This book examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on changing labour markets and accelerating digitalisation of the workplace in Central and Eastern Europe. It provides an innovative and enriching take on the work experience from the pandemic times and discusses the challenges of ongoing changes in labour markets and workplaces in a way that is not covered by the extant literature. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and digitalisation on labour market outcomes is analysed throughout 12 chapters, by 34 labour market experts from various CEE countries. Most chapters are based on empirical methods yet are presented in an easy-to-follow way to make the book also accessible for a non-scientific audience. The volume addresses the three key goals: to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the adoption of workplace digitalisation in the selected labour markets in CEE countries and the potential trade-offs facing those who do and do not have access to this benefit to complement the labour market research by incorporating the outputs of changing demand for skills to contribute new insight into policies and regulations that govern the future of work The book argues that the recent COVID-19 pandemic was a sombre reminder of the relevance and necessity of digital technology for a variety of sectors and market activities. It concludes that to downside the risks of vanishing jobs, as well as to minimise the threats and maximise the opportunities of digitalisation in CEE countries, labour market partners need to consider an effective governance tool in terms of inclusive access to the digital environment, re-skilling, and balanced regulations of the more problematic facets of digital work. The book will be of interest to postgraduate researchers and academics in the fields of labour economics, regional economics, and macroeconomics. Additionally, due to the broader policy implications of the topic, the book will appeal to policymakers and experts interested in labour economics. The Introduction, Chapters 4 and 12 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

The European Union is closing the digital gap with the United States. More than half of European firms invested in digitalisation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they are rapidly catching up with their US peers in implementing advanced digital technologies. Despite the progress, however, Europe is not well positioned in digital innovation, and it is at risk of developing dependencies in several critical technologies. Some key takeaways: Digitalisation has helped European firms adjust at a time of repeated economic shocks. Digital firms also tend to be more productive. Successfully managing the digital transition and taking advantage of its long-term benefits goes beyond technology adoption – it requires societal change. Firms' digitalisation depends on several factors, such as adequate digital infrastructure, competition-friendly regulation and labor market skills. The report, Digitalisation in Europe 2022-2023 : Evidence from the EIB Investment Survey, uses data collected from firms to shed light on the progress small and medium firms in Europe are making on digitalisation.

Global finance is in the middle of a radical transformation fueled by innovative financial technologies. The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digitization of retail financial services in Europe. Institutional interest and digital asset markets are also growing blurring the boundaries between the token economy and traditional finance. Blockchain, AI, quantum computing and decentralised finance (DeFI) are setting the stage for a global battle of business models and philosophies. The post-Brexit EU cannot afford to ignore the promise of digital finance. But the Union is struggling to keep pace with global innovation hubs, particularly when it comes to experimenting with new digital forms of capital raising. Calibrating the EU digital finance strategy is a balancing act that requires a deep understanding of the factors driving the transformation, be they legal, cultural, political or economic, as well as their many implications. The same FinTech inventions that use AI, machine learning and big data to facilitate access to credit may also establish invisible barriers that further social, racial and religious exclusion. The way digital finance actors source, use, and record information presents countless consumer protection concerns. The EU’s strategic response has been years in the making and, finally, in September 2020 the Commission released a Digital Finance Package. This special issue collects contributions from leading scholars who scrutinize the challenges digital finance presents for the EU internal market and financial market regulation from multiple public policy perspectives. Author contributions adopt a critical yet constructive and solutions-oriented approach. They aim to provide policy-relevant research and ideas shedding light on the complexities of the digital finance promise. They also offer solid proposals for reform of EU financial services law.

The sixteenth edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play has a triple ambition. First, it provides easily accessible information to a wide audience about recent developments in both EU and domestic social policymaking. Second, the volume provides a more analytical reading, embedding the key developments of the year 2014 in the most recent academic discourses. Third, the forward-looking perspective of the book aims to provide stakeholders and policymakers with specific tools that allow them to discern new opportunities to influence policymaking. In this 2015 edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play, the authors tackle the topics of the state of EU politics after the parliamentary elections, the socialisation of the European Semester, methods of political protest, the Juncker investment plan, the EU’s contradictory education investment, the EU’s contested influence on national healthcare reforms, and the neoliberal Trojan Horse of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The chapters collected here examine the economic development, main experiences, lessons learned, and the challenges and perspectives ahead of the new member states of the EU to identify the determinants of imbalances in the economic development of these countries.

According to the European Commission, two recent policies: the Digital Service Act and the Digital Market Act will allow for the regulation of a significant part of the EU Digital Single Market (DSM), to an extent similar to the creation of the traditional internal market in the early 1990s. The provisions are intended to improve conditions in the EU DSM to ensure that the market is as free and fair as it is safe for users of the digital economy. This interdisciplinary book analyses the impact of digital technologies on specific markets and, more broadly, the society and the economy. It identifies and assesses the different features, challenges, trends and dimensions of the EU DSM, from a legal and economic viewpoint, and also from a Polish perspective. Poland is presented as one of the EU countries participating in the creation of the EU DSM and is analysed alongside the average, as well as the best and the worst performing EU member states and compared with other non-EU members. The book addresses several broad areas in which the implications of digitalisation are particularly visible, and which are important to the average person: giant online platforms, freedom of speech, e-commerce, digital levy, energy infrastructure, and the labour market. The authors have presented opportunities and threats related to the functioning of the digital market. These opportunities and threats are typical of highly developed countries while reflecting the specific features of the EU DSM. The starting point of the considerations are the diverse experiences of the EU member states. The book adds a voice to the public debate on the role of the digital economy in the contemporary world and will be a useful guide for students and researchers in economics, law, and international relations. Chapters 1 and 2 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at ww.routledge.com . They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book examines how the digital revolution has reorganized the model of healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic and argues for a continued paradigm shift to digital healthcare. Katarzyna Kolasa sets the vision of healthcare 5.0 that relieves the burden on limited healthcare resources and creates better health outcomes by switching the focus from treatment to prediction and prevention. She advocates for a patient-centric ecosystem that empowers patients to take control of their health via new knowledge-based technologies such as next-generation sequencing (NGS), nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and digital therapeutics. Highlighting the mindset shift needed to transform healthcare and outlining in detail a futuristic vision of healthcare 5.0, this book will be of interest to academics and professionals of health policy, health economics and digital health.

This Research Handbook provides a comprehensive analysis of post-pandemic EU economic governance and Next Generation EU (NGEU) law. It explores the profound impact of Covid-19 on the architecture of EU economic governance, focusing on the establishment and implications of the NGEU Recovery Fund.

This timely and insightful collection of essays written by economists from a range of academic and policy institutes explores the subject of public investment through two avenues. The first examines public investment trends and needs in Europe, addressing the initiatives taken by European governments to tackle the COVID-19 recession and to rebuild their economies. The second identifies key domains where European public investment is needed to build a more sustainable Europe, from climate change to human capital formation. Building on the 2020 edition, The Great Reset demonstrates the value of public capital both within European countries and as a European public good, shedding light on the impact that the NextGenerationEU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility will likely have on the macroeconomic structure of the European economy. The first part of the Outlook assesses the state of public investment in Europe at large, as well as focusing on five countries (France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain) as case studies. The second part focuses on the challenges posed by the pandemic and the pillars of the NextGenerationEU investment plan, with chapters ranging from education and digitalization, to territorial cohesion and green transition. This book is a must-read for economists, policymakers, and scholars interested in the impact and recovery of European countries during a time of extensive uncertainty.