Europe’s Path Towards the Socio-Ecological Transition

Beset by an unprecedented combination of challenges including globalisation, demographic shifts, high unemployment and climate change, Europe is in dire need of a new kind of growth and development strategy. The authors of this Forum make compelling arguments for a socioecological transition, in which traditional measures of progress like GDP growth are downplayed in favour of factors such as social inclusion, environmental welfare, high levels of employment and the well-being of European citizens. This Forum explores some of the issues that must be resolved in order to fully achieve the socio-ecological transition, including the necessary decoupling of non-renewable energy use from GDP growth, the reduction of income and wealth inequalities, and the encouragement of innovation that is not based on fossil fuel technology. The Forum presents an optimistic path forward for the continent, with practical policy solutions that do not ignore the many obstacles facing a successful transition.     

Pre‐schoolers,parents and supermarkets: co‐shopping as a social practice

The objective of this paper was to examine the co‐shopping practices of children and parents in supermarkets, i.e. the practical enactment of grocery shopping. Our special focus is on how informal consumer training occurs during parent–child interaction. We use observational data collected in spring 2008 in different Estonian supermarkets, post‐shopping interviews with parents and focus group interviews with their children. Our analysis is informed by practice theory, which helps to look in detail at how the activities in a particular situation are coordinated by understandings and procedures, and are guided by the engagement in a particular shopping trip. Co‐shopping interactions mostly revolve around particular material objects, although not exclusively. Product choice is a deeply contested area, where both parents and children face numerous pressures in this situation of two‐way socialization. There are implications for consumer education more broadly. To accomplish lasting and meaningful effects on the everyday lives of families, there has to be a wider range of actors – supermarkets, producers, governmental bodies, schools and families – who care about both formal and informal consumer education.     

PEG am Lebensende – Konfliktstoff für das therapeutische Team

Pl?doyer für eine neue Entscheidungskultur im klinischen Alltag - An einer PEG schieden sich die Geister. Die ?rzte wollen sie, nicht zuletzt, um sicher zu sein, alles menschenm?gliche für den Patienten getan zu haben. Und die Pflegekr?fte, die oft den unmittelbarsten Kontakt zum Patienten haben, sehen sich in der Zwickmühle zwischen medizinischer Notwendigkeit, den Wünschen der Angeh?rigen und ethischen Prinzipien. Ein l?sbarer Konflikt?     

Corporate Taxes in the European Union

The enlargement of the European Union in 2004 and 2007 by a number of countries with comparatively low corporate tax rates – seen by some as representing an unfair competitive advantage – has refuelled the debate on corporate taxation in Europe. The present Forum highlights a number of pertinent issues and discusses the challenges implied for European corporate tax policy. *The authors are indebted to Andreas Reutter for helpful comments. **The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author. They should not be attributed to the European Commission. The author wishes to thank Anton Jevcav for valuable comments. ? European Communities, 2007.     

Fusionen und Übernahmen im Licht der Hybris – Überblick über den Forschungsstand

Although corporate acquisitions are ubiquitous a large number of M&A fails. One explanation for such failure is the hubris hypothesis for corporate takeovers. A decision maker affected with hubris (or overconfidence) will overestimate his abilities in raising potential synergies and is likely to make investment decisions destroying shareholder wealth. The growing literature on CEO hubris proposes various ways to measure hubris. We present these indicators and discuss possible advantages and drawbacks. (71 words)     

A New Strategy for Europe

WWWforEurope has developed a comprehensive strategy to set Europe on a path to a socio-ecological transition. The strategy begins by renouncing the long-established concept of using GDP growth figures as the benchmark for economic and societal progress. In contrast, it sets “well-being in a sustainable environment” as the optimal benchmark for economic performance and social progress.     

Tax-based Own Resources as a Core Element of a Future-Oriented Design of the EU System of Own Resources

Sustainability-oriented tax-based own resources would do more than just help to close the existing sustainability gaps in EU taxation.Member States primarily consider their individual net positions, i.e. the difference between their payments into the EU budget and the transfers they receive out of it, when determining the benefits derived from the EU (budget). Much less attention is paid to indirect benefits from EU membership and expenditures, which generally exceed Member States’ contributions to the EU budget considerably.     

About FairTax

Intereconomics - Our research shows that in the ongoing discussion concerning ‘the social dimension of Europe’, it appears that there is much to gain if the tax policy interaction...