Globalisation and Social Risk Management in Europe - A Literature Review

Draxler, Juraj

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2013166

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In Germany, discussion of a flat tax by a key economics advisor to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) prior to the 2005 election ignited a firestorm and has been blamed for CDU's unexpectedly weak showing, which forced it into a grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The UK Conservative Party also flirted with the idea (Draxler 2006). In the United States, President George W. Bush made a major political push for pension privatization following the 2004 presidential elections but did not succeed in the face of congressional and public opposition.…”

Section: Political Volatility and Weaker Institutionalization In The mentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Is "New" Europe More Neoliberal?

Beblavý

2014

Eastern European Economics

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This paper examines why the postcommunist countries that joined the European Union (EU) during the 2000s tend to be more neoliberal in their social and economic policies than are the traditional EU members from Western Europe. To this end, the paper looks at two areas of reform in which new Europe has been significantly more neoliberal than old Europepension privatization and the flat income tax. Looking at two distinct policies and examining not just their introduction but also their resilience makes the paper's claims more robust and allows for refinement or contradiction of some existing findings in the literature. The paper's conclusion is that a more volatile political system with few veto points and weak interest groups, coupled with a developmental model reliant on foreign direct investment, can account for the difference in policy approach without resorting to cultural or value-based explanations. In addition, the influence of Europeanization and lower state capacity do not appear to be significant explanatory factors.In 2004 and 2007, the European Union (EU) absorbed ten postcommunist countries. While this has been hailed as a final step in the reunification of Europe, which had been sundered by the Iron Curtain, new members also brought with them a set of apparent challenges for the Union. One of them has been the "unfair" tax and social competition they present to the older member states and their preference for neoliberal reforms instead of the Western "European social model" (for the most detailed argument along these lines, see Vaughan-Whitehead 2003).

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Section: Political Volatility and Weaker Institutionalization In The mentioning

confidence: 99%