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

Europeans use 'social models' to refer to the combination of welfare state, industrial relations, and educational institutions jointly structuring what we can think of as the supply-side of the labor market. The dominant view in controversy over the social models has been that in the name of equity they have impaired the labor market's efficiency, thereby causing unemployment. But doubt is cast on this supply-side-only diagnosis by powerful macroeconomic developments, from the Europe-wide recession following Germany's post-unification boom to the deepest economic crisis since the interwar Great Depression, which the Eurozone's truncated economic governance structure transformed into a sovereign debt crisis, threatening the Euro's and even EU's very survival. This book explores the interaction of Europe's diverse social models with the major developments that shaped their macroeconomic environment over the quarter century since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It concludes that this environment rather than the social models are primarily responsible for the immense social costs of the crisis. Contributors to this volume - Alexandre Afonso, Lecturer in Politics, King's College, London Jorgen Goul Andersen, Professor of Economics, Politics and Public Administration, 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, Head of Research, 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, Professor of 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, Research Professor of Political Science, Duke University; Professor of Comparative Political Economy and Senior Research Fellow, Nuffield College, Oxford University Juhana Vartiainen, Director General of the Government Institute for Economic Research, Helsinki Jelle Visser, Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Amsterdam Mark Wickham-Jones, Professor of Politics, University of Bristol