Documents Neergaard, Ulla 4 results

"The economic crisis has brought the intriguing question of its effects on Social Europe sharply into focus. This contribution therefore goes to the heart of the puzzles and explores the mutual influence of Eurozone reforms and broader Union social policies with an additional focus on pointing out the most pertinent challenges in that regard. Thus, the analysis anchors around the following issues: the social dimension of the EU and the Eurozone respectively; comparison; mutual influence; and challenges. A recurring theme is thus the tension between the overall construction of the EU and the internal construction of the Eurozone, which is growing, but not really focused on. It is, inter alia, concluded that the Eurozone reforms bring Social Europe in a new – also viewed by many as a dangerous, illegitimate and undemocratic – direction detached from the prevailing intentions in the EU as such."

"This study investigates the characteristics that affect access to social capital for employees in a single industrial firm in Sweden, and the impact of their social capital on their monthly salaries. The results demonstrate that being a member of a stigmatised immigrant group is associated with a substantial social capital deficit. This deficit arises because immigrant workers are embedded in social networks that constrain their ability to acquire valuable social resources or are excluded from social networks with valuable resources. Another finding is that the average salary earned by members of stigmatised immigrant groups is lower than that earned by native-born workers. The observed wage gap cannot be explained by ‘human capital' variables. However, when social capital variables were taken into account, wage gaps noticeably shrank, which indicates that part of the wage disadvantage experienced by immigrants is likely to represent the impact of unequal access to social capital. "

"The European Legal Framework for the Provision of Services of General Interest/Public Services has been in a state of transformation since the early 1990s, causing profound effects on the social and economic policies pursued by the Member States. This examination of the impact of EC internal market, competition, state aid and procurement law on the provision of these services focuses in particular on the fields of health services, social services and local public services. It comprises horizontal studies on these subjects which take into account the most recent case law and community legislation from the European Court of Justice, and includes country reports from ten different Member States."