reveal a decrease in regional bipolarization in the European context over the study period as a consequence of various factors working in opposite directions. Likewise, the analysis carried out shows that the national component is the main factor explaining regional bipolarization in the European Union, while the geographical location and the productive structure in 1977 seems to have less relevance. Cette étude s’intéresse au degré de bipolarisation de la répartition régionale des revenus par tête dans l’union européenne entre 1977 et 1999. Les résultats révèlent une réduction de la bipolarisation régionale dans le contexte européen pendant la période couverte, du fait de plusieurs facteurs opérant dans des directions opposées. De même, l’analyse effectuée montre que la composante nationale est le facteur principal d’explication d’une bipolarisation régionale dans l’union européenne, alors que le site géographique et la structure de production en 1977 ont, semble‐t‐il, peu d’importance.     

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 European Monetary Union break-up: an economic experiment on the return of the deutsche mark

By using the macro-econometric input–output model INFORGE, this paper investigates the economic effects of a unilateral break-up of Germany from the European Monetary Union (EMU). The results show that a return to a national currency lowers Germany's growth path. Positive effects of a break-up due to lower domestic prices, increasing real wages and lower imports are fully compensated by the loss in international competitiveness. On industrial level, the negative implications are the strongest in those industries that depend strongly on exports. Strong indirect implications are expected for the business-related service sector. Although the results of this economic experiment depend strongly on its underlying assumptions, it can be shown that a break-up of the EMU would result in a heavy welfare loss for Germany.     

Sustainable development of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises in the European Union: A taxonomy of circular economy practices

This paper focuses on the implementation of circular economy (CE) practices in small‐ and medium‐sized firms in all 28 European Union (EU) countries. The analyses take into account the hierarchical nature of the collected data as firms are nested within EU countries, that is, the heterogeneity between different types of firms and countries according to practices and attitudes towards CE. The multilevel latent class model identifies groups of firms and groups of EU countries that are homogeneous in terms of CE, that is, how the homogeneous groups of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) are distributed across the groups of EU countries. These results, together with the fact that firms with similar CE attitudes and practices have different demographic and business profiles across groups of countries, shed further light on the topic of green behavior in the EU with implications for businesses' environmental policies. Moreover, indications emerge that European policies favoring the implementation of CE practices should be targeted at least for subgroups of European countries, considering the different composition by typology of SMEs operating in their territories and that, at the same time, policies should be defined within each group of countries to account for the specific features of each of the four classes of SMEs.     

Regulation of Labour Markets in the European Union

EU regulation of labour markets under the Social Charter and Protocol to improve 'employment rights' may appear loudable but can prove costly for firms. Mandates will probably make the unskilled more difficult to employ.     

From European Union to European Monetary Union: the new member states and accession countries of Central and Eastern Europe in 2004

The 10 new member states and candidate countries from Central and Eastern Europe have made the institutional reforms embodied in the acquis communautaire, including developing institutions of social dialogue which are supposed to ease the path to entry into the European Monetary Union (EMU). This review assesses the challenges facing the Central and Eastern European countries in achieving the targets set for EMU entry and questions whether the existing institutions of social dialogue will be able to bear the strain of achieving those targets.     

欧盟标准化政策与欧洲统一大市场 (3)

5指定机构在欧盟合格评定中的作用 指定机构是由各成员国主管当局批准的、依据新方法指令中规定的合格评定程序开展审核工作的机构,它在欧盟的合格评定中起着举足轻重的作用。 5.1 指定机构的职责 指定机构的首要任务就是依据新方法指令中提出的要求,在指定的范围内向共同体内外的经济运作人提供合格评定服务,它们可以在本国、在其它成员国或第三国家的领土上开展合格评定活动。 如上所述,欧盟的合格评定程序被细分为 8种基本模式和 8种基本模式的补充模式。在这些模式中,需要指定机构参与的有 Aa、 B、 Cbis、 D、 E、 F、 G…     

欧盟标准化政策与欧洲统一大市场（2）

2欧盟新方法指令与欧洲标准化的关系 2． 3协调标准　　根据《新方法》决议,由欧洲标准化组织 (欧洲标准化委员会 CEN、欧洲电工标准化委员会 CENELEC及欧洲电信标准学会 ETSI)依据欧盟委员会下达的标准化委托书制订的标准是协调标准;其制订工作必须是在所有利益相关方协商一致的基础上完成。协调标准制订程序如图 1所示。 　　欧洲的协调标准与欧洲其他标准的相同之处是,它们都是自愿性标准。不同之处在于,协调标准是按照指令的要求及规定的程序制订的,凡是符合协调标准的产品均可被视为符合新方法指令的基本要求,从而可在共同…     

欧盟标准化政策与欧洲统一大市场（1）

欧盟为了加快内部市场的统一,消除贸易技术壁垒,自 20世纪 80年代以来先后出台了许多新政策,其中影响较大的就是由欧盟理事会于 1985年 5月 7日批准的《技术协调与标准化新方法》（简称《新方法》决议）。决议提出了用欧洲标准支持共同体技术法规的思想,即共同体法律只规定产品投放市场所应达到的基本要求,而将制定达到这些基本要求的技术方案的任务交给欧洲标准化组织,明确界定了欧洲立法机构与欧洲标准化组织之间的关系,使欧洲标准成为支持法律、消除贸易技术壁垒的重要工具。 1989年 12月 21日欧盟理事会又通过了《认证和测试全…