The adoption of a new instrument of governance in the EU - the open-method-of-coordination - has renewed the notion of convergence/divergence across EU member states. This paper examines the role of European integration in shaping and changing social welfare systems and investigates whether...

This note describes how research on the link between globalization and openness has changed over time. Early contributions assumed that countries develop welfare states to compensate for volatility caused by economic openness (the compensation hypothesis). Recent findings have cast doubts on...

This paper studies the effects of globalization on the ability of governments to generate tax revenues for the financing of national welfare states. In this context, it summarizes the theoretical predictions of various economic models of tax competition between countries and discusses the role...

Societies and economies are experiencing deep and intertwined structural changes that may unsettle the perceptions European citizens have of their economic and employment security. Such labour-market perceptions are likely in turn to alter people's political positions. For instance, those...

In this paper, I quantify the role of media in the formation of support for unemployment insurance. Theory suggests that individuals who feel threatened by globalization demand compensatory policies. Using a novel method of quantitative text analysis, I derive measures on the stance to...

Two predictable narratives dominate today's immigration debate. One version of the story involves “illegal aliens” who enter the country without permission, take American jobs, drain public resources, and refuse to acculturate. The other description involves “undocumented immigrants” who...

For decades, migration economics has stressed the effects of migration restrictions on income distribution in the host country. Recently the literature has taken a new direction by estimating the costs of migration restrictions to global economic efficiency. In contrast, a new strand of research...