News Archive

What makes a good teacher? This is one of the central questions in the economics of education. General teacher qualifications tend to be poor predictors of teacher quality. Students perform better in science subjects if their teachers hold a subject-specific qualification. The effect is larger for female students, especially when taught by female teachers, and for students from a lower socioeconomic background.

War is raging close to NATO's Eastern border. Russia has attacked Ukraine and threatens those states that in the past had been part of Moscow's sphere of influence. Many of them are now member states of NATO. As a collective defense alliance, this poses a threat to all NATO members. Since the ability to defend against an aggressor does not come for free, defense spending will be on the agenda at the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July 2023.

The new Policy Report analyses the role of social policies in different European welfare states regarding minimum income protection and active inclusion. It finds consistent differences in terms of crisis resilience across countries and welfare state types. In general, Nordic and Continental European welfare states with strong upstream systems and minimum income support (MIS) show better outcomes in core socio-economic outcomes such as poverty and exclusion risks. However, labour market integration shows some dualisms in Continental Europe.

The latest issue of the EconPol Newsletter has just been published. Included are a series of new Expert Opinions, two new Policy Briefs on excess profits taxes and the costs of European disintegration. Finally, it features thenew issue of the EconPol Forum, which discusses the question of how to reconstruct Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine is not over yet. Nevertheless, a possible roadmap and proposals for post-war reconstruction strategies are currently being discussed. They should be accompanied by economic and political reforms in the country. To finance this project, Ukraine will need to tap a variety of sources and institutions. This is because it will require investments in the hundreds of billions ‒ perhaps even trillions ‒ of US dollars. The EU, the US and other Western countries have signaled their willingness to provide further financial support for postwar reconstruction.