28/04/2007 10:27:23 am
Reforms Today and Tomorrow. Right now, I am reading lots of publications about the need for reforms. One of the more poular ones, The Future of Europe - Reform or Decline, by Alberto Alesina and Francesco Giavazzi, can be broadly recommended. The more new parts are about technology and integration. They also effectively break the myth about Europeans working less than Americans because we like leisure time more - it is rather a case of taxes and social security creating disincentives to work.

Tons of studies are published about the essence and effects of globalisation. One of the most interesting, in my view, is Globalisation: the Great Unbundling(s), by Richard Baldwin. He shows how this second wave of globalisation moves us from competition between countires or companies to competition between single employees within companies.

In the policy implications, Baldwin points out that society needs to be set for quick change and points out that politicians can less than ever predict or plan development. For example, European politicians should not believe that state-funds to R&D or pushing people in "information society" jobs would guarantee a winning global position. Rather, it is all about flexibility.