Is the emperor wearing new clothes? A social assessment of the European Union 2007–2013 financial framework

ABSTRACT

Over the years, European leaders have proudly waved a social flag as one of the European Union’s (EU) constituent and differentiating elements. This commitment is assessed here through the social footprint of the European 2007–2013 multiannual financial framework among the EU countries and, worldwide, using an extended multiregional input–output model. The focus is on the quantity and the quality of income and jobs generated. We find that well-known differences among its northern, southern and eastern regions threaten the EU’s intentions for high social standards, enabling first- and second-class winners. Core EU countries account for the most of the Funds and, thus, most of the positive economic and social impacts, mainly through spillovers from peripheral regions. Beyond the EU borders, Funds expenditures induce capital compensation boosts in emerging countries not balanced by a similar labor compensation impulse. Indeed, China captures the bulk of low-skilled and temporary employment.

KEYWORDS:

• Social footprint
• European Union
• supply chains
• multiregional input–output analysis
• employment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Fabio Monsalve http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6595-2799

Jorge Zafrilla http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7953-9006

María-Ángeles Cadarso http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5165-7729

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (ECO2016-78938-R) and Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha (PPII-2014-006-P).