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TURI held its second event on the financial and economic crisis
European Responses to the Crisis and Alternatives to GDP as an Element of a Paradigm Shift
The network of trade union-related research institutes (TURI) held its first seminar on the financial and economic crisis in the beginning of December last year. Whereas this first seminar concentrated on the causes and repercussions of the crisis (more information), the second event organised by the network in this context on 29 June 2009 in the ITUH in Brussels has focused on the governmental responses to the crisis, the so called national stimulus packages or recovery plans, which have been critically assessed, particularly in relation to labour market and green measures (first session). As main document for the debate served the report prepared by ETUI researcher Andrew Watt, with the collaboration of the TURI network, which has just been published as ETUI Working Paper.
When discussing different ways which should lead us out of the crisis and into a society based on a new paradigm, one of the fundamental issues that arises in this debate concerns alternatives to current measures of economic performance and particularly those based on GDP which is the object of a long-standing contest (second session).
First session (9h30 – 12h30):
EU recovery plans: a way out?
Chair: Philippe Pochet, General Director of the ETUI
Egbert Holthuis, Deputy Head of Unit at DG Employment
Labour market implications of the crisis and the national recovery plans
Andrew Watt, ETUI
An assessment of fiscal stimulus packages by EU Member States in response to the economic crisis
Mariya Nikolova, ETUI
Climate friendly policies in the national stimulus packages
Andranik Tangian, WSI
Opening the debate: the strategy of the trade unions after the crisis
Second session (13h30 – 16h30):
Alternatives to GDP as an element of a new paradigm
Chair: Maria Jepsen, Director of the ETUI Research Department
Dominique Méda, Centre d’études de l’emploi
Why do we need new indicators of prosperity and progress?
Jean Gadrey, Université Lille I
Comments on the provisional draft of the "Stiglitz commission" and on the role of unions
Willy De Backer, Global Footprint Network
Ecological Footprint: first step towards a new paradigm for sustainable prosperity