Category: Welfare

• Portuguese Labour Market Reforms in the Aftermath of the Eurozone Crisis: The Problems Behind the Recovery

  May 19, 2016

  Austerity, Eurozone Crisis, Portugal, Uncategorized, Welfare

  This is a extended repost of a blog written with Jasper Simons for Critcom, the blog of the Council of European Studies. If one were to believe the assessments of European institutions, Portugal is on the path to recover from the severe economic crisis it suffered from 2010 onwards, and the drastic reforms implemented in Read.

• A modest proposal to curtail the political influence of the elderly

  June 4, 2014

  Austerity, Modest proposal, Welfare

  Modern political economies are strongly skewed towards the interests of older people. In the United states, per capita spending on the old via pensions or medicare stood at $26’000, while spending on the young via child benefits or other programs was at less than $12’000 (data for the graph below from here). Pensions in particular Read.

• The Economic Dilemma of UKIP

  March 24, 2014

  Political Science, United Kingdom, Welfare

  Let us take a short trip Back to the Future. Step into The Doc’s DeLorean modified time Machine, fasten your seat belt, greet Marty McFly in the back seat, and set the destination to 2016 Britain. We accelerate to 88 miles per hour, and after a loud “bang”, it only takes a few seconds to Read.

• What if More Austerity Meant More Immigration?

  January 3, 2014

  Austerity, Migration, United Kingdom, Welfare

  Since January 1st, citizens from Romania and Bulgaria can freely access the labour markets of all EU member states, including the United Kingdom. Fed by the threat of UKIP and a tabloid press that doesn’t really bother with facts, both Tories and Labour are up in arms in the face of a potential “invasion” of Read.

• Reforming Southern Europe: How to Square the Triangle of Employment, Fiscal Austerity and Inequality?

  December 17, 2013

  Austerity, Corporatism, Eurozone Crisis, Welfare

  Mass unemployment is probably one of the most worrying features of the Eurozone crisis. As youth unemployment is hitting record levels (one in four people under 25 in Europe and more than one in two in Spain are officially out of work), many observers are warning against the rise of a “lost generation”, especially in Read.

• L’Etat social en Suisse: progressif ou régressif?

  September 1, 2013

  Suisse, Welfare

  Pour répondre à un commentaire de Philippe Nantermod sur un billet précédent, je suis allé chercher quelques données sur les dépenses des ménages sur le site de l’Office Fédéral de la Statistique. L’argument de Philippe Nantermod est que les primes d’assurance maladie ne peuvent pas être considérées comme un impôt régressif si l’on prend en Read.

• Why do people think that hitting the poor is the best way to cut the deficit?

  July 18, 2013

  United Kingdom, Welfare

  Last week, Ipsos Mori and King’s College London released the results of a survey showing that Britons are (almost) wrong about everything, and especially welfare. They think that for every 100£ spent on welfare, 24 are spent on fraudulent claims, whereas the actual figure looks more like 70p. They think that a 26’000£ cap on Read.

• Why is Portugal lagging behind all other European countries in educational attainment?

  July 13, 2013

  Welfare

  I don’t have the answer. I have just been playing with Barro and Lee’s dataset on education attainment. As the name indicates, it covers education attainment in 146 countries between 1950 and 2010 for different age groups. The two charts above show the average years of schooling of the population 25 and over since 1950 Read.

• La Suisse est le pays d’Europe qui redistribue le moins

  July 5, 2013

  Welfare

  AvenirSuisse a publié aujourd’hui une étude sur les inégalités en Suisse, pour contrer l’initiative 1:12. Ils affirment que les inégalités salariales en Suisse sont les plus basses de l’OCDE. D’après les données du Luxemburg Income Study 2005 (le graphe est basé sur les données de Lane Kenworthy, University of Arizona), c’est le cas seulement avant Read.

• Portugal’s Political Crisis, or the Ordeal of Junior Coalition Partners

  July 3, 2013

  Austerity, Eurozone Crisis, Welfare

  On Monday, the Portuguese Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar resigned. Gaspar was the main architect of  Portugal’s austerity drive since its bailout two years ago. His political charisma was akin to a flat bike tyre, but he was considered a major guarantee of credibility for the Troika and Portugal’s creditors. Apparently, he had already asked to Read.