Middle class incomes in the EU are highest in Luxembourg, Denmark, Finland, Austria, and Sweden, and lowest in Eastern European countries. The middle class in Bulgaria and Romania are at the bottom of EU nominal incomes, but their living costs are just half of the EU average. When accounting for...

The need for larger public investment in Europe drew attention to its role in the EU fiscal governance. The current reform proposal of the European Commission aims to incentivize higher public investment by softening deficit rules, likely at the cost of incurring higher deficits. If fiscal rules...

Radical parties and populists benefit from deteriorating macroeconomic conditions. For voters, the overall economic development appears to be more important than their actual personal economic situation. The most important economic factors explaining the rise of populism as well as the loss of...

Populist-led countries tend to experience lower economic growth and less integration into the global economy compared to countries not governed by populists. Recent studies at the municipal level provide convincing evidence of the impact of populists in office. During their tenure, populist...