Research
Putty Capital and Clay Labor: Differing European Union Capital and Labor Freedom Speeds in Times of European Migration
Globalization has led to unprecedented risks stemming from global interconnectedness. Economic trade may distribute benefits of international exchange unevenly due to fundamental barriers of distance, national borders and implicit market segmentation. In order to equalize more equitable trade prosperity, the European Union (EU) 4 freedoms of goods, services, capital and labor were established by a neoliberal policy framework and the Eurozone featuring a common currency. While there is a vital central monetary union and since the 2008/09 World Financial Crisis a common European fiscal pact, EU free movement is limited regarding labor mobility. This paper is based on the idea that the asymmetry of the mobility of labor and capital leads to the risk of an uneven distribution of gains within the European Union towards some core states against the periphery. In the light of the current European migration, the following paper offers a forward-thinking perspective on potential emergent risks arising within the European Union due to an asymmetry between the mobility of labor on the one hand and capital and goods on the other in times of mass migration.
Intergenerational Climate Change Burden Sharing: An Economics of Climate Stability Research Agenda Proposal
The implementation of climate stability accounts for the most challenging contemporary global governance predicament that seems to pit today’s generation against future world inhabitants. In a trade-off of economic growth versus sustainability, a broad-based international coalition could establish climate stability. As a novel angle towards climate justice, this paper proposes to search for a well-balanced climate mitigation and adaptation public policy mix guided by micro- and macroeconomic analysis results, and a new way of funding climate change mitigation and adaptation policies through broad-based climate stability bonds that also involve future generations that complement taxation and emission trading system solutions. Contemporary climate stability financing strategies are discussed in order to derive recommendations how market economies can be brought to a path consistent with prosperity and sustainability.
The Beauty of Ivy: When Inequality Meets Equality
Thomas Piketty’s (2014) Capital in the 21st Century revolutionized economic thoughts on inequality. Started by the 2008/09 World Financial Crisis and cumulated in the subsequent Occupy movement, attention to rising inequality regarding economic wage, opportunity and wealth led to advocacy for a more equal society. Innovatively, this article argues for a mixture of equality and inequality within a societal network holding value when access to opportunities to transfer implicit wealth is distributed merit-based. By the example of Ivy League educational institutions, but also elaborating on social environments and interaction networks, a novel economic wealth transfer model is proposed. Within an economic system, dyads of unequal crystallized value based on heritage (e.g., royal families, legacy admits) and merit-based equality represented by offspring from families with underprivileged backgrounds, whose outperforming ambition, fluid intelligence and drive may lead to fruitful social interactions and beneficial wealth transfers, may create beneficial economic outcomes. On the societal level, within networks favorable environments may serve as transformation hubs if entered merit-based by underprivileged families.
