WPU may-day school interventions pt. 4: Primož Krašovec and Annina Kaltenbrunner
Channel: Inštitut za delavske študije
Date: 2012-05-03

Primož Krašovec:
Social effects of the measures to increase competitiveness in the EU

Europe began to put more emphasis on its competitivness in the nineties by trying to adapt to great transformations brought into its social and economic composition by the integration of formerly socialist Eastern European countries (which represented a large pool of relatively cheap labour force and state owned industry, public infrastructure and institutions, which were open to privatisation), the era of the "new economy" in the USA and competitive pressure of East Asian high-tech economies. Increases in competitiveness took place on three levels: the privatisation of the public sector (in Eastern as well as Western Europe), which was supposed to raise efficiency and cheapen public services; the flexibilisation of labour force markets; and reforms of higher education and research.

In official EU declarations the increase in competitiveness is directly bound to the increase in productivity. The lecture will open with a theoretical examination of productivity within capitalism, and will proceed to address social changes brought into research, higher education and labour markets by measures to increase productivity. The main thesis of the lecture will be that the concept of the knowledge society is misleading and that a concept of productivity-based society would be more appropriate, at least regarding industrial, labour and social policy.

Primož Krašovec (1979) is sociologist, translator, editor, mercenary lecturer and writer from Ljubljana.
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Annina Kaltenbrunner:
Periferne države v evroobmočju: kakšne so možnosti? / Peripheral Countries in the Eurozone: What are the Options?

The lecture will discuss the possible options of peripheral countries in and beyond the current Eurozone crisis. After a short overview of the crisis, and in particular the position and situation of peripheral countries in the crisis, the talk will highlight four possible future scenarios for peripheral countries. First, the status quo, characterised by severe problems of competitiveness, painful adjustment and an ongoing deflationary spiral resulting from the austerity measures imposed by the Troika. The second would be a situation which could be called the "good Euro". This scenario would include permanent adjustment of the structural imbalances in the Eurozone, particularly through an increase in wages in Germany, increased fiscal transfer and the gradual move to a fiscal union which complements the existing monetary union. Although this is seen as the best option for peripheral countries, and indeed for the Eurozone overall, it seems very unlikely at the moment. The third option discussed is the unilateral exit of one or more peripheral countries from the Eurozone. This option would include peripheral countries' debt restructuring, the regaining of competitiveness through exchange rate devaluation and an autonomous, pro-labour economic policy after exit. This option, however, bears substantial risk to the domestic economy and financial sector. In addition, the question remains whether a small open country, like for example Greece, can survive on its own terms in the globalised international economy as we find it. The lecture will thus conclude with a fourth possible option for peripheral countries which would be the formation of a South-South integration and split of the Eurozone in two. On the one hand, this option could reduce the adjustment burden of an exit of peripheral countries from the Eurozone; on the other hand, it could increase peripheral countries' bargaining power in the Eurozone, and represent a viable medium-term development strategy.

Annina Kaltenbrunner is an assistant researcher at the Leeds University Business School and a Phd student at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Her research interests include international finance, development economics, financial globalisation and liberalisation, financial crises, exchange rates and monetary theory.

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