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The latest news, debates, proposals and developments on new economic thinking at a glance.
The Actually European!? study by Das Progressive Zentrum and Heinrich Böll Stiftung examines how German citizens evaluate the actions of the German government and the EU and what expectations they have of Germany’s role in Europe. The long-term study also surveys what Germans perceive to be the country’s role within the EU for the fourth year in a row.
Based on the survey’s results, the authors identify three main areas of future German EU policy:
measures.
Read the full summary of the study here.
On 30 and 31 May, the annual Day of Progressive Economic Policy of the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation will take place in Berlin and digitally.
In this context, the award ceremony of the 2022 Hans-Matthöfer-Prize for Economic Journalism will take place, including a laudation by jury member Thomas Fricke. Additionally, the following questions will be discussed by some interesting panels with Sven Giegold, Moritz Schularick, Martin Sandbu and many more:
How do we cope with the pressure to modernise in times of crisis? How do we create a fair distribution of costs and benefits in the transformation? What does a new economic policy that meets the immense challenges look like? How can we secure prosperity and social cohesion?
Survey: Inflation is the biggest concern of people in Germany – Article
Handelsblatt, 16.05.2022
According to a survey, rapidly rising prices are particularly worrying consumers at the moment. Almost one in three fears having to restrict their lifestyle.
Lord of the pension gaps: This is the new economic wise man – Article
Alexander Hagelüken, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 14.05.2022
The economist Martin Werding calculates for the Germans how many billions will soon be missing from old-age and state coffers. His appointment upgrades the economic policy body of the federal government.
A Better Globalization Might Rise from Hyper-Globalization’s Ashes – Article
Dani Rodrik, Project Syndicate, 09.05.2022
With the end of post-1990s hyper-globalization, scenarios for the world economy run the gamut. In the best case, achieving a better balance between the prerogatives of the nation-state and the requirements of an open economy might enable inclusive prosperity at home and peace and security abroad.
„You can’t measure wealth like you measure temperature“ – Article
Christina Rebhahn-Roither, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 06.05.2022
There is currently a lot of discussion about the prosperity of Germans. Why this is not so easy to define and even more difficult to measure.
Public debt is not a brake on growth – Opinion Piece
Philipp Heimberger, Handelsblatt, 26.04.2022
Journal editors often publish articles with statistically validated effects. However, this is how governments are encouraged to deleverage, complains Philipp Heimberger.
In the study, the two examine various strands and arguments – philosophical, empirical, as well as policy-prescriptive – around the growth debate and frame them in terms of the central question of the limits to growth. The study concludes that the contemporary debate is best understood as a disagreement between political strategies, in which the character of public and academic discourse plays a key role.
The key ideas were also recently summarized in a Project Syndicate article. The article can be accessed here.
The full study is available here.
The two political scientists assess the effects of the tax reductions for top incomes in OECD countries from 60 percent on average in the 1980s to around 40 percent today. They find no significant growth effects of tax cuts. However, they have increased inequality substantially. You find the study here.
OUR MAIN TOPICS
New Paradigm
NEW PARADIGM
After decades of overly naive market belief, we urgently need new answers to the great challenges of our time. More so, we need a whole new paradigm to guide us. We collect everything about the people and the community who are dealing with the question of a new paradigm and who analyze the historical and present impact of paradigms and narratives – whether in new contributions, performances, books and events.
Redefining
the role of
the state
REDEFINING
THE ROLE OF
THE STATE
For decades, there was a consensus that reducing the role of the state and cutting public debt would generate wealth. This contributed to a chronic underinvestment in education and public infrastructure. New research focuses on establishing when and how governments need to intervene to better contribute to long-term prosperity and to stabilize rather than aggravate economic fluctuations.
Remaking
finance
REMAKING
FINANCE
More than a decade after the financial crisis there still seems to be something seriously wrong with the financial system. Financial markets still tend to periodically misprice risk and contribute to boom and bust cycles. A better financial system needs to discourage short-termism and speculative activity, curtail systemic risk and distribute wealth more broadly.
Greening
prosperity
GREENING
PROSPERITY
During the high point of market orthodoxy, economists argued that the most 'efficient' way to combat climate change was to simply let markets determine the price of carbon emissions. Today, there is a growing consensus that prices need to be regulated and that a carbon price on its own might not be enough.
Reducing
inequality
REDUCING
INEQUALITY
The rising gap between rich and poor has become a threat to social cohesion in most rich countries. To reverse this trend it will be crucial to better understand the importance of different drivers of income and wealth inequality.
Innovation Lab
INNOVATION LAB
Do we need a whole new understanding of economic growth? What would be a real alternative? How viable are alternatives to GDP when it comes to measuring prosperity? These and other more fundamental challenges are what this section is about.
Globalization
for all
GLOBALIZATION
FOR ALL
After three decades of poorly managed integration, globalization is threatened by social discontent and the rise of populist forces. A new paradigm will need better ways not only to compensate the groups that have lost, but to distribute the gains more broadly from the start.
Europe
beyond markets
EUROPE
BEYOND MARKETS
The euro was planned during a period in which economic policy making was driven by a deep belief in market liberalism and the near impossibility of systemic financial crises. This belief has been brought into question since the euro crisis, which showed that panics do happen. New thinking needs to focus on developing mechanisms to protect eurozone countries from such panics and to foster economic convergence between members.