NGOs/ CBOs have emerged as an integral pillar of both global and national governance, and are recognized as such by the official institutions founded after World War II. This is evident from the important gaps they are called upon to fill, their formal partnerships with international organizations and national governments, and the funding they manage for this purpose. Global health is perhaps the area where NGO activity has made the biggest difference. Over the last two decades, however, issues of transparency, effectiveness and, in some cases, legitimacy of their activities have arisen. This policy brief examines the circumstances that have led to the consolidation of NGOs in the international stage, and the reasons why their existence is vital. Finally, a framework that will restore and strengthen their credibility is envisaged, which in turn could potentially enhance their effectiveness too.
The last decade has been turbulent for the EMU, with many structural weaknesses becoming apparent. While in a state of emergency, the European Central Bank has had to “reinvent” itself in order to stabilize the Eurozone, while the vital importance of the imbalances between the member states has been recognized, as the establishment of the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure (MIP) indicates. Yet, it is widely acknowledged that the architecture of the Eurozone needs structural reforms. This policy brief aims to present the case for the adoption of the core ideas of the “Keynes Plan” for an International Clearing Union, which could function as an important first step towards fighting intra-eurozone imbalances, hence strengthening the EMU. Given the existence of the European Central Bank and the common currency, a moderate version of such a plan could be implemented even without the need for any changes in the EU treaties, and could be the stepping stone for further economic integration.
As vaccinations against Covid-19 move forward and the health crisis will eventually reside, focus will ultimately turn solely on the economic consequences of the pandemic. Having faced a serious economic turmoil during the past decade and with the perceptions about the role of the welfare state having changed drastically in the meantime, the European Union needs to learn from its mistakes in dealing with such crises and ensure sustainable recovery for its members. In this paper, the correlation between social protection expenditure, income inequality and poverty is examined, as well as the GDP and the employment rates, using the Eurostat database for the period 2007 -2017 (subject to data availability). By attempting to identify the mechanisms that could lead to such results, the aim of the policy brief is to paint a realistic picture of the role of social protection in the European economies. Among other things, the results show that social protection expenditure correlates positively with employment rates and the GDP per capita, and negatively with income inequality and poverty. We conclude that the welfare state retrenchment during the Eurozone crisis deepened the recession and probably led to long-term adverse effects, broadening the gap between the North and the South. Building on the measures taken during the pandemic to protect employment and the economy, post-pandemic recovery policies should focus on rebuilding strong welfare states, directly create jobs and aim at the convergence of the economies through expansionary policies and growth.
Once again, the EMU faces an economic crisis, this time caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. To avoid the mistakes of the insufficient response to the global financial crisis, it is vital that this time the focus will turn on achieving fast, sustainable recovery, instead of contractionary measures that would hinder recovery and long-term growth. This paper briefly presents the basic elements of the Post-Keynesian / Post-Kaleckian framework of analysis for the economic regimes. The concept of the wage-led and profit-led regimes is addressed, based on which it can be assessed what kind of policies are needed in an economy to promote sustainable, long-term growth. As the relevant literature finds that the Euro Area as a whole and most of the Eurozone members are wage-led, it is concluded that the EU needs to design and implement policies that will strengthen the labor share and address the long-standing problem of unemployment. Given the need to counter climate change, the proposed policies should be coordinated and used as tool to achieve the goals set by the European Green Deal.
The EU National Recovery and Resilience Plan "Greece 2.0" includes, among other priorities, a framework to promote and reform the health system, with a focus on digitalization of health and the use of information technology applications. Greece 2.0 may offer a chance to address the current scarcity of high-quality, reliable data sources, which is limiting the spread and impact of health economics and outcomes research (HEOR). We also suspect that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in HEOR will play an important role in Greece's health-care reform and that it will be critical for making real-world data-driven decisions, reducing policy uncertainty. Greece has a once-in-a-lifetime chance to start from scratch and potentially build data-centric AI systems that prioritise data quality over quantity and are built on scalable, flexible, and governable data collection. This commentary explains and critically considers the significance of developing and funding an innovative plan for using AI in HEOR as part of the Greece 2.0 framework. It also discusses ethical issues and the larger role of HEOR in health-care reform.
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