Improved Framework Conditions for a More Entrepreneurial, Innovative and Resilient EU

In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, the European Union must regain lost ground and create more favorable conditions for inclusive and sustainable economic growth. The best way to achieve this goal is by increasing the Union's innovativeness. This effort requires extensive and broad-based institutional reforms aimed at strengthening the incentives for entrepreneurship. Innovative entrepreneurship requires collaborations with numerous agents that provide those skills and resources that the entrepreneur is lacking: inventors, key personnel, demanding customers, and early and later-stage financiers. Based on this ecosystem perspective, we propose reforms in the following six broad areas: (i) the rule of law and property rights, (ii) taxation, (iii) savings and finance, (iv) labor market regulations and social security, (v) entry and exit barriers in product markets, and (vi) human capital for entrepreneurship. The reforms would likely strengthen Europe's innovation capacity at a time when it is needed more than ever. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022, corrected publication 2022.

Debilitating landscapes of care and support: envisaging alternative futures

This paper explores the impact of policy changes and budget cuts on services and support faced by people with learning disabilities. Drawing upon collaborative research in England and Scotland and interviews with commissioners and support organisations, we show how landscapes of care and support are unstable and fragmented. We identify how pressures of time, resource and precaritisation in the workforce are creating ‘debilitating landscapes of care' that further erode the capacities of both the people that work in the sector and people with learning disabilities. Some challenges that people with learning disabilities face in this context include finding appropriate local support, narrowing access as a result of reductions in benefit entitlements and identifying quality providers amid a complex array of private and charitable provision. Capacity to cope with these challenges is contingent on access to quality advocacy, supportive family, friendships, productive occupational learning environments and peer support, but these are not always available. The impact of COVID-19 has only served to intensify some of the issues we identify and the urgent need for a response. Our analysis is inspired by Berlant's (2007) conception of ‘slow-death' and Puar's (2017) associated conceptualisation of ‘debility'. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Introduction: 20years of welfare reform in China (2000–2020): Challenges from developmentalism to COVID‐19

China as a welfare system is not yet well understood in social policy circles, despite being a well‐studied case in public administration and political science. Would this party‐state care to commit for its citizens' welfare? For many, associating the idea of a welfare state with China is still something to be frowned upon. Most available literature, especially in the English language, describes social policies in China as residual, unequally distributed, strongly dependent on local finances, prone to social dumping—especially for rural residents and migrant workers—paternalistic, disregarding social needs and so on. Yet, we believe that the social dumping practices of the 1980s and 1990s are now a thing of the past. As the government has taken a decidedly pro‐welfare stance since the 2000s, it could be more reasonable to identify different historical phases through which the welfare system took shape in China. We identify and discuss three stages in particular: the ‘iron rice bowl’ phase of socialist China (1949–1978), the welfare shedding resulting from China's opening up to the market (1979–2002), and the ‘social policy era’ characterised by major welfare expansion (2002–2020).

Financial Reasons for Working beyond the Statutory Retirement Age: Risk Factors and Associations with Health in Late Life.

Despite an increasing trend of working life prolongation, little is known about the risk factors for financial reasons for working beyond the statutory retirement age (SRA), and how these reasons relate to health. The present study examined (1) the determinants of working beyond the SRA, (2) the workers' self-reported reasons for working beyond the SRA, and (3) the association between these reasons and health in late life. Cross-sectional data of 1241 individuals from the Swiss survey "Vivre/Leben/Vivere" were analyzed. The results showed that people with a low level of education and with a low income have an 80% higher risk of working beyond the SRA for financial reasons than for other reasons (p < 0.001). Moreover, self-rated health was not significantly associated with working beyond the SRA for financial reasons but was significantly associated with education and income (p < 0.01). In conclusion, while previous studies have already identified financial difficulties as one important reason for working beyond the SRA, the present study indicated the socioeconomic factors that are crucial for increasing the risk for working beyond the SRA. Thus, our results help to guide the adaptation of social policies for better maintaining and promoting the health of particularly vulnerable older workers.

From crisis to reform? Exploring three post-COVID pathways

Crises are often viewed as catalysts for change. The coronavirus disease crisis is no exception. In many policy sectors, proponents of reform see this global crisis both as a justification and an enabler of necessary change. Policy scholars have paid ample attention to this crisis-reform thesis. Empirical research suggests that these proponents of crisis-induced change should not be too optimistic. The question remains why some crises give rise to reform whereas so many others do not. This paper focuses on one particular factor that crisis researchers have identified as important. Crisis research suggests that the outcome of the meaning-making process-the efforts to impose a dominant frame on a population-shapes the prospects of postcrisis change. The paper offers three ideal-typical framing scripts, which researchers can use to study postcrisis trajectories.

Billions in Misspent EU Agricultural Subsidies Could Support the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the guiding policy for agriculture and the largest single budget item in the European Union (EU). Agriculture is essential to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but the CAP's contribution to do so is uncertain. We analyzed the distribution of €59.4 billion of 2015 CAP payments and show that current CAP spending exacerbates income inequality within agriculture, while little funding supports climate-friendly and biodiverse farming regions. More than €24 billion of 2015 CAP direct payments went to regions where average farm incomes are already above the EU median income. A further €2.5 billion in rural development payments went to primarily urban areas. Effective monitoring indicators are also missing. We recommend redirecting and better monitoring CAP payments toward achieving the environmental, sustainability, and rural development goals stated in the CAP's new objectives, which would support the SDGs, the European Green Deal, and green COVID-19 recovery.