European Social Models From Crisis to Crisis:: Employment and Inequality in the Era of Monetary Integration

This book analyzes the interaction of European social models - the institutions structuring labor markets' supply side - and their turbulent macroeconomic environment from the deep Europe-wide recession, ending Germany's post-unification boom, through monetary union's establishment, to the Great Recession following the recent financial crisis. The analysis reaches two conclusions challenging the dominant view that the social models caused unemployment by impairing labor markets' efficiency in the name of equity. First, the social models' employment and distributive effects are far outweighed by their macroeconomic environment, especially in the Eurozone, where its truncated structure of economic governance transformed the Great Recession into a sovereign debt crisis. Second, instead of a trade-off between efficiency and equity, the employment effects of counteracting markets' tendency to generate inequality depends on the macroeconomic conditions under which it occurs and how it is done. Contributors to this volume - Alexandre Afonso, Lecturer in Politics, King's College, London Jorgen Goul Andersen, Professor of Political Science, Aalborg University Erling Barth, Research Director, Institute for Social Research, Oslo, Adjunct Professor of Economics, University of Oslo Wendy Carlin, Professor of Economics, University College, London Jon Erik Dolvik, Research Director, Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research, Oslo Anke Hassel, Professor of Public Policy, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin Torben Iversen, Burbank Professor of Political Economy, Harvard University Jacques le Cacheux, Director, Department of Studies, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques, Sciences Po, Paris, University Professor, Universite de Pau Andrew Martin, Research Associate, Center for European Studies, Harvard University Ken Mayhew, Emeritus Professor of Education and Economic Performance and Emeritus Fellow in Economics Oxford University Karl Ove Moene, Professor of Economics, University of Oslo Sofia Perez, Professor of Political Science, Boston University Martin Rhodes, Professor of Comparative Political Economy, University of Denver George Ross, Chaire Jean Monnet, Universite de Montreal; Hillquit Professor in Labor and Social Thought, Emeritus, Brandeis University, David Soskice, Professor of Political Science and Economics, London School of Economics University Juhana Vartiainen, Director General of the Government Institute for Economic Research, Helsinki Jelle Visser,Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Sociology University of Amsterdam Mark Wickham-Jones, Professor of Political Science , University of Bristol