News Archive

More than twenty years after the beginning of negotiations, a new window of opportunity seems to have opened for the ratification of a trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. For Mercosur, this comes at a crucial juncture in its integration process: the future of the South American trade bloc appears to be more uncertain than ever, with member states holding diverging views on Mercosur’s objectives. Thirty years after its foundation, the original goals of Mercosur’s integration process have been only partially achieved.

When people know about the economic costs of discrimination based on sexual orientation, they are more likely to accept measures that safeguard equal employment opportunities for sexual minorities. This is according to an ifo survey conducted with EconPol Europe in Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine regarding lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals.

The latest issue of the EconPol Newsletter has just been published. It features several Policy Briefs and Reports on the role of income support systems as sncome stabilizers in simes of srisis; NATO defense spending in 2023; the effect of subject-specific teacher qualifications on student science achievement; the impact on EU fiscal rules on public investment; and the the global impact of the U.S. inflation reduction act.

The EU faces the challenge to combine large and sustained investments to promote the transition towards a green, digital, and competitive Europe while maintaining fiscal sustainability. Based on a comprehensive literature review on the effects of fiscal rules and investment clauses on public finances, this in-depth analysis provides some guidance how higher public investments can be achieved by a targeted golden rule without harming fiscal sustainability in the EU fiscal framework.

The new Policy Brief studies how tax and benefit systems in Europe in general, and unemployment benefits and minimum income support (MIS) systems in particular, perform in terms of income stabilization under comparable shock scenarios. Nordic and Continental European welfare states tend to provide higher income stabilization compared to Post-Socialist, Southern European and Liberal welfare states. MIS systems play only a limited role in the stabilization of household incomes. The importance of MIS schemes increases when macroeconomic shocks last longer.