May 2020

The Time has Finally Come to Start Deconstitutionalizing the EU

by Jean-Claude Barbier

Mario Draghi will be famous for many things in the future, but mainly for two: one is the astonishingly bold choice he made to act “whatever it took” (his “whatever, though, never included the act of sharing debts, Vergemeinschaftung in German, among the nation-states of the EU); but the other one is his very unfortunate declaration to the Wall Street Journal (2012), according to which the “European social model had already gone”.

The Basic Income Debate: Keeping it Intelligent

by Malcolm Torry

Introduction

During the past five years or so we have seen growing interest in the idea of a Basic Income (also known as a Citizen’s Income, a Citizen’s Basic Income, or a Universal Basic Income), that is, an unconditional income for every individual. Increasing income insecurity has clearly been one of the reasons for that increase in interest, so it is no surprise that during the coronavirus crisis, which has seen incomes become even less secure, we have seen an even larger increase in interest in Basic Income.

How can scientists collaborate to end the social distancing measures?

by Koen Decancq

In this brief note, I sketch a framework that may help us to think about finding an exit-strategy from the Covid-19 social distancing measures. The central idea of the framework is that these measures have an impact on the reproduction number as well as on social welfare. While the reproduction number is clearly defined, the notion of social welfare is a bit more elusive. I argue that social welfare should be conceived in a multidimensional way, giving extra weight to the fate of the worst-off.