Principles and Economic Style Moulded Into Sustainability and Foreign Policy Interests
“The concept of the Social Market Economy links the principle of freedom on the market and the instrument of competitive economics with the principle of solidarity and with mechanisms of social compensation. This link is not a mere smart decision of a purely institutional wisdom, but it lays on a decision on values which is borne by the moral foundations of our European culture”. This is the statement of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community. Most politicians and even academics who see themselves as Catholics normally take seriously most doctrinal declarations of this church’s leadership. Thus, it is expected that such declarations are to be found to a larger or smaller extent in drafted legislation and in created institutions. From such statements, the Social Market Economy develops advantages and shortcomings. Its advantages are related to its purpose of organising economic and social life at a national level in such a way that a competitive and creative balance of power between the economic agents, government and individuals as actors is achieved. Another advantage is its attempt at inclusiveness which is done via the corporatist approach in social and professional relations. Convincing individuals to join professional groups and defend their common interest is an inclusive and integrative approach. Nevertheless, corporatism can also be a shortcoming of the Social Market Economy because it induces a danger. If professional groups defend their interests in common, they have quite a big chance to dominate not only some of the members of parliament via their professional affiliation but even minister and thus parts of government. Particular interests are served here, even though they are not individual interests but small group interests. This happens at the expense of the general interest when such corporatist groups from within the Social Market Economy delay and sometimes block necessary economic reforms. Following the economic and financial crisis in 2007–2009, the national economic and social system in place in Germany and Austria had become known enough in order for the term “social market economy” to be adopted in art. 3 (3) of the EU Treaty of Lisbon. Thus, this system managed to pass from a national terminology in economic policy, which at times was even taken for a mere political label given in Germany, to a legally consecrated term enshrined in the EU Treaty texts.
A European mechanism for sovereign debt crisis resolution: a proposal. Bruegel Blueprint Series, 9 November 2010
This Bruegel Blueprint argues that Europe should take the lead in defining a solution to the problem of excessive public debts and create a European Crisis Resolution Mechanism (ECRM).The authors, Francois Gianviti, Anne O. Krueger, Jean Pisani-Ferry, Andre Sapir and Jurgen von Hagen, present the rationale for such a mechanism in the euro area and details of how an ECRM would work. The ECRM would be a permanent tool to deal with sovereign debt crises in an effective and predictable way.
Did the metamorphosis from Export Processing Zones to Special Economic Zones improve the efficiency of trade enclaves in India?
In this paper, the efficiency of seven conventional Special Economic Zones in India is analyzed, by adopting a stochastic production frontier technique, for the period between 1986–1987 and 2007–2008.Results indicate that although the efficiency scores of these enclaves have improved over the years, specifically with the introduction of the SEZ policy (2000–2001), it is far below the threshold level as identified in the literature. Besides, one can also observe a discrepancy emerging between better export earning zones and efficient zones. On the determinants side, policy intervention and large geographical area, accompanied by clustering of units, are found to have impacted the efficiency scores of these enclaves positively.