While the European Parliament is increasingly involved in EU governance, its role in policy developments in domains of strategic importance for the EU has not been the focus of many studies. In this article, we analyse a new digital dataset containing more than 10,000 speeches delivered in the European Parliament plenary between 1999 and 2014 and…

Europe's knowledge economies need high-level skills, the capacity to innovate and to support democratic societies. In this perspective, the main objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the relevance of higher education and how this is promoted in various countries in Europe and beyond. The evidence, conclusions and…

Europe's knowledge economies need high-level skills, the capacity to innovate and to support democratic societies. In this perspective, the main objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the relevance of higher education and how this is promoted in various countries in Europe and beyond. The evidence, conclusions and…

Previous studies find large cross-national differences in inequality amongst rich Western nations, due in large part to differences in the generosity of welfare state transfers. The United States is the least generous nation and the one having the most after-tax and transfer inequality. But these analyses are limited to the effects of cash and…

Responses of 600 higher education experts in seven Western European countries to a survey concerning government influence on higher education, currently and in the future, were analyzed to assess how different approaches to government role would affect higher education policy. It is concluded that different approaches would effect very different…

Asserts that policymakers and the general public should be well informed about economic and social issues. Contends that a statistical system in a democracy has a heavy responsibility to ensure that the data represent fact, not opinion. Discusses changes made in the Consumer Price Index to prevent it from becoming politicized. (CFR)

This review of child poverty in rich countries finds that the proportion of children living in poverty in the developed world has risen in 17 out of the 24 OECD nations for which data are available. No matter which of the commonly-used poverty measures is applied, the situation of children is seen to have deteriorated over the last decade. UNICEF…

This book investigates a variety of contemporary issues, both domestic U.S. concerns and those of an international focus that involve the United States. The introduction develops the context of the book by discussing the Reagan legacy, the 101st Congress, the Supreme Court, and the making of the U.S. federal budget. The domestic policy issues of…

West Germany represents a typical case of how most West European countries have dealt with labor migration, common since World War II. West Germany's foreign workers are called "Gastarbeiter" (guestworkers), which implies that they are in Germany at the behest of the Germans, and for only a short period of time. Nonetheless, statistics…

Using a cross-country framework which draws on the experience of the developed nations--Western Europe, Canada, the United States, and Japan--this study examines the way countries view the problems of the transition from school to work and the role of the transition services in smoothing the passage. Focus is on the formal and public transition…

Currently, the Federal Government provides funds to a variety of postsecondary foreign language and international studies education programs authorized under Title VI of the Higher Education Act (HEA). Elementary and secondary foreign language and international studies programs are authorized under Title II of the Elementary and Secondary…

This book contains nine papers presented during a year-long series of seminars and a conference that analyzed the relationship between economic restructuring and industrial relations involving the joint academics, union leaders, government officials, business executives, and graduate fellows. These analyses include case studies from Western…

The role of social partner organizations in vocational education and training (VET) has been compared for Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. In these countries, a system of industrial relations comparable to those existing in western Europe is emerging gradually.…

This book examines the political and economic consequences of the United States' growing reliance on the market and the effects that this growing reliance is having on U.S. workers and their families. The following are among the topics discussed in the book's 10 chapters: (1) consequences of the turn to the market (disinvestment, imbalance between…