1,721,051 research outputs found
The New Pension Mix in Europe: Reform trends, polcy and political challenges, open research questions
No full textThis chapter aims at guiding the reader through the review of pension reforms in Europe. In line with the research questions at the core of the volume, sections one to three take stock of the comparative literature on pensions that is mainly focused on the reforms of the last decades, up to the more recent economic and financial crisis. Here we provide background information which the present volume will update and/or revise on the basis of evidence provided by the most recent policy and political dynamics
The Changing EU “Pension Programme”. Policy Tools and Ideas in the Shadow of the Crisis
No full textThe aim of the present chapter is to summarize the main traits of what we call the “EU pension programme”, which is made up of three main fields of intervention: the completion of the EU pension market; the financial sustainability of pension programmes; and the broader modernization of national old-age retirement systems. While the first area is related to EU law (the Community method), the two latter dimensions have been progressively integrated into the EU economic and social governance (both contained within the European Semester that avails itself of several legal bases underpinning Macroeconomic and Fiscal coordination as well as the socioeconomic objectives of the Europe 2020 agenda). The key issue explored in this chapter is the evolution of the EU pension programme before and after the economic and sovereign debt crises as well as its (potential) influence on the “new pension mix” in the Member States. Looking back at the past decades of EU policy decisions in the field, we develop two research questions: has the EU pension programme influenced the pension mix in the Member States?; and, has the EU pensions programme changed since the emergence of the economic and financial crisis
Structural Reforms in Europe: A comparative overview
No full textThe present chapter provides an overview of structural reforms (SRs) - measures to improve economic growth prospects and the ability of economies to adjust to economic shocks - introduced in Europe between 1999 and 2012 and, in particular, during the Great Recession (2008-12). Such a cross-policy analysis - including social protection (e.g. pensions), education policy, R&D and public sector reforms - makes it possible to shed light on the complex interaction of the labour market policies, that are at the core of the volume, with social policies (aimed at welfare production and redistribution) and economic policies (aimed at economic production).
While the concept of SRs is highly debated in the literature and needs some revision of its normative roots, we consider it a good descriptive tool: it helps to trace reform trends in a number of policy areas and to understand the overall functioning of a socio-economic system. The present chapter proposes a new typology of SRs for a more detailed analysis of SRs trends in Europe.
Through the analysis of reforms between 1999 and 2012 we address two key questions: Is there a common reform trend of a ‘race to the bottom’ in relation to social and employment rights? What has been the impact of the Great Recession: Do we see overall continuity or a shift between the pre- and post-crisis?
In the following we analyse five country clusters – Anglo-Saxon, Nordic, Continental European, Southern European and Visegrad countries that are consistent with the different varieties of capitalism and employment regimes – and we provide evidence of diverse reform trends over time.
The present contribution is organised as follows. Section two presents the research questions at the core of the chapter and provides a brief review of the literature on socio-economic reforms in Europe over the last decades. Section three gives the definition of SRs and the complementarity between socio-economic policies before and since the Great Recession. Section four provides an overview of SRs in the EU with a focus on reform trends and outputs. Section five draws some conclusions
Le Politiche Sociali in Italia e in Europa: il contributo italiano all'analisi dello "stato sociale europeo"
No full textQuesto breve saggio ha un duplice obiettivo. Da un lato, aspira a richiamare brevemente l’evoluzione dell’analisi delle politiche sociali nel nostro paese, con particolare riferimento agli autori che più hanno contribuito all’avanzamento multi-disciplinare degli studi sul welfare. Dall’altro, nelle pagine che seguono verrà richiamata la progressiva ‘apertura’ delle stesse opere scientifiche alla dimensione europea. Quest’ultima è intesa in un duplice senso. In primo luogo, faremo riferimento al progressivo arricchimento degli studi italiani, originato dall’utilizzo di categorie concettuali e analitiche proposte da studiosi stranieri. Si tratta in altre parole dell’apertura progressiva dell’Italia all’Europa e la sua piena integrazione nel più ampio sviluppo della social policy analysis europea. In secondo luogo, il riferimento è all’integrazione della dimensioni europea negli studi delle politiche di sociali in Italia
Occupational Welfare in Europe: an analytical and methodological introduction
No full textFollowing this introduction, section one provides conceptual clarification and a review of
the key terms used in the literature to refer to welfare policies provided by social
partners. Concept clarification is of particular importance in the case of Occupational
Welfare, as contemporary literature would seem to be the victim of definitional problems.
Section two illustrates the three main reasons for looking at Occupational Welfare in
greater depth. As mentioned above, we provide evidence of the key role of Occupational
Welfare schemes, in relation to welfare and industrial relations institutions. Section
three summarises the methodological choices adopted in the book to investigate
Occupational Welfare in Europe. We refer to country case selection, the policy areas at
the core of the analysis and the main sources of information used in the country
chapters. Section four concludes with a presentation of how the book is structured
I partiti populisti e il loro successo elettorale: differenti cause per differenti populismi? Il caso di 5 Stelle e Lega
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