Les raisons de la peur : Les classes moyennes sont-elles protégées de la crise ?

L’idée qu’en France les classes moyennes bénéficieraient d’une protection particulière vis-à-vis de la crise est très répandue : selon ce point de vue, les priorités sociales d’aujourd’hui seraient avant tout de l’ordre de politiques ciblées sur les plus fragiles, plus que d’une approche systémique ayant pour objet la solution des difficultés du salariat et du travail. Cette note de l'OFCE propose un tout autre diagnostic et met en évidence, à l’inverse, la remontée par capillarité des difficultés sociales des classes populaires (employés et ouvriers, qui constituent respectivement les fractions tertiaires et industrielles du salariat d’exécution) vers le noyau central de la société française (...)

The Long-Term Destabilization of Youth, Scarring Effects and the Future of the Welfare Regime in Post-Trente Glorieuse France

"Youth" was once defined as the 15 to 24 year old age group. Today in France one sees a "first youth" (dependent on family and school) and a "second youth" in their twenties sharply divided between a successful elite with top degrees (or family wealth) and a highly marginalized workingclass. Between these extremes, a middle group often experiences frustration and anomie when their university degrees fail to launch the careers they desired. A "third youth" of thirty-somethings has also emerged still dependent on their families and the state. The French corporatist welfare regime, moreover, makes women, immigrants, and the young structural outsiders who must compete harder than Caucasian middle-aged men for jobs. Setbacks early in life in the labor market have long-term consequences (scarring effects) both for individuals and for the birth cohort as a whole. The political consequences are difficult to forecast, but much of the recent political volatility in France can be traced to these generational dynamics and failure to integrate youth since the late 1970s

Comment définir les victimes du changement social cohortal ?

En raison de ses connotations historiques, la notion même de « génération sacrifiée » dramatise à l’extrême une question qui exige au contraire une juste analyse, sans laquelle nous risquons de ne rien comprendre à ce que la société française vit depuis les années 1980. Le syntagme même évoque Barrès, Péguy, Mortier, la droite nationaliste d’avant 1914, puis celle ultra-catholique ou fasciste d’après 1, mais le risque de dramatisation fait trop souvent écran à la réalité des choses, qu’il s’agit ici de considérer froidement.[Premier paragraphe

Existe-t-il un modèle européen de structure sociale?.

En Europe, le lien entre structure professionnelle et hiérarchies de scolarité et de revenu diffère d’un pays à l’autre. La comparaison met en évidence l’existence de trois modèles : les pays les moins avancés d’Europe sont aussi les plus inégaux, marqués qu’ils sont par un écart important entre les ouvriers et les qualifiés du tertiaire; à l’opposé, les pays germaniques connaissent une structure sociale plus floue, avec des hiérarchies peu marquées et des liens relativement faibles entre les échelles; les pays latins sont intermédiaires, caractérisés par un lien fort entre éducation, profession et revenu, même si l’écart de rémunération entre les plus et les moins qualifiés est dans la moyenne européenne.

Comparing Welfare Regime Changes: Living Standards and the Unequal Life Chances of Different Birth Cohorts

This article focuses on inter-and intra-cohort inequalities of living standards in a comparative perspective, underlining the diversity of national responses to the challenges of economic slow down, stronger economic competition and globalisation and their implications on different age groups. The aim is to make a connection between national Welfare regimes and the emergence of specific cohort-based economic constraint patterns in different countries, which are about to produce specific social generations2. I highlight the emergence of ‘scarring effects’; that is the irreversible consequences of (short term) social fluctuations in the context of socialisation on the (long term) life chances of different birth cohorts. These scarring effects can affect specific birth cohorts in countries where the welfare regime provides the context for increasing polarisation between middle-aged insiders and young outsiders. This is characterised by a lack of resilience to early career difficulties faced by cohorts of young adults

Veränderungen im Wohlfahrtsstaat: ungleiche Lebensstandards und -chancen der verschiedenen Kohorten

"Der vorliegende Artikel beschäftigt sich zum einen mit dem Vergleich von Lebensstandards zwischen und innerhalb der Kohorten, zum anderen erläutert er die unterschiedlichen nationalen Antworten auf die Herausforderungen des verlangsamten Wirtschaftswachstums, der steigenden wirtschaftlichen Konkurrenz, der Globalisierung sowie die Auswirkung dieser Faktoren auf die verschiedenen Altersgruppen. Es soll der Zusammenhang zwischen den jeweiligen Typen von Wohlfahrtsstaaten und dem Aufkommen bestimmter kohorten-spezifischer, ökonomischer Ereignisse, die 'soziale Generationen' hervorbringen, aufgezeigt werden. Ich möchte die Entstehung von 'narbenbildenden Effekten' hervorheben; darunter verstehe ich die irreversiblen Konsequenzen der (kurzfristigen) sozialen Fluktuation im Kontext der Sozialisation auf (langfristige) Lebenschancen der verschiedenen Kohorten. Diese Effekte betreffen vor allem junge Kohorten in den Ländern, in denen der Staat zum einen die Polarisierung zwischen Insidern und Outsidern auf dem Arbeitsmarkt begünstigt und zum anderen jungen Erwachsener keine Unterstützung beim Einstieg in den Arbeitsmarkt bietet." (Autorenreferat

Sukupolvet eriarvoisuuden lähteenä

Teema: pohjoismainen hyvinvointivaltio. Artikkeli perustuu alustukseen, joka pidettiin 28.1.2008 Suomalaisen Tiedeakatemian juhlaseminaarissa "Pohjoismaat: malli vai umpikuja?"

Increases in wellbeing in the transition to retirement for the unemployed: catching up with formerly employed persons

This paper examines the extent to which wellbeing levels change in the transition to retirement depending on transitioning from being employed, unemployed or economically inactive. Whereas transitioning from employment to unemployment has been found to cause a decrease in subjective wellbeing with more time spent in unemployment, it is not clear how transitioning from unemployment to retirement affects wellbeing levels. We use the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe to monitor the life satisfaction of respondents who retire in between two waves. We portray wellbeing scores before and after retirement and then identify the change in life satisfaction during the retirement transition using a First Difference model. Results indicate that being unemployed before retirement is associated with an increase in life satisfaction, but presents mainly a catching-up effect compared to employed persons transitioning to retirement. These results are still significant if we control for selection into unemployment and country differences. Retirement from labour market inactivity does not lead to significant changes in wellbeing. As the wellbeing of unemployed persons recovers after transitioning to retirement, especially the currently unemployed population should be supported to prevent detrimental consequences of economically unfavourable conditions and lower wellbeing

The Influence of General Exceptions on the Interpretation of National Treatment in International Investment Law

Recent International Investment Agreements have incorporated General Exceptions similar to GATT Article XX in order to balance the respect of National Treatment and protection of States’ right to regulate. The purpose of this piece is to determine if these exceptions are a suitable choice in order to achieve this objective or if another option would be preferable. We first established that General Exceptions are operative exceptions and not interpretative statements. This allowed to assess their effect on the interpretation of national treatment and we managed to prove their potentially detrimental effect on the right to regulate. Then, we searched for other means to interpret National Treatment compatible with general exceptions but none appears to be really effective in achieving the purpose to balance protection of investments and State’s right to regulate. As a consequence, a final study for other treaty wording achieving the stated objective allows to conclude that the most suitable choice would be to codify selected arbitral award allowing to take into account public policy objectives to determine if two investors are in same circumstances, therefore securing the contemplated balance