Unprecedented is a word that best describes the current state of advanced economies. Interest rates are low in many advanced countries and negative in a few others suggesting that monetary policy has lost its effectiveness. The economic policy tool that has not been implemented yet by many...

The financial collapse of 2007, the accompanying refugee crisis, the health crisis, and the coronavirus pandemic have all played their part in the current gloomy political climate. The left lacks a clear message or strategy to improve the lives of ordinary people. The emphasis on austerity and...

The financial crisis of 2007 clearly demonstrated the declining economic and political hegemony of the European social model. Austerity measures, rationalization, and cuts in all areas of society and the state were encouraged by the EU directorates. These measures have weakened social cohesion...

This study explores the ‘affordability’ of development targets in six key sectors (health, education, water and sanitation, agriculture and infrastructure), by means of an empirical study examining sectoral expenditure in five low income case study countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia,...

Defining the welfare state is not a simpleminded task. Actually, there are numerous definitions which try to reflect at least some of the basic characteristics of the welfare state or its objectives and its functions. For some, there is primarily an institutional parameter, for others there are...

The demographic database of Eurostat and of Us Census of Bureau are explored and the main facts are extracted and described. This paper is completely self-standing but is also part of a more general analysis dedicated to the functioning and sustainability of pay-as-you-go to finance the welfare...

The demographic database of Istat (www.istat.it)is explored and the main facts are extracted and described, both at the aggregate national level as well as at the regional one. This paper is completely self-standing but, at the same time, poses the basis for a more general analysis that will be...

An examination of how increased turnover among legislators in the fifty U.S. states affects fiscal policy and economic growth finds that it makes legislators short-sighted. Turnover increases the size of government by increasing the shares of both total spending and taxes in income. In...

Japan’s national hospital system, which consists of a combination of private, national, prefectural and metropolitan hospitals, is the largest employers of the of the doctors. The article provides details on the women doctors’ discontinuous workforce participation in the Japanese hospital...

: The euro crisis has threatened the balance of social structures, through the impoverishment of the middle class, in almost all countries of the Old Continent. This trend has not only posed a threat to social cohesion, but it also threats the very nature of the so-called Western-style...