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This article aims to interpret trade unions' role in reconciliation policies during the current pandemic in Italy and Spain. Questions to be answered include whether and to what degree unions have been present in the public debate, have participated in the policy-making process, have acted as policy reform protagonists or have consented to it, and to what extent they have been able to influence the direction of reform. The study proposes a three-level analytical framework of general applicability, signalling the variables that may affect the role played by unions at the micro-, meso- and macro-levels, together with the indicators that could be used. Research results for the Italian and Spanish cases indicate that the most relevant level to explain the role played by unions is the macro one. Unions tended to acquiesce to government policies in both countries, although that does not preclude action or involvement. The article also argues that a better and more nuanced categorisation of union roles should be developed.

AbstractThis article aims to analyse the impact of industry‐level trade liberalisation (measured through industry‐specific tariff rates) on poverty in Pakistan. Combining data for tariff rates with the Labour Force Survey of Pakistan, we use quantile regression analysis to estimate the impact of changes in tariff rates on workers' wages (associated with the manufacturing sector of Pakistan) that are at different points of the income distribution. Our findings meaningfully signal that trade liberalisation helps to reduce poverty in the economy. Based on these results, this study provides policy recommendations to reap maximum benefits from trade liberalisation.

This article aims to bring the accountability of the EU executive out of the shadows by tracing the development of the current accountability landscape around the main EU's executive actors. It looks at the development and the diversification of accountability forums (and mechanisms) in the EU: what forums and arrangements have come into being for holding the EU executive powers accountable? Instead of focusing on single individual accountability branches, this article examines the development of accountability in the EU by treating it as a complex landscape. And rather than assuming equilibrium, a starting point is the evolving nature of this landscape. On the basis of this exploration, the article seeks to understand the way in which the EU's institutional accountability framework has evolved through a patchwork of arrangements, and how this contributes to the emergence of a complex, multilayered governance landscape in order to fit within today's presumptions about how power should be controlled and accountability achieved. Points for practitioners The landscape of accountability institutions in the EU is slowly becoming denser. The shift from national, state-based policy-making to the EU level and the continuous expansion of the executive sphere in the EU is accompanied by a growing concern about how to organize democratic accountability in the complex multi-level web of European governance. The establishment of new watchdog institutions (such as an ombudsman, an anti-corruption office, ethical committees, auditors, a whistleblower protection act) and strengthened scrutiny points to the increased relevance of accountability and control over the EU executive.

Abstract
International trade quite often includes intra-industry trade (IIT) – definition classifies IIT as trading with similar goods or services belonging to the same industry; which are simultaneously imported and exported by a particular country during the specific time period, mainly on a yearly basis. On the other hand, foreign direct investments (FDI) directly influence international trade, and intra-industry trade, as well. According to the recent research during last decades a revival of interest in intra-industry trade has been noted; both on micro and macro level. The standard Grubel-Lloyd formula is still being used for empirical work. This however refers only to international trade, disregarding capital flows, and FDI. Given the overwhelming importance of the latter, this paper tries to research for relevant data in this regard. The objectives of the paper are to present fundamental theoretical framework linked to IIT, and more specifically to research a direct link that IIT and FDI form in contemporary international economic relations. In addition to presented theory related to the subjects of research, further observation includes analysis of empirical research and case studies. This enables the authors to draw conclusions and, therefore, suggest potential implications for development policy.

AbstractThe EU has consistently struggled to forge a foreign policy narrative which promotes internal cohesion and supports the EU's efforts to exert international influence. The 2016 EU Global Strategy is the latest iteration of collective efforts to tie strategy and purpose to the EU's coherent identity in the world. This study compares the EU's strategic partners of peace and security with narratives about the EU held in the EU's strategic partners in Asia. Whilst we find reasonable coherence in the EU's projection of the international system and its role in it, its identity as an actor, and its response to policy issues on the ground, views from Asia largely contest these claims. This article employs a strategic narrative approach to conceptualize and empirically trace how the formation, projection and reception of EU narratives are part of broader circuits of communication through which EU might be recognized, legitimized and achieve influence.

As all East European Countries are, in one way or another, linked to the economy, institutions, and policies of the European Union, especially with respect to its present aim of neoliberal structuring of the European continent, the 2008 financial crisis severely affected the region both economically and socially. This paper analyzes whether the negative economic and social environment in Europe, stemming from the 2008 crisis, has enhanced cooperation by promoting trade among the selected ten countries in Eastern Europe including Turkey. It concludes that although the long-standing neoliberal policies of the European Union were a basic cause adversely affecting Eastern Europe by the financial crisis, this structural cause did not lead to increased cooperation by promoting intra-regional trade as an alternative to their traditional European markets. On the contrary, the European Union still maintains its dominant role in the commercial activities of these countries due to the uneven and combined development. ; Publisher's Version

AbstractIn research on public economics, climate politics and the welfare state, voters' informational and cognitive biases are commonly understood as impeding future‐oriented policy‐making, by incentivizing policymakers to trade off long‐term investments against short‐term consumption when facing competitive elections or liquidity constraints. Yet, the assumptions about how policymakers perceive these alleged trade‐offs have not yet been verified. This study reports results from a survey of Swedish local government politicians, centring around experiments about environmental‐friendly public investments. We find that most politicians perceive that electoral competition stimulates rather than impedes investments. Politicians are, however, less supportive of investments if these need to be financed through absolute losses rather than gains foregone, which illustrates the relevance of endowment effects in long‐term governance. We furthermore show that our micro‐level observations are consistent with macro‐level investment expenditure patterns. These findings demonstrate that accounting for policymakers' own perceptions is important for advancing our understanding of future‐oriented policy‐making.

Public policy exceptions arguably exist in all fields of private and commerciallaw, not only in private international law but also in substantive law. In substantive private law, the term 'public policy exception' could be used to indicate general illegality rules that make an act of private autonomy (a contract, a testament, etc.) invalid when it conflicts with public policy or good morals. In primary EU law, one may call 'public policy exceptions' the derogations from the four freedoms for reasons of public morality, public policy, public security, or public health. Like the ordre public exceptions in private international law, the public policy exceptions in substantive private and commercial laws can also be seen as conflict rules. In fact, the public policy exceptions in substantive private law address the conflict between state regulation and policy, on the one hand, and private (self-)regulation and policy, on the other hand. Moreover, the public policy derogations from the four freedoms regulate the conflict between EU and national law and policy. A long-term research project initiated in Groningen aims at a cross-cutting comparison of interpretations and applications of concepts that function as public policy exceptions in different branches of substantive, international, and EU private and commerciallaw. In particular, this project aims at discovering and comparing the governance aspects, the fundamental rights based aspects, and the social justice aspects of these interpretations and applications.

Estimated Taylor rules became popular as a description of monetary policy conduct. There are numerous reasons why real monetary policy can be asymmetric and estimated Taylor rule nonlinear. This paper tests whether monetary policy can be described as asymmetric in three new European Union (EU) members (the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland), which apply an inflation targeting regime. Two different empirical frameworks are