De Neve, J. E. & Norton, M. (2014) “Busts hurt more than booms help: New lessons for growth policy from global wellbeing surveys“, VoxEU Organisation, 08 Οκτωβρίου.   Wellbeing measures allow us to distinguish higher incomes from higher happiness. This column looks at new welfare measures and macroeconomic fluctuations. It presents evidence that the life satisfaction of individuals is between two and eight times more sensitive to negative economic growth …Read More

Cortes, M., Jaimovich, N., Nekarda, J. C. & Siu, H. (2014) “The who and how of disappearing routine jobs“, VoxEU Organisation, 02 Οκτωβρίου.   As routine tasks are increasingly automated, middle-wage jobs are becoming rarer. This column documents the changes in labour-market dynamics behind polarisation, and investigates which workers are affected by it. Flows into middle-wage routine jobs are declining (rather than flows out increasing). Interestingly, routine cognitive workers – …Read More

Niehues, J. (2014) “Cross-country differences in perceptions of inequality“, VoxEU Organisation, 28 Σεπτεμβρίου.   Income inequality is high in the US, but the support of social welfare programmes is low. In Europe, income inequality is low and the welfare states are generous. This column argues that this paradox is largely due to perceived inequality. Many Europeans believe that there is high inequality in their countries, justifying the need for redistributive …Read More

Giuliani, L. & Pastore, F. (2014) “The European School-to-work Transition and the Crisis“, Social Europe Journal, 16 Σεπτεμβρίου.   The school-to-work transition is a long, dark tunnel for many young people around the world. However, the problem is not the same everywhere; in Germany, for example, young people have almost the same probability of working as adults, while in the Eastern and Mediterranean EU countries the employment chances of young …Read More

Razin, A. & Sadka, E. (2014) “Migration states and welfare states: Why is America different from Europe?“, VoxEU Organisation, 01 Σεπτεμβρίου.   European migration exhibits a bias towards low-skilled workers, whereas the US attracts the majority of the world’s skilled migrants. At the same time, the welfare system in Europe is more generous than the one in the US. This column describes an analytical framework that can explain the existence …Read More

Bowles, J. (2014) “The computerisation of European jobs – who will win and who will lose from the impact of new technology onto old areas of employment?“, Bruegel Institute, 17 Ιουλίου.   Who will win and who will lose from the impact of new technology onto old areas of employment? This is a centuries-old question but new literature, which we apply here to the European case, provides some interesting implications. …Read More

Faist, Τ. (2014) “On the transnational social question: How social inequalities are reproduced in Europe“, Journal of European Social Policy, Vol. 24, No. 3, σσ. 207-222, Ιούλιος.   What are the consequences of cross-border employment and social protection practices for social inequalities in Europe? The transnational social question is a multifaceted one: it is linked not only to inequalities generated by heterogeneities such as class, gender, ethnicity, legal status and …Read More

Piketty, T. & Saez, E. (2014) “Inequality in the long run“, Science, 23 Μαΐου, Vol. 344 no. 6186 σσ. 838-843.   This Review presents basic facts regarding the long-run evolution of income and wealth inequality in Europe and the United States. Income and wealth inequality was very high a century ago, particularly in Europe, but dropped dramatically in the first half of the 20th century. Income inequality has surged back …Read More