Excessive welfare. High taxes. Better women representation. Sclerotic economy. These are the first few words that come to mind when Europe is mentioned. Due to the American media’s filtering, Europe is portrayed as a “sick old man, condemned to long term decline,” thus it is common why may Americans have a false notion about what Europe’s vision is about (Hill, 153). In his book ‘Europe’s Promise” Steven Hill challenges all these myths instilled in many Americans, emphasizing why European model is a very efficient model that exploits capitalist economy to create a broadly shared prosperity in a way that is ecologically sustainable. Hill touches upon many topics in which Europe is an innovator and why its approach is more effective than the
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Hill delineates how Europe is the largest economical power in the world, refuting the myths of Europe being a welfare state. He considers Europe a “workfare” state with a steady state economy, which is about giving families and individuals the necessary support for them to be productive and healthy in order to participate and work in the economy. Europe has the largest economy in the world, providing one third of economical output in the world. Also, it is the place where American businesses go to make profits (20 times more profit in Europe than China). This economic system, has more small businesses than the United States- the country whose backbones are small businesses-providing 2/3 of jobs in Europe, and only half of the jobs in the U.S (Hill, 214). During 1998-2008, European countries had higher GDP per capital than the United States (Hill, 172). Also, the rate of unemployment is lower than in United States, due to the way that the economic system is built in these countries. One idea that is the backbone of the economic system in these powerful European countries (especially Germany) is codetermination, where workers elect 50% of the board members of major corporations such as Mercedes Benz. This concept is very beneficial to the company because it enhances consultation throughout the corporation, where the executives consult the workers for major decisions like laying off people, or new implementations. Furthermore, another concept that is distinct to the European way is “part-working,” where instead of laying off a lot of people, there is a decrease in amount of hours for the whole corporation, resulting in fewer layoffs, thus preventing increasing unemployment rates and economic spiral. In the U.S press, codetermination is described in a different way called “lack of labor flexibility”, where the CEO cannot do whatever he wants, giving it a negative definition, but instead this is a
Hill delineates how Europe is the largest economical power in the world, refuting the myths of Europe being a welfare state. He considers Europe a “workfare” state with a steady state economy, which is about giving families and individuals the necessary support for them to be productive and healthy in order to participate and work in the economy. Europe has the largest economy in the world, providing one third of economical output in the world. Also, it is the place where American businesses go to make profits (20 times more profit in Europe than China). This economic system, has more small businesses than the United States- the country whose backbones are small businesses-providing 2/3 of jobs in Europe, and only half of the jobs in the U.S (Hill, 214). During 1998-2008, European countries had higher GDP per capital than the United States (Hill, 172). Also, the rate of unemployment is lower than in United States, due to the way that the economic system is built in these countries. One idea that is the backbone of the economic system in these powerful European countries (especially Germany) is codetermination, where workers elect 50% of the board members of major corporations such as Mercedes Benz. This concept is very beneficial to the company because it enhances consultation throughout the corporation, where the executives consult the workers for major decisions like laying off people, or new implementations. Furthermore, another concept that is distinct to the European way is “part-working,” where instead of laying off a lot of people, there is a decrease in amount of hours for the whole corporation, resulting in fewer layoffs, thus preventing increasing unemployment rates and economic spiral. In the U.S press, codetermination is described in a different way called “lack of labor flexibility”, where the CEO cannot do whatever he wants, giving it a negative definition, but instead this is a