This Background Analysis examines the concept of tax shifting and makes a critical assessment as to what 'tax shifting' aims to achieve. It also sets out what a good tax system might look like and provides an overview of the development of both tax rates and tax revenues for the past decades.The... Find out more

This working paper maps out developments of industrial relations in Central-Eastern Europe (CEE) during the period 2008-2014. It looks at wage trends and public sector austerity measures, collective bargaining practices, social dialogue performance and the incidence of strikes and protests.The paper... Find out more

This working paper looks at recent structural reforms of the Spanish labour market and evaluates them against the government’s stated objectives to reduce unemployment.It concludes that the labour market flexibilisation approach has not helped to reduce unemployment, nor has it contributed to the... Find out more

This Working Paper aims to shed light on the machinations behind recent developments regarding the Better Regulation agenda. How should we interpret the Commission’s insistence on relentlessly attacking its own legislation? Why does it constantly refer to the costs, yet never once mention the... Find out more

While the European intersectoral social dialogue has been, according to the Commission’s own admission, dragging its feet for the last few years on account of a lack of commitment on the part of the private sector employers, the sectoral social dialogue is often presented as a more dynamic and... Find out more

This report looks at the impact of the crisis on health care reform patterns in ten EU countries (France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and the UK-England). It assesses the changing allocation of responsibilities for regulation, financing, and provision... Find out more

This working paper reviews the findings of the most prominent studies on the economic impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), focussing on those commissioned by the European Commission and by the German government. It casts doubt on the methods used and concludes that... Find out more

Based on a comparative survey of members of fourteen European trade unions in twelve countries, this working paper tries to answer the questions why people retain their trade union membership in times of declining unionisation. The paper shows that the presence and performance of workplace... Find out more

This Working Paper provides a qualitative assessment of one of Europe 2020's flagship initiatives: the 'European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion' (EPAP).The paper argues that a transformed EPAP has the potential to provide strong added value for the EU's toolbox in the fight against... Find out more

This working paper provides a legal analysis of the inclusion of social and environmental clauses in the modernisation of the EU's public procurement directives. It focuses in particular on Directive 2014/24/EU and evaluates the measures and provisions dealing with the obligation to comply with... Find out more