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6182. Foreign Fighters
- Author:
- The Soufan Group
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- The Soufan Group
- Abstract:
- In June 2014, The Soufan Group (TSG) released its initial Foreign Fighters in Syria report, which identified approximately 12,000 foreign fighters from 81 countries. Nearly eighteen months later, despite sustained international effort to contain the Islamic State and stem the flow of militants traveling to Syria, the number of foreign fighters has more than doubled. Based on its own investigation, TSG has calculated that between 27,000 and 31,000 people have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State and other violent Salafist groups from at least 86 countries. This increase is evidence that efforts to contain the flow of foreign recruits to the Islamic State and other extremist groups in Syria have had limited impact.
- Topic:
- International Security
- Political Geography:
- Europe
6183. Energy Security and Energy Union Perspectives for Azerbaijan
- Author:
- Rovshan Jamalov and Tahmasib Alizada
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD)
- Abstract:
- Azerbaijan is a reliable partner in the energy security issue for the oil importer countries. Country has sufficiently traditional energy resources which already invested on this energy sector. However, country geographical location gives opportunity in order to use the alternative and renewable energy resources which helps to keep the balance of the utilization of energy resources. The energy security is also main important issue for the country. Therefore, country broaden the relation with the EU in the context of EU energy security and EaP partnership countries.
- Topic:
- Security, Energy Policy, European Union, Renewable Energy, and Geography
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Azerbaijan, and South Caucasus
6184. The Greek “Rescue”: Where Did the Money Go?
- Author:
- Pablo Gabriel Bortz
- Publication Date:
- 11-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
- Abstract:
- This paper analyses the financial assistance provided to Greece in the first two rescue packages granted by the Troika (European Union, European Central Bank and IMF). It looks particularly carefully at claims by Sinn that a third of the public credit granted to Greece financed its current account deficit, while another third funded capital flight by Greek nationals, with only the remaining third used to pay creditors. The paper shows that Sinn inflates the assistance given to Greece by mixing several different concepts in the total. It also critically reviews the claim that the assistance was used to finance the current account deficit or capital flight by Greek citizens. Realistic accounting shows that 54% of the financial assistance provided to Greece was used to repay (foreign) debt, while another 21% was used to recapitalize Greek banks (some of which were owned by foreign institutions). Other claims about the rescue package are also analysed in relation to the treatment of Greek and foreign banking exposure to sovereign debt.
- Topic:
- Economics, Finance, Banking, and Development Assistance
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Greece
6185. The Cyclically Adjusted Budget: History and Exegesis of a Fateful Estimate
- Author:
- Orsola Costantini
- Publication Date:
- 10-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
- Abstract:
- This paper traces the evolution of the concept of the cyclically adjusted budget from the 1930s to the present. The idea of balancing the budget over the cycle was first conceived in Sweden in the 1930s by the economists of the Stockholm School and was soon reinterpreted and incorporated into the fiscal program of the American political coalition supporting the New Deal, especially by the Committee for Economic Development during and after World War II. In the 1960s, Keynesian economists associated with the Kennedy and Johnson administrations reformulated the notion. Despite their claims at the time, their version differed only in degree from the earlier CED approach, the transformation being largely conditioned by changing political circumstances. In the 1980s, however, the concept changed substantially. Methods for calculating it transformed dramatically, as the notion became a device to limit and direct governments’ fiscal policies in a wide sense, that is, including institutional (or “structural”) reforms. The final section of the paper considers the shifting uses of the notion in the European Growth and Stability Pact.
- Topic:
- Economics, Budget, Economic Growth, and Fiscal Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe, North America, and United States of America
6186. The Consumption Response to Liquidity-Enhancing Transfers: Evidence from Italian Earthquakes
- Author:
- Antonio Acconcia and Saverio Simonelli
- Publication Date:
- 06-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
- Abstract:
- Exploiting three earthquakes in Italy as quasi-experiments, we analyse the response of homeowners’ consumption to transfers targeted to finance housing repair and reconstruction. To the extent that funds are made available up-front, these transfers are akin to loans, mainly affecting the liquidity of households’ wealth Exploiting three earthquakes in Italy as quasi-experiments, we analyse the response of homeowners’ consumption to transfers targeted to finance housing repair and reconstruction. To the extent that funds are made available up-front, these transfers are akin to loans, mainly affecting the liquidity of households’ wealth. We show that these transfers have little effect over a multi-year horizon—they are not a windfall. Yet, access to reconstruction transfers has a strong and significant effect on non- durable consumption on impact, especially for households with a low level of liquid wealth and bank debt. In contrast, we find no significant consumption change in response to the in-kind equivalent of cash transfers. Our study contributes to the recent literature on the dynamics of the consumption demand by the wealthy hand-to-mouth, providing micro-evidence in line with the main predictions of the theory.
- Topic:
- Natural Disasters, Homeownership, Housing, Earthquake, and Liquidity
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Italy
6187. The Prince('s) Rules: Economic Theories and Political Struggle in Europe
- Author:
- Orsola Costantini
- Publication Date:
- 04-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
- Abstract:
- The Cyclically Adjusted Budget (CAB) is the estimated size of the public budget at some previously defined level of output which may represent the ‘normal’ output or a policy target and that usually is considered to be unaffected by business fluctuations or cycles. Such an estimate is supposed to isolate the automatic movements of revenues and expenditures, given the current structure of tax and transfers, from discretionary fiscal interventions and indicate the “impact” and sustainability of fiscal action. But this definition hardly does justice to the long and contentious history of this fateful estimate, which has been differently named, interpreted and calculated over the years and played a crucial role in many of the most important controversies in macroeconomics and public policy. This paper traces the evolution of the concept through time, tying it to the history of economic thought as well as economic history and policymaking. The reconstruction illustrates the important role the distribution of power plays in the evolution of economic theory and policy as the historical forms of the state-market relationship evolve. Here, however, we will focus mainly on the case of the European Union and Eurozone.
- Topic:
- Government, Politics, Science and Technology, History, Inequality, and Innovation
- Political Geography:
- Europe
6188. Labour in Europe’s crisis
- Author:
- Mario Pianta
- Publication Date:
- 04-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
- Abstract:
- A structural transformation is investing labour in Europe, accelerated by the crisis started in 2008. Job destruction is dominating employment trends in most EU countries and deep changes are taking place in labour relations, labour market institutions and wage regimes. The focus of this paper is on three issues. First,an overview is offered of the change taking place across EU countries at the level of industries in manufacturing and services. Second, the changes taking place in the structure of employment by professional groups are investigated, showing the factors that account for the evolution of skills. Third, the need for policies is argued, that are not limited to labour market conditions, but address production structures, especially in the countries hardest hit by the crisis.
- Topic:
- Labor Issues, European Union, Crisis Management, and Labor Market
- Political Geography:
- Europe
6189. Top incomes and the glass ceiling
- Author:
- Tony Atkinson, Alessandra Casarico, Sarah Voitchovsky, Facundo Alvaredo, Jorgen Modalsli, and Jakob Søgaard
- Publication Date:
- 03-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
- Abstract:
- This paper studies the glass ceiling by analyzing the presence of women at the top of the income distribution using tax record data reported for a sample of countries with individual taxation. Extending most of the associated literature, the glass ceiling is examined in relation to the distribution of total incomes, thereby bringing self-employment and capital income into the picture. We show that female presence at the top of the distribution has increased, but that these changes do not seem to apply to the very top percentiles, especially in Denmark and the UK. When we look at the gradient in income as one moves up the distribution, we note that the difference between men and women has become larger in the UK, but not in Norway, although Norway displays a lower share of women in almost all top percentiles compared to the other countries in our sample. The analysis of the composition of income reveals that in the UK women have more investment income and less earned income, with the proportion from self-employment being similar for men and women over time. More dramatic changes in composition appear for Spain.
- Topic:
- Gender Issues, Women, Inequality, Income Inequality, Tax Systems, and Glass Ceiling
- Political Geography:
- Europe
6190. Austeritarianism in Europe: What Options for Resistance?
- Author:
- Richard Hyman
- Publication Date:
- 04-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
- Abstract:
- In much of Europe, the social rights and social protections won in the first post-war decades, by labour movements in particular, have subsequently been seriously eroded, and are further threatened by neoliberal austerity. Efforts to resist have been largely unsuccessful; but is an effective fight-back possible? In this paper I first outline the role of the European Union (EU) as a key driver of the recommodification of labour, through its growing emphasis on market ‘freedoms’ as an overriding priority, and on ‘competitiveness’ as the central policy objective for national governments. I discuss how this orientation has been reinforced by the economic crisis, and the ensuing pursuit of austerity and the imposition of ‘new economic governance’. I then survey a range of forms of protest and opposition: trade union action, ‘new’ social movements and engagement in the formal political arena. I suggest that a nuanced evaluation of success and failure is necessary. In conclusion I propose that the articulation of different forms of resistance – cross-nationally and between different actors – is essential in order to stem the neoliberal hegemony.
- Topic:
- Race, Science and Technology, History, Culture, Inequality, Finance, Ethics, Philosophy, Macroeconomics, and Austerity
- Political Geography:
- Europe