The paper questions the predominant view on unemployment and wages in the European Union according to which high unemployment is primarily caused by labour market rigidities, i.e. social institutions and regulations which prevent ?market-clearing? real wage levels and structures. It is shown...

Since the mid-1990s the German system of collective bargaining with its traditional dominance of sector-level agreements has been faced by a process of creeping erosion. While the bargaining coverage has shown a steady decline, a far-reaching decentralisation has increasingly undermined the...

Considering the degree of political and economic integration in Europe, trade unions can no longer stick to purely national strategies. Since the 1980s the key political projects of European integration have played a major role to force the neoliberal reorganisation of European capitalism...

Based on a post-Keynesian model of the relationship between wages, prices and employment, this paper begins by studying the extent to which unit labour cost trends have been responsible for disinflation and deflationary tendencies in Germany and Europe. Thereafter, the reasons for the...

Als Antwort auf die Krise in Europa hat sich innerhalb der EU ein neues System der Economic Governance herausgebildet. Im Rahmen einer intensivierten wirtschaftspolitischen Koordinierung ist dabei die Lohnpolitik immer mehr ins Zentrum gerückt und hat neue Formen einer direkten politischen...