Globalisation and the reform of European social models

In order to profit from the opportunities offered by globalisation and avoid its threats, André Sapir argues that Europe's labour and social institutions need urgent reform.  In this policy brief he argues that two of Europe's social models - the "Nordic" and the "Anglo-Saxon" are efficient, but the "Continental" and "Mediterranean" ones are not. A failure to reform runs the risk not only that Europe might miss opportunities presented by globalisation but also that the Single Market or monetary union could be damaged.

Global currencies for tomorrow: a European perspective

This report examines how the international monetary system (IMS) might evolve and the implications of different scenarios for the euro area over the next fifteen years.After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system forty years ago, the IMS gradually developed into its present state, a hybrid mix of exchange-rate flexibility, capital mobility and monetary independence. The US dollar retains a dominant, but not exclusive, role and the IMS governance system blends regional and multilateral surveillance. It combines IMF-based and ad-hoc liquidity provision. Although it has proved resilient during the crisis, partly thanks to ad-hoc arrangements, the IMS has serious flaws, which are likely to be magnified by the rapid transformation of the global economy and the increasing economic power of emerging economies.

The governance and performance of universities: evidence from Europe and the US

"We test the hypothesis that universities are more productive when they are both more autonomous and face more competition. Using survey data, we construct indices of university autonomy and competition for both Europe and the United States. We show that there are strong positive correlations between these indices and multiple measures of university output. To obtain causal evidence, we investigate exogenous shocks to US universities' expenditures over three decades. These shocks arise through the political appointment process, which we use to generate instrumental variables. We find that an exogenous increase in a university's expenditure generates more output, measured by either patents or publications, if the university is more autonomous and faces more competition. Exploiting variation over time in the 'stakes' of competitions for US federal research grants, we also find that universities generate more output for a given expenditure when research competitions are high stakes. We draw lessons, arguing that European universities could benefit from a combination of greater autonomy and greater accountability. Greater accountability might come through increased reliance on competitive grants, enhanced competition for students and faculty (promoted by reforms that increase mobility), and yardstick competitions (which often take the form of assessment exercises)." Copyright (c) CEPR, CES, MSH, 2010.