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"European Union countries Economic conditions Regional disparities."
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The Political Geography of Inequality
This book addresses two questions - why some political systems have more centralized systems of interpersonal redistribution than others, and why some political unions make larger efforts to equalize resources among their constituent units than others. This book presents a new theory of the origin of fiscal structures in systems with several levels of government. The argument points to two major factors to account for the variation in redistribution: the interplay between economic geography and political representation on the one hand, and the scope of interregional economic externalities on the other. To test the empirical implications derived from the argument, the book relies on in-depth studies of the choice of fiscal structures in unions as diverse as the European Union, Canada and the United States in the aftermath of the Great Depression; Germany before and after Reunification; and Spain after the transition to democracy.
eBook
CAP Regimes and the European Countryside
The objectives of this title are to review assessments made on the environmental effects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and to judge the contribution of agricultural policy to environmental quality in the European Union.
eBook
Economic Imbalances and Institutional Changes to the Euro and the European Union
This book offers a criticalperspective from which to observe evolution of the Euro Area and the European Union in these times of growing economic and political conflict. Key implications of design failures in the Euro Area (i.e. incorrect diagnostics ofthe public finance crisis, single monetary policy failure, heterogeneous macroeconomic environment, asymmetry in macroeconomic policies, obstacles forpolicy coordination) and their contribution to the excessive external andinternal economic imbalances will be critically discussed from the economic, policy and institutional perspectives. This critical insight is used to examineboth institutional asset and economic performance of Europe after the crisis, moving from the authors' shared perspective that the crisis revealed the weakaspects of the whole architecture of the European Union. The economic crisis revealed theexistence of different forms of imbalances inside the Eurozone and highlighted the flaws of the institutional architecture of economic policy in Europe. The greater fragility of some countries in respect to others has triggered abackward process in which national interests have started to prevail over those of both the currency area and the entire European Union. In turn, this has fuelled a progressive decline in confidence in the European institutions and iscreating growing questions of interpretation both in terms of economic theoryand institutional asset. This book focuses on these issues and on the degree of legitimacy of the European institutions resulting therefrom. It aims to investigate the nature and validity of the European integration process emphasizing limits and challenges arising from it.
eBook
CAP regimes and the European countryside: prospects for integration between agricultural, regional and environmental policies
This book reviews assessments on the environmental effects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and assesses the contribution of agricultural policy to environmental quality in the EU. It focuses on the role of agricultural policy in reducing harmful effects and/or creating benefits to the physical environment, landscape and nature. Emphasis is given to comparative studies, rather than any limited to one country. The commodity regimes of the CAP – e.g. the beef, wine and olive oil regimes – are considered in detail.
eBook
Environmental policies for agricultural pollution control
This book describes the environmental problems associated with agriculture, particularly the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers and the disposal of animal waste. These have become major policy issues in many countries, with the main polluting effect being on water quality. As with other types of pollution, significant reductions in agriculture's contribution to water pollution requires the application of either enforceable regulatory approaches or changes in the economic environment, so that farmers adopt environmentally-friendly production practices. Providing a review and guide to the policy options and their economic administrative and political merits, the reader can develop an understanding of these options and their merits in the emerging policy context. The principal focus is on the developed world, particularly North America and Europe. The book is aimed at advanced students, researchers and professionals in agricultural economics and policy, and environmental and pollution sciences.
eBook
Economic Disparities and Life Satisfaction in European Regions
This paper investigates the role of economic variables in predicting regional disparities in reported life satisfaction of European Union (EU) citizens. European subnational units (regions) are defined according to the first-level EU nomenclature of territorial units. We use multilevel modeling to explicitly account for the hierarchical nature of our data, respondents within regions and countries, and for understanding patterns of variation within and between regions. Main findings are that personal income matters more in poor regions than in rich regions, a pattern that still holds for regions within the same country. Being unemployed is negatively associated with life satisfaction even after controlled for income variation. Living in high unemployment regions does not alleviate the unhappiness of being out of work. After controlling for individual characteristics and modeling interactions, regional differences in life satisfaction still remain, confirming that regional dimension is relevant for life satisfaction.
Journal Article
Building a social pillar for European convergence
This report finds that EU Member States are either diverging in terms of socio-economic performance or converging towards deteriorating outcomes such as worsening inequality and widening structural imbalances. Furthermore, there is a risk that, if left unaddressed, the gaps within and across countries will widen in the context of rapid changes taking place in the world of work. In September 2015, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, announced in his speech on the State of the Union, the establishment of a European Pillar of Social Rights. Guided by international labour standards, this report presents a range of policy and institutional levers at the EU level that could be considered central to such a Pillar. It further argues that the role of the social partners both at the EU and national levels is key to building consensus and strengthening the societal support for the continued construction of the EU.
eBook
European integration, regional policy, and growth
The function of regional policy is to stimulate growth in less developed areas as to best benefit from economic integration. While the overall objective is clear, the actual implementation raises a series of issues. Targeting regional inequalities should not be confused with reducing individual income inequalities. Consequently, rather than serving an income redistribution purpose, the goal is to generate sustained growth in less developed regions. While a series of income transfers may induce a succession of temporary reductions in regional discrepancies, it must not be mistaken with triggering sustained regional convergence, which would be the successful conclusion of regional policy. Therefore, it is also critical to appropriately define the territorial units being compared, as to avoid targeting inescapable regional differences that are not a result of underdevelopment. This book brings together the views of leading academics, European Commission representatives and senior policy makers from national governments in charge or regional policy. The papers organized in this volume are the results of the discussions held at a conference on regional policy held in Barcelona and jointly organized by the World Bank, the Bertelsmann Foundation and the CIDOB foundation. In an effort to draw policy lessons for the new members of the European Union, the concurring lesson was that it is not investment per se that leads to growth, but when the appropriate national policies for growth are implemented, investment follows. These include avoiding permanent income transfers and other obstacles to labor market flexibility and creating a favorable environment to attract private investments.
eBook