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1.

EU Governance by self co-ordination? [er] : towards a collective ‘gouvernement économique’ : GOVECOR. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

GOVECOR has studied a vital part of EU governance: self-coordination in the area of fiscal and employment policy and their impact on European integration between 1997 and 2003. It has explored the impact of the new treaty provisions (articles 125-130 and 104 TEC) on the emergence, evolution and transformation of these modes of governance. The starting point was: how do governmental and non-governmental actors understand, use and adapt these legal empowerments? Looking at the combined impact of the legal provisions across levels of governance (vertical dimension) and across governing modes in the selected policy fields (horizontal dimensions), we have sketched four ideal-type scenarios (bounded, loose, tight, and collective coordination) of how those governance modes could impact on multi-level governance. We expected that the new legal provisions on ‘hard’ (fiscal policy) and ‘soft’ (employment policy) coordination would act together with pre-existing central institutions to result not only in a ‘ratchet effect’ or a ‘locking-in’ of the new status quo, but also in an further expansion of rule application, leading to deeper integration through Treaty amendments. Contrary to our initial expectations, however, those modes have not evolved in the direction of the ideal-types of tight or collective coordination, which could be seen as a stepping-stone for a ‘ratchet fusion process’: - The new legal provisions have not encouraged a co-evolution of the policy coordination modes. While we have observed evidence for an intensified use, scope extension, proliferation and streamlining of policy coordination processes below the level of treaty change, economic policy coordination modes have not been fundamentally transformed or comprehensively altered economic policy-making especially on the national level. - European policy coordination modes have not yet fully integrated with domestic structures of policy-making, interest mediation and public deliberation. Compliance and adaptation was at best moderate, despite publicly stated commitments by the member states, pointing to a systematic and in some areas widening ‘commitment implementation gap’ of policy coordination. Even though policy coordination, both in its hard and soft form, has caused upgrading effects with regard to some dimensions of national political systems, our study uncertain raises doubts about whether self-coordination modes can be more than a supplement to the domestic process of formulating, deciding and implementing national socio-economic policies. 14 - Surprisingly, our results showed that the differences between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ coordination in terms of adaptation and compliance on average were not substantial. The only exception have been publicised discourses on these two governing modes: European fiscal policy co-ordination has established itself as a real factor in national press discourses of policy choices and we have sometimes even seen the emergence of cross-national debates. - Even though key policy actors are gradually developing a European perspective – and to that extent it is accurate to speak of deliberative supranationalism – there are clear limits of discursive mechanisms to affect preference change and to ensure implementation. Given the lack of involvement of national parliaments and intermediary actors, doubts must also be raised over the ability of policy coordination modes to overcome gaps in democratic participation in European multi-level governance. For the time being, both modes of governance can be described as a kind of loose coordination. There are even indications for a largely informal process of reverse spill over in the area of fiscal policy, which is driven by political actors’ growing realisation of the real consequences of a previous integrative step (the creation of monetary union). Five years of testing and applying the new legal provisions has not hampered an extension of soft coordination to new policy fields, but has not increased political support for harder rules. Differences among member states arising from divergent economic conditions, welfare state arrangements, and economic philosophies have stopped significant steps towards a ‘gouvernement économique’. In the foreseeable future we expect that governing modes will not converge towards a single model, but become more hybrid and complex, as the new and separate provisions for euro zone member states in the Draft Constitutional Treaty indicate.

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2.

Migrants, minorities, belongings and citizenship [er] : glocalization and participation dilemmas in EU and small states : Glocalmig. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

How is coexistence in diversity possible? In what sorts of social and public spaces can diversity be accommodated? Are there some empirical prototypes of such inclusive public spaces in Europe, which can be investigated as a model for a future European diverse society? Glocalmig sought answers to these questions in six European “glocal public spaces”. It developed novel research tools for investigating the quality of citizenships in six European countries. Quality of citizenships is defined in terms of alignments and misalignments between the existing citizenship institutions/structures and citizens’ and residents’ preferences/interests emanating from their diverse belongings. The project also designed research tools to detect the existing institutions and structures that are inclusive and democratic enough to eliminate misalignments as well as to propose alternative ways of reducing the misalignments. These research tools have been successfully tested, and the knowledge that is created is through their use is novel and has certain potential policy implications. One finding in Glocalmig concerns the situations of people with high degrees of mind mobility between diverse references of identification. These persons are able to move in and out of their own modes of being and to relate themselves to others on an egalitarian basis. Another important common feature is that they are dissatisfied with the existing institutions and structures of citizenship that are not capacitated to do the same. In their localities, they create their small diverse societies without borders –i.e., in glocal spaces. Most of the respondents whom we interviewed participate more in glocal spaces than in national and essentialized spaces. Although we do not have a comprehensive empirical basis to suggest this, we suppose that the number of such people is not small in Europe. Based on the features of our small qualitative sample, we also suppose that part of the “home-sitters” in local, national, and European elections belong to this group of people who do not relate themselves to the existing homogeneous citizenship structures and institutions but to the alternative structures and institutions of diversity – such as "glocal sites", which they perceive as more capable of responding to their preferences and needs. Glocal spaces accommodate all sorts of belongings, groups, social movements, etc; and they also establish solid links between the numeric, corporate, and essentialized public spaces in a diverse environment. Glocal spaces seem to be a natural meeting place for all and can also be investigated/thought of as a model of a diverse society and as accommodating the types of individuals and groups who can cohabit a social and political space of diversity. In other words, these sites of meeting may be considered as a model for a future “European public sphere”. 11 The above statement should be regarded as a scientifically justified and legitimate hypothesis to be investigated further. Provided that this hypothesis proves valid in the future through comprehensive qualitative and quantitative research in Europe proper, it will be fruitful both for the European Union and for these individuals that the Union encourage further development of "glocal spaces" and the diversity mode of being that is being created in these sites. This may, on the one hand, help these individuals to feel more included, and on the other hand, provide legitimacy to the European Union amongst these groups.

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3.

The eastward enlargement of the Eurozone [er] : Ezoneplus. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

Before long the EU’s new member states will join the European Monetary Union (EMU) and introduce the Euro. There can be no doubt that taking such a step will accelerate their incorporation into the European integration process. At the same time, however, fierce economic and political risks are likely to arise both for the new and for the old member countries. In the first place, the new EU members in Central Europe (CE) expect an early accession to the eurozone to result in a rise in capital imports which will allow for a narrowing of the economic gap between the old and the new members that will undoubtedly continue to exist for decades to come. Fixed exchange rates and even a common currency will foster trust and intensify the exchange of goods, services, capital and labour between both regions, while the concurrent economic growth will contribute to political and economic stability in CE. The introduction of the euro in Central Europe, however, will be attended by considerable economic, political and social risks. Both production and finance structures in Central and Eastern Europe have not yet completely overcome the heritage of decades of communist central planning. Thus, a rapid and premature elimination of monetary and exchange rate autonomy may lead to social hardships that are likely to destabilise these countries. This is particularly true for the labour markets which, as a consequence of monetary opening, are likely to be liberalised. Since structural unemployment, inherited from the planned economic system, remains high, the number of social losers is likely to rise and societal polarisation increase. Probably the biggest problem the new EU members have to face is their current account deficit, which limits the rooms for political and economic manoeuvring. These deficits, however, are almost entirely financed by volatile capital imports. A way out may be the smooth conveyance of economic strategy from a foreign investment dominated growth path to one of sustainable growth that attempts to minimise the risks of financial crisis. This is particularly true for monetary and exchange rate policies which have to induce the trust of the financial markets with respect to both the choice of the exchange rate regime as well as the actual exchange rate. The success of enlargement depends both on the speed of the process and on the procedure how to implement the right political and economic mechanisms towards sustainable self-financed growth. A corresponding catalogue of economic policy instruments contains measures that support the liberalisation of goods and factor markets, the stimulation of education and 14 infrastructure, as well as those tax and fiscal activities that induce domestic savings and investment. By employing these measures the current account deficits can be gradually reduced and a sustainable convergence of the new EU members’ towards the old ones’ economic growth may be achieved. The more effective these measures are employed, the earlier these countries are prepared to compete on the all-European market and to accomplish sustainable growth. Such a development will not be felt as a burden to the „old“ EU members. Thus, it is in the well-understood self-interest of the „old“ members themselves to support these adjustment processes because it reduces or even eliminates the risks of providing assistance against a betting economic and political destabilisation in Central Europe once the euro is finally introduced.

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4.

The impact of women’s studies training on women’s employment in Europe [er]. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

The project found that Women’s Studies as a discipline is not fully established in any European country, that most women take it as a module within a traditional discipline and come across Women’s Studies by chance once they are at university. Those who take Women’s Studies are more likely than students from other arts and humanities disciplines to want to remain in education. The latter is a key factor in determining labour market participation. The EU should therefore use the Bologna process to ensure that Women’s Studies as a discipline is fully established in all European countries. Women with Women’s Studies training acquire skills and knowledge such as gender expertise, critical thinking, self-confidence, tolerance towards diversity, and the ability to argue effectively that are useful in a large range of occupations. Women’s Studies graduates enter a wide variety of occupations and do so to a significant extent at professional level. They tend to outperform their mothers, entering both a wider range of occupations than their mothers and at higher (professional/managerial) levels. Such students report that the greatest impact of their Women’s Studies training is on how they conduct themselves at work. This typically includes standing up for oneself and others when discriminated against; refusing to put up with sexism at work; feeling more confident in making applications for promotion and changes in jobs; carrying out one’s work in a self-consciously non-sexist manner; becoming more tolerant towards diversity; introducing gender issues into their workplace; and being more supportive of female colleagues. Such students thus function as change agents in the workplace. More research is needed to understand precisely how they operate in the workplace.

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5.

The transformation of political mobilisation and communication in European public spheres [er]. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

This project investigates the discrepancy between Europe's institutional development, and the continuing predominance of the national political space as the arena for public debates. This 'public sphere deficit' is a core aspect of Europe's 'democratic deficit'. We study the Europeanisation of public communication and mobilisation by comparing across seven countries, seven issue fields (monetary politics, agriculture, immigration, defence, education, pensions, and European integration), in the period 1990-2002. We also investigate differences among collective actors, with a special focus on the contribution of civil society actors to Europeanised public debates and controversies. Methodologically, we combine content analysis of thousands of newspaper articles and web pages, network analyses of weblinks, and interviews with hundreds of representatives of interest groups, NGOs and political parties, as well as with policy-makers and news media professionals. Our results indicate that the Europeanisation of public contestation has strengthened the influence of state and executive actors who have almost exclusive hegemony in debates over European issues. Civil society actors have hardly gained any foothold on the European level. Europeanisation of public spheres has therefore tended to make public debates less inclusive and less egalitarian. The differential access of actors to European public debates is strongly related to actors’ evaluation of the European integration process and their assessment of European institutions. This suggests that the unequal access to European public debates has negative repercussions on support for European integration and European institutions, especially among civil society actors.

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6.

Analysing public accountability procedures in contemporary European contexts [er]. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

The aim of this project was (1) to analyse public accountability in relation to three different policy-making areas (GM crops, household waste and transport infrastructure projects) in seven national settings, as well as at European level; and (2) to discuss the significance of public accountability for contemporary democratic governance and legitimacy. Using an expanded conceptual framework – that goes beyond the traditional conceptualisation in terms of formal provisions for openness and scrutiny within state institutions, and relates public accountability to policy- and decision-making processes, the dynamics of social mobilisation, and wider public sphere discourse – seven national profiles were drawn up and 21 empirical case studies were carried out. The research findings point to the following characteristics of public accountability in contemporary European contexts that have policy implications: first, there are substantial differences in the normative conceptualisation and practical experience of public accountability in the seven countries analysed. Second, the differences in the conceptualisation and use of public accountability can be explained with the different historical, political and cultural traditions in the countries analysed. Third, there is a significant difference between the provision of formal structures and procedures of public accountability through state systems, on the one hand, and the ‘practice’ and ‘lived’ experience of public accountability in policy-making and public sphere discourse, on the other. Fourth, there has been a growth in ‘extra-parliamentary’ public accountability processes and social mobilisation processes initiated by civil society actors within the public sphere in response to the perceived dysfunction of formal public accountability provisions. Fifth, the processes of ‘Europeanisation’ has had a double-sided impact on public accountability procedures and discourses. Finally, scientific-technological policy issues are differently characterised in the seven national contexts.

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7.

European social survey [er] : development and round 1. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

The European Social Survey (ESS) is a new multi-country biennial survey, the first round of which comprised 22 nations. It has two main aims. First, it seeks to measure, monitor and interpret changing public attitudes within Europe and the way in which they interact with Europe’s changing institutions. Second, it seeks to advance and consolidate improved methods of cross-national quantitative measurement within Europe and beyond. Drawing on the best examples at national and international level, the ESS has already produced a rich, publicly available dataset. The format in which it is available makes it easily accessible not only to the social science and policy communities in Europe and beyond, but also to the mass media and other interested users via the worldwide web. The dataset is freely available without charge to any interested user. The ESS has been designed as a regular biennial study that will measure change over time. The questionnaire is in two parts. A core section comprises a stable set of key measures designed to monitor critical aspects of social change within and between countries over time. A second section comprises rotating modules, the content of which changes at each round in response to a Europe-wide competition for proposals. In Round 1 these modules were on ‘Attitudes to immigration’ and ‘Citizenship, involvement and democracy’ respectively. Round 1 has provided benchmark measures which, when supplemented by data from future rounds, will provide evidence on the speed and direction of change in underlying public values over time. Even in an increasingly well-documented age, such data have hitherto been far from widely available. In addition, the ESS has attempted to pioneer and ‘prove’ a standard of methodology for cross-national attitude surveys that has hitherto not been considered achievable.

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8.

Organised civil society and European governance [er]. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

The project’s goal was to provide an answer to the compelling question: To what extent do the activities of public-interest associations, activist coalitions, and movement-parties bridge the large gap between the European citizenry and European level policymaking? The project studied the modalities and outcomes of participation of civil society organisations in three sectors: environmental, regional and anti-racist policy. In each sector two distinct policy issues were considered which corresponded to a different mix of civil society organisations. In the environmental sector the sub-sectors were the GMO issue and transport related issues. It was useful to compare these two sectors as one (transport) was an older policy area which many observers perceive mainly in its technical and economic dimension while GMO is a newer area that is currently highly salient in European media. In the regionalist sector the two sub-sectors were minority languages and structural policy. The topic of minority languages is often perceived in its cultural aspects while the issue of structural funds involves many economic actors. The two sub-sectors in the anti-racist sector were issues relating to labour market and cultural issues of support for anti-racist initiatives in the cultural sphere.

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9.

Employment prospects in the knowledge economy [er]. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

The main purpose of this research project was to examine the impact of the adoption and diffusion of knowledge generating activities on economic performance in Europe. The primary focus of the research was on considering employment generation and productivity growth and the demand for skilled labour in the context of increased investment in information and communications technology (ICT) equipment, contrasting EU performance with the US. The analysis was carried out at both the industry and firm level.

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10.

Societal and economic effects on quality of life and well-being [er] : preference identification and priority setting in response to changes in labour market status. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

Public policy is increasingly promoting ‘flexible’ labour-market practices involving ‘atypical’ forms of employment (part-time work, temporary or non-standard working hour contracts and the like) as a response to structural changes in the European economies. However, the deregulation of the institutional framework that had traditionally characterised the labour markets of Europe has had repercussions on job security and individual well-being. For this reason, the Lisbon agenda supports the improvement of job quality by arguing in favour of 'more jobs through better jobs'. The aim of the Epicurus project is, thus, to examine how these recent trends have affected the (stated) well-being and job satisfaction of individuals in Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. Data obtained from the European Community Household Panel, from a seven-country wide Epicurus survey of low and medium skilled workers and from economic laboratory experiments are used. The results confirm existing concerns regarding the harmful ‘scarring effect’ of unemployment and suggest a need for policies that aim at smoothing transitions from unemployment and inactivity to employment. Job satisfaction is shown to be the most important facet of life satisfaction implying that the authorities should endorse policies that promote high employment levels and reduce the likelihood of unemployment.

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11.

Economic growth and innovation in multicultural environments [er]. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

Diversity is increasingly at the core of the academic and political debate. On the one hand, diversity is referred to as a main asset for development and human welfare. At the global level, the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (UNESCO, 2001) states that 'cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature' (Art. 1). Similarly, at the European level, diversity is seen as the core concept of European identity (and 'United in Diversity' is the motto proposed by the European Constitution). On the other hand, the processes of European integration, enlargement, new migration flows and the compression of time and space induced by globalisation bring diversity to the forefront, facing policy-makers with formidable questions, concerning as different areas as migration, labour market, education and language policies as well as the physical, political and social structure of cities. These processes raise a series of questions to policy-makers, which touch upon different areas of policy-making, ranging from labour market, education, migration policies to issues related to urban areas, governance and political responsibility, citizenship. Building on six inter-disciplinary workshops, we propose a policy framework for dealing with diversity. In the new framework, a priori rules are replaced by issue-specific negotiation processes, whose decisions are valid only over a definite time span. The negotiation processes are characterised by three conditions. Firstly, negotiation does not start with the assumption of commonality nor strives towards commonality. Rather, compatibility of actions should be searched. The act of defining common values and motives implies the danger of establishing the superiority of one form of life and the inferiority of another. The principle is to promote dialogue between individuals and groups with different identities without asking these actors to develop a shared system of basic values or common worldview. Secondly, the relationships among different individuals and groups take place in an open/heterogeneous setting, rather than in a closed/homogenous setting. Flexible system boundaries allow connections and relationships outside the core. Finally, in searching for compatibility of the actions, parties of the negotiation process need to avoid a discourse of cultural rights and fixed identities. Rather, they need to strive for non-ethnicisation, e.g. to avoid attributing the reasons of particular behaviours and practices to the cultural backgrounds of the other. Although the analytical focus was on the cities, such a framework derives from broader considerations and is therefore more generally applicable.

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12.

European liberty and security [er] : security issues, social cohesion and institutional development of the European Union. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

The ELISE project aimed at developing adequate conceptual tools for a better understanding of security issues in modern European societies, while at the same time providing a framework for policy responses to future crises which do not undermine civil liberties, human rights and social cohesion. To achieve this, ELISE has proceeded in three complementary directions. First, it has sought to develop a better and more comprehensive understanding of contemporary security challenges. Second, it has sought to develop a detailed account of the development of security policies at both the national and EU levels – especially in the aftermath of events such as those of 11 September 2001 – and of their impact on EU societies and their cohesion. Third, it has sought to identify the primary institutional challenges now confronting both Member States and the EU as a consequence of the many forces that are reshaping the relation between liberty and security in many different contexts.

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13.

Education and wage inequality in Europe [er]. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

The EU and most national governments consider educational expansion as an important policy tool for reversing or slowing the rise in inequality observed in a growing number of European countries. At the same time, emerging evidence reveals that aggregate wage inequality is due not only to differences in educational attainment but also to disparities within educational groups. This project has addressed the key question of the interplay between educational expansion and wage inequality in Europe. It has aimed to understand and explain the observed patterns and trends and to study the practical implications for economic and social policy.

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14.

Economic change [er] : micro-foundations of organisational and institutional changes in Europe. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

The project has focused on some of the key organisational changes that are taking place with the advent of the 'knowledge-based' economy. Specifically, the main objective of the project has been to provide an analytical contribution to understand the microfoundations of this new phase of economic growth that appears to depend on organisational changes to the way production and innovation are organised and financed. This implies an important division of labour that can happen either by separating tasks technically, geographically or organisationally. In turn, this implies that technologies can be disembodied from products, allowing the emergence of markets where technologies can be traded. These issues and the implications for the innovation process have been addressed by studying issues such as licensing, the geographic interaction of the innovation process, Silicon Valley models and the case of open source software. Apart from changes in the innovations process, important changes in the production itself are being witnessed. The effects on entry and exit of new firms are first analysed, to later move to the role of large corporations, complemented by the analysis of strategies of small and medium firms, the cumulative nature of innovation and skill-biased technical progress. The analysis is completed by describing the changing pattern of agglomeration of economic activities, and its implications for trade and productivity. New financial instruments and markets have emerged and the role of spin-offs and initial public offerings have to be studied carefully. Finally the institutional setup is important, both from the point of view of intellectual property rights as well as from the political and regulatory environment. Overall, the picture emerging from this project shows important changes in the production and innovation process.

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15.

Population policy acceptance study [er] : the viewpoint of citizens and policy actors regarding the management of population-related change. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

The overarching objective of the population policy acceptance study (PPAS) is the analysis based on cross-sectional survey data on European’s practices, attitudes and opinions concerning demographic changes, fertility behaviour, intergenerational exchange of resources and services, and population-related policies. The study aims to analyse values and attitudes affecting fertility decisions, perception of advantages and disadvantages of having children, meaning of family and parenthood, aspirations in life, opinions and attitudes towards population policy issues and measures, role of government in providing support to families and preferences and aspirations regarding gender roles, paid labour and family life. One of its main goals is to promote a dialogue between the public, politicians and researchers. It aims to offer politicians choices for actions on the basis of the results from the project. Methodologically the project follows first a quantitative analysis of surveys in 14 European countries with more than 34,000 women and men aged 18 to 75 years. The national surveys have been merged into one international population policy acceptance survey (IPPAS) database for Europe-wide comparative statistical analyses. Second, a Delphi study has been conducted as a qualitative approach. Delphi experts from 15 countries have been interviewed towards their desired future scenarios concerning the demographic and societal development until 2030.

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16.

Values systems of the citizens and socio-economic conditions [er] : challenges from democratisation for the EU enlargement. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

The aim of this project was to identify the social and cultural bases for an integration of the central and eastern European nations into the European Union. At the core of our analyses was the interrelationship between political, economic and cultural values and in which way these values shape peoples’ opinion about the European Union. Our initial assumption was that especially the economic hardships and the decline of the socialist welfare state might cause political attitudes which are not compatible with a European value community and lead to obstacles for the enlargement of the European Union. To give account of the impact of peoples’ belief systems on the political processes, we tried to analyse the interrelationships between economic attitudes/values, social attitudes/values and political attitudes/values. It was our hope that an analysis of peoples’ belief systems would improve the understanding of individual coping strategies in times of institutional uncertainties and societal changes. The main objective concerning the dissemination of results was to give decision makers a better understanding of the political culture of central and eastern Europe. In case the European Union will develop further, it will also need the support of its citizens, not only of the national governments. The experiences with the decline of social welfare and economic hardship can give an insight which difficulties decision makers have to face if a reform is not build on economic development and carried through against the attitudes of the people. In this sense, our analyses were also done in order to be used for the preparation of political decisions.

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17.

The contribution of social capital in the social economy to local economic development in western Europe [er]. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

The overarching objective of the project was to examine the extent to which social enterprises in the social economy both use and generate social capital and thereby facilitate local economic development, social cohesion and inclusion. The project aimed to fulfil six objectives: i) to model the range of ways in which different social enterprises in the social economy in the four countries can produce and reproduce social capital; ii) to identify the ways and extent to which social capital produced and reproduced in family and community networks influences the development of social enterprises in the social economy; iii) to generate indicators and measures of the social capital produced by social enterprises; iv) to generate a new model of local economic profiling which incorporates a concept of social capital and develop measures and indicators of this; v) to generate an augmented model of social auditing which incorporates a concept of social capital and develop measures and indicators of this; iv) to produce an assessment of the role of social capital in the social economy in developing local social cohesion and social inclusion.

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18.

The Dynamic Approach to Europe’s Unemployment Problem : DAEUP, final report. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

This publication contains the final report of the project ‘The Dynamic Approach to Europe’s Unemployment Problem’, whose work has primarily contributed to the area ‘Employment and unemployment in Europe’. The report contains information about the main scientific findings of DAEUP and their policy implications. The research was carried out by eight teams over a period of 42 month, starting in September 2001 The abstract and executive summary presented in this edition offer the reader an overview of the main scientific and policy conclusions, before the main body of the research provided in the other chapters of this report.

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19.

Constructing Understandings of Homeless Populations [er] : CUHP final report. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

This publication contains the final report of the project ‘Constructing Understandings of Homeless Populations’, whose work has primarily contributed to the area ‘Societal and individual well being: social trends, the implications of structural changes and of technological development’. The report contains information about the main scientific findings of CUHP and their policy implications. The research was carried out by seven teams over a period of three years, starting in January, 2003. The abstract and executive summary presented in this edition offer the reader an overview of the main scientific and policy conclusions, before the main body of the research provided in the other chapters of this report.

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20.

Competitive pressure and its social consequences in EU member states and in associated countries [er]. European Commission. Directorate-General for Research.

Publication

Luxembourg : Publications Office, 2007.

Summary

The growing competitive pressure faced by firms in the new EU member states and acceding countries from central and eastern Europe affected their behaviour and performance. Two important aspects of enterprise adjustment are looked at in-depth: (i) the changes in firm’s pricing behaviour against the background of a combination of growing competitive pressure and immature markets that are still marred by numerous imperfections; (ii) the firms’ responses to a combination of growing competitive pressure and institutional interactions and change.

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