Balancing protection and investment: structural reforms in five countries

"Structural reforms are increasingly at the core of the European and national agenda. But what are they? And what are the main factors shaping their content? This analysis of the structural reforms adopted between 2008 and 2015 in five European Union (EU) countries – the Czech Republic, Finland...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Agostini, Chiara, Lisi, Valentina, Natali, David, Sabato, Sebastiano
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Brussels 2016
ETUI
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-973812479109-Balancing-protection-and-inves.htm
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author Agostini, Chiara
Lisi, Valentina
Natali, David
Sabato, Sebastiano
author_facet Agostini, Chiara
Lisi, Valentina
Natali, David
Sabato, Sebastiano
collection Library items
description "Structural reforms are increasingly at the core of the European and national agenda. But what are they? And what are the main factors shaping their content? This analysis of the structural reforms adopted between 2008 and 2015 in five European Union (EU) countries – the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ireland and Italy – addresses these two questions. Adopting a clear definition of structural reforms, the book proposes a new typology of structural reform strategies by examining developments in five policy areas and classifying them according to whether the focus is on social protection and/or investment. An analysis of these five countries shows how a combination of EU constraints and opportunities, domestic path dependency and political dynamics has resulted in different structural reform trends; while some countries have experienced an overall devaluation in social standards (e.g. Ireland), others have pursued more mixed strategies. What is more, there have been different phases of structural reform patterns. After a first period of anticyclical measures, austerity dominated between 2011 and 2013. In more recent years, many countries have followed a more pro-growth strategy. The book provides evidence that the EU influenced structural reforms but lacked a coherent agenda to support growth. In such a context, different countries implemented different reform strategies that reflected their (partly) diverging socio-economic models."
format TEXT
geographic Czechia
Finland
Germany
Ireland
Italy
id 973812479109_0b732a1471e64d69aa1889b5467de20e
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 973812479109_0b732a1471e64d69aa1889b5467de20e
is_hierarchy_title Balancing protection and investment: structural reforms in five countries
language English
physical 124 p.
Paper
Digital
publishDate 2016
publisher Brussels
ETUI
spellingShingle Agostini, Chiara
Lisi, Valentina
Natali, David
Sabato, Sebastiano
economic development
economic growth
economic recession
EU policy
investment
social protection
structural change
Balancing protection and investment: structural reforms in five countries
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=119390293757
title Balancing protection and investment: structural reforms in five countries
topic economic development
economic growth
economic recession
EU policy
investment
social protection
structural change
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-973812479109-Balancing-protection-and-inves.htm