Introduction

The present chapter provides an overview of structural reforms (SRs) – measures to improve economic growth prospects and the ability of economies to adjust to economic shocks – introduced in Europe between 1999 and 2012 and, in particular, during the Great Recession (2008–12). Such a cross-policy analysis – including social protection (eg pensions), education policy, research and development (R&D) and public sector reforms – makes it possible to shed light on the complex interaction of the labour market policies that are at the core of this volume with social policies (aimed at welfare production and redistribution) and economic policies (aimed at economic production).

While the concept of SRs is highly debated in the literature and needs some revision of its normative roots, we consider it a good descriptive tool: it helps to trace reform trends in a number of policy areas and to understand the overall functioning of a socio-economic system. The present chapter proposes a new typology of SRs for a more detailed analysis of SRs trends in Europe.

Through the analysis of reforms between 1999 and 2012, we address two key questions: ‘Is there a common reform trend of a ‘race to the bottom’ in relation to social and employment rights?’; and ‘What has been the impact of the Great Recession? Do we see overall continuity or a shift between the pre- and post-crisis?’. In the following, we analyse five country clusters – Anglo-Saxon, Nordic, Continental European, Southern European and Visegrad countries, which are consistent with the different varieties of capitalism and employment regimes – and we provide evidence of diverse reform trends over time.

The present contribution is organised as follows. The second section presents the research questions at the core of the chapter and provides a brief review of the literature on socio-economic reforms in Europe over the last decades. The third section lays out the definition of SRs and the complementarity between socio-economic policies before and since the Great Recession. The fourth section provides an overview of SRs in the European Union (EU), with a focus on reform trends and outputs. The fifth section draws some conclusions.

Socio-economic reforms in Europe: common path or different strategies?

Recent contributions on the political economy of socio-economic reforms have followed a cross-policy perspective.