Tue 16/12/2014 - 12:00 Better than official statements or opinion polls, the global success of Thomas Piketty’s latest book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, is indicative of rising global discontent over the distribution of income. Inequality and more specifically the ascent of the super-rich are back on the radar screen. In many countries, they have become social and political issues that no party or government can afford to neglect.

Mon 30/11/2015 - 12:00 By now it is universally accepted that if humankind is to avert the potentially catastrophic consequences of a warming climate, the rise in global temperatures must be kept within 2°C by the year 2100.

Tue 05/07/2016 - 12:00 By the time British citizens went to the polls on June 23 to decide on their country’s continued membership in the European Union, there had been no shortage of advice in favor of remaining. Foreign leaders and moral authorities had voiced unambiguous concern about the consequences of an exit, and economists had overwhelmingly warned that leaving the EU would entail significant economic costs.

Fri 08/07/2016 - 12:00 It goes without saying the world of work has changed radically in the past two decades. The digital economy has created many new economic opportunities, fundamentally altering the way an increasing number of people work.

Mon 20/03/2017 - 12:00 Eight decades ago in the depths of the Great Depression, John Maynard Keynes sparked a revolution with the idea that aggregate demand driven by households, businesses and governments all spending is what propels an economy forward. Contrary to the received wisdom at the time, he asserted that given free rein markets would not lead to full employment, especially during a downturn.

Tue 16/01/2018 - 12:00 The European Union’s raison d’être is guaranteeing its citizens a lasting peace. This ultimately hinges on its member states enjoying a shared economic prosperity – the operative word being ‘shared’.

Wed 28/03/2018 - 12:00 The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, recorded an 83% drop in refugees and migrants fleeing north across the Mediterranean to Europe over the past two years, down to 172,300 last year from a staggering 1,000,573 in 2015.
But these figures belie the reality on the ground. What’s more, they belie the fears the spring thaw is rousing in Brussels of a new migrant crisis.

Fri 24/11/2017 - 12:00 The Good Work review the RSA’s Matthew Taylor conducted for the UK government in 2017 is a blueprint for how the country’s public and private sectors can help ensure UK citizens enjoy fair and decent work, with a minimum level of social protection. As such it is relevant for developed countries such as France, faced as they are with similar labour issues.

Wed 22/11/2017 - 12:00 The fact the far-right eurosceptic party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) secured 94 seats in the Bundestag in the September 2017 federal elections, becoming the third-largest party, belies the image of an economically prosperous and stable country Germany has enjoyed in recent years in France.