The International Review of Applied Economics is devoted to the practical applications of economic ideas, encouraging empirical work to evaluate and develop economic policies. This issue of the Review includes such work on income distribution and growth in Brazil, productivity in China, and employment participation rates in Australia, as well as an assessment of hours worked across a number of countries, an analysis of FDI location choice globally, and a theoretical and empirical analysis of economic development and inflation.
In terms of economic policy work in Europe, a leading role has been played for almost twenty five years now by the European Economists for an Alternative Economic Policy in Europe – the ‘EuroMemo Group’, which is a network of economists committed to promoting full employment with good work, ecological sustainability, international solidarity, and social justice with an eradication of poverty and social exclusion. It publishes an annual Memorandum which provides a critical analysis of recent developments in the European Union, most recently the EuroMemorandum 2018, Can the EU still be saved? The implications of a multi-speed Europe is available at:
http://www2.euromemorandum.eu/uploads/euromemorandum_2018.pdf
Given the importance of the EuroMemo Group in developing economic policy – with a focus on Europe, but with far wider theoretical, empirical, and policy implications – the Introduction to the 2018 is reproduced in the following pages.
The full Memorandum argues that a convincing alternative policy strategy for Europe requires at least five important changes: Firstly, the balanced budget requirement should be replaced by a balanced economy requirement which includes the objective of high and sustainable levels of employment. Second, in the long-run a substantial EU-level budget is required in order to finance EU-wide investment as well as public goods and services and establish a counter-cyclical European-level fiscal policy which is able to support national fiscal policies. Third, instead of focussing only on overall growth, a successful strategy should also give priority to overcoming disparities between different regions and sectors. A long-run European investment strategy should therefore be developed, addressing European, national and local development. Fourth, the deflationary strategy of competitive devaluation should be replaced with a strategy of wage growth, which ensures the fair participation of workers in national income growth and stable inflation. And fifth, effective measures need to be taken against ‘tax competition’.
The EuroMemorandum also argues for a greater focus on tackling climate change, with alternative policies to include much sharper cuts in emissions with longer-term commitments by the member states, accompanied by concrete plans to achieve these; transformation of the economy to much lower use of energy and materials; support for local economies; taking advantage of the potential of public services to promote sustainability and transition; major reform of transport and mobility policies; shifting from the bias increasingly introduced into the EU regulatory system against regulations in the public interest to a fair assessment of the benefits of regulations instead; and reorientation of the Juncker plan and European Investment Bank (EIB) funding generally towards much more investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation.