• Karl Polanyis concepts, 
• economic imperialism,
• Zuboff's surveillance capitalism, 
• Byung-Chul Han's Psychopolitics  
• and data trading. 

• Less societal pressure (care receiver feels less guilty and close relatives don't feel obligated) 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 
• Proper regulation of wages  especially through unions (Labour contracts defining work conditions) 📊
•  Monetary compensation leads to positive reciprocity 💸

• Care is less flexible and not tailored to individual patient (result of labour contracts) 👥
• Reduced personal empathy = don't genuinely care about the care-receiver as much ❤️‍🩹
• Risk of suppression or even abusive behavior as neither kids nor old/disabled people can prevent such patterns 👩🏻‍🦼

• commodification:

• Wicked problems could be tackled better if states collaborated more
  • can be in form of networks or partnerships overcoming organizational structures within and beyond state borders
• Developed countries with ample resources must also look at the countries with less and help them by allowing the flourishing of market-based institutions
  • will act as a strong foundation for an effective state
  • the less developed countries can look beyond their own borders for solutions to their issues but also to continue that cycle of solidarity 

1. More "embedded" state-society relations can increase efficiency, transparency and trust in the implementation of projects through public-private partnerships. 
2. New Governance and its inclusion of a wide range of actors in society, can enhance the overall positive impact by decisions of the state, as more diverse solutions evolve.

• Limitations of New Governance

1. Sufficient autonomy of the actors from the state is essential, otherwise an  independent and uninfluenced implementation is not realistic.
2. With an increased inclusion of private actors on the market, there is a threat of losing political accountability as these decision-makers were not chosen through democratic means.
3. Future new governance will increasingly be dominated by AI driven and digitalised relationships between the state and society. While this can bring many advantages, there will have to be a debate about what data should be used, collected and stored.

• bank-based system: 

• market-based system:

• it's difficult to regulate the blockchain network
• implementation of law into the source code of blockchain
• using blockchain for the implementation of property rights for physical objects 
•  usage of smart contracts in the field of real estate 
• land registry based on blockchain technology 
• process of implementing the blockchain; evolution not revolution

• Family status and support are the first opportunity structure most people encounter.
• Better access to education generally leads to better opportunities. 
• The labor market has not adapted to the number of people who now have an advanced education at a sufficient rate, making having a degree a less predictable path to a "good" career than it once was. 

• A job needs to be meaningful for an individual, at least most of the time,  in order to to maximize productivity and increase quality of life.
• It is not the prestige or required qualification level of a job
  that determines how meaningful it is perceived by those performing it, but rather the need that the workers believe it fills for society.

• Women's labour force participation rates are lower than men's, largely due to the social expectation of female domestic labour.
• Family-friendly policies such as subsidized childcare and tax allowances have the greatest positive effect on female employment.
• Society expects men to work, and working fathers often receive economic benefits from the perception that fathers are more responsible. Men who would prefer to take extended time away from work to care for their children face steep opportunity costs.
• A shift in social attitudes will be the most important factor to give future parents of both genders equal opportunities. 

• arguments could have been made more directly

• We appreciate the mostly positive feedback that we received from our peers. We acknowledge their point that the argumentation was not always as direct as it could have been, but are glad that they were still able to get a clear idea of our opinions when the essay was taken as a whole.

• Medium Of Exchange (acceptability, convenience, cost of operating, and transferability);
• Store of Value (liquidity, ownership, payment, and stable value);
• Unit of Account (deferred payment, macro money, standard of value, and scalable).

Money is the generalized, immediate and transferable legitimate claims on value.

Credit consists of nongeneralized, deferred, and variably transferable legitimate claims on specific value. 

• Networks - persons directly linked with employees of banks are more likely to borrow money from a bank;
• Inequality - due to the importance of credit in everyday life, banks have the power to reduce inequality by not discriminating against borrowers;
• Public policy - governmments may demand that banks lend to them in order to shore up public finances. 

• Assisting the economy in absorbing the current crisis’ shock;
• Maintaining financial stability through foreign cooperation;
• Helping businesses and households to obtain credit.

• Reduced the borrowing costs;
• Promoted the lending in the Eurozone; 
• Purchased an enormous amount of governmental and corporate bonds.

• Applying the quantitative easing policy;
• Lowering interest rates;
• Buying treasuries or bonds.

• restraints economic opportunities for women
• time & opportunity cost encountered remain largely unaccounted for in policy-making
• large share of commercialized care work happens in the informal economy (underpaid and under poor conditions)
• most affected are young females from socially disadvantaged groups in rural areas

• 17th century: issuance of national currency;
• 19th century: managing the national payment system, through the facilitation of metallic reserves; 
• 1950s: emergence of a 2-tier banking sector (central banks & commercial banks), with central banks dropping most of its commercial functions.

• Government banker (macroeconomic);
• Lender of last resort (microeconomic).

• Central Banks - main goal is the economic stability;
• Commercial Banks - main goal is the price maximation.

• Also we would have liked to touch upon further vexed instances of commodification, however the word count restraint us from doing so.

• Scheduling timely meetings too did pose a certain challenge.

• Data should become an asset instead of being a commodity
• The world economic forum agreed on this in 2011, but still not widely accepted by companies.
• Providers of data should be paid accordingly. This could lead to an universal basic income. 

• Capitalism "colonized" private data and created a new branch.
• Zuboff created the topic "Surveillance Capitalism" which is concerned with the ubiquitous collecting, analyzing, and monetizing of private data.
• Currently, not the providers but the collectors profit from the personal data provided
• GDPR sets the first step to restraining the exploitation of private data in the EU

• fictitious commodities:

•  Land & Labor -> no goods that are produced
•  Money -> sheer account of value that is not consumed

• knowledge also exists outside the market exchange
•  knowledge is not produced for monetary trade, but rather inherently embedded within us and society

• Capitalism must frequently create new markets to overcome its crisis. The newest is the monetization of private life.
• Surveillance Capitalism depends on engaging users and therefore tries to make people dependent on the provided technology.

• Private data is being collected through nearly every "free" service , but also through "smart" devices.
• Providers "sell" their data under value (for ex."free" apps or discounts) often without knowing.
  -> enormous profit for collector
• There is no possibility to opt-out if a person does not want to be excluded from modern social life.
• Byung-Chul Han argues that the use of social media and smart devices is auto-exploitation. 

• The EU addressed this problem with its latest GDPR introduction.
• But significant power shift from states to "Big Data". They can use enormous economic growth created through the means of private data collection as leverage to influence policy decisions.
• As a result there are very few laws that protect private data.

• Is commodification of private data more of a benefit to the economy than a burden to the individual?
•  Should the individual be able to choose how, when and where to share their data and be paid accordingly?
• Should data be reevaluated as an asset?

• We examined multiple different perspectives on the topic, providing a balanced tone.
• The chronological structure of our essay made it easy to follow.
• Use of recent literature allowed us to be very topical to current-day issues.

• We should've put more emphasis on the significance of our findings, especially in the conclusion.
• We also could've cut out some of the bloat, as a few paragraphs were a little too similar.

• Since the early 1980s trade union density rates in most EU Member States has about halved
• Although there are some exceptions mainly in Scandinavian countries this phenomenon can be observed uniformly 
• Other industrialised countries like the US are affected similarly

• Especially in heavy industries and key manufacturing unemployment is rising due to de-industrialisation in developed countries. Once unemployed, those workers abandon their union membership.

• Employment has shifted to atypical forms of employment, where unionisation rates are lower then in traditional forms of employment 

• By providing welfare services, the government undercuts the need for trade unions. Although it can explain a part of the problem, this hypothesis is faced with difficulties. These being the ability to compare different countries with different welfare state models only up to a certain point and inconclusive empirical evidence.

• Are highly disruptive.
• Often remain misunderstood and unadressed.
• Resurface if their demands aren't met.

• The falling number of trade   union membership is the result of several developments. e.g.:
   ·  Blue collar jobs suffer from de-industrialization (historically highly unionised)
  ·   Nature of employment changed (shift to atypical work – usually not unionised)
• If trade unions are able to attract atypical workers they might slow down their decline.
• To fully reverse the trend  however, multinational governmental initiative is inevitable

• ·Subjects of Property – states who can own, also going into detail about natural and legal persons’ ownership rights

• Articulation of Use – describes what can be done with property, how one is allowed to use it, qualifications one needs for usage & how rights of usage can be defined

• Enforcement of Rights – shows how rules are maintained and states clearly, that the government is necessarily connected with property and the state enforces these rights

• ·Transfer of Rights – explains how rights can be transferred between natural, living people, and also from deceased people to their heirs, or from the state/legal persons to natural persons

• Law provides the legal framework necessary for the existence of property rights.
• In Roman law, property was referred to anything that had economic value and it was characterized as "thing".

•  In law the term refers to the complex of jural relationships between and among persons with respect to things.
• Importantly, law cannot be viewed as homogeneous institution due to the constantly developing nature of our society and its rules.

• Property rights are indispensable in prosperous societies and are the main driver of capitalism.

• Involvement of third parties (trustees, real estate agents, title companies)
• Complex administration systems which are not immune to mistakes (such as a land registry)
• Dependency of the contractual parties on governmental law enforcement institutions since legal disputes may arise anyway

• Smart contracts could be able to eliminate some problems from nowadays. For instance, the mistrust between two parties: As smart contracts would change and update automatically, a third party is no longer needed. As a result, the amount of time and money spent for a transaction would be decreased significantly.
• Another interesting possibility to use blockchain with regard to the institution of law, is building a land registry based on blockchain. Sweden is testing a system like that, as they expect a huge decrease in costs and increase in security. 

• Blockchain technology keeps track of Intellectual Property assets owned by companies all over the world. 
• Smart contracts can be used to create and record licensing agreements, paving the way for a real-time ledger. Similarly, if used to register works, it could provide irrefutable proof of ownership to authors.

• By attaching blockchain tags to counterfeit goods, blockchain can be used to identify them. The ability to track goods throughout their entire lifecycle has a number of advantages (for example, easier IP rights audits), especially in jurisdictions where proof of first/genuine use is required.

• Centralisation is much more effective when it comes to protecting the environment, tackling climate change or handling a crisis such as the global pandemic we are facing right now.
• Unified rules and regulations prove to create more organization and balance between the Member States.
• In the means of border protection, it is considerably more effective if many countries act in concert.
• Advantages of the EU are especially appreciated by the young Europeans, who prefer a strong Europe based on solidarity.

• COVID19

• EU Integration

• COVID19  

• EU Integration

• COVID19

• EU Integration

• COVID19

• EU Integration

• 1951- European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) founded by Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg and the Netherlands.
• 1950 - Schuman declaration and the beginnings of the federation.
• 1957 the Treaties of Rome (objectives of the unified institutions, common market)
• 1965 - Merger Treaty (single Commission and a single council were established)
• The Maastricht Treaty (1992) and the Amsterdam Treaty (1997) cemented the relationship between the state and the other institutions.
• Treaty of Lisbon in 2007. The term “Union” was now official and the EU received full legal personality.

• Accepting deposits;
• Giving out loans. 

•  Issuing company bonds (debt);
• Issuing company shares (equity). 

• Large informal sectors rather arise in densely networked societies than in individualistic ones.

• Employment status and gender influence the well-being of informal workers.

• Industrial outworkers and generally, women are the groups most exposed to the risk of exploitation and poverty.

• constitutes 93% of all informal workers
• the informal labor is de facto a norm
• the survival criterion is the main aspect motivating the individuals to enter the informal market
• the aspect of social networks and ease of entry is very strong
• the engagement in informal labor is the strongest in times of economic crises and reforms

Global North

• the informal economy is rather an exception
• criterion of autonomy and flexibility is the main aspect motivating the individuals to enter the informal market
• the survival criterion is not significant
• is a space giving individuals more entrepreneurial freedom but also more space for tax and law evasion 

• A smoother transition between the sections
• A broader analysis of concepts that the reader might not be familiar with

• Emphasizes the usage of uncodified law and precedents from judicial decisions
• Law made by judges and advocates

• Based on legislative decisions and continuously updated legal codes
• Law made by professors and legislators

• reduction of income 
• financial crisis and closing of MSMES
• expansion of informal economy and relocation of jobs 

1. Regulatory capacity of the state
2. Social structure/societies cultural resources

• India with both functionalities: low human capital and liberalised economy. Informal economy by size 86% of GDP.
• Post-soviet informality derives from “lack of individual trust to strangers [..]” leading to “[..]distrust of formal institutions”. Informal economy - multifunctional informal structures, means for social inclusion. 
  • Corruption positive relationship with informal economy
  • Post-soviet block within EU has relatively lower informal employment

• Social actor approach (gap between state and civil moral gap)
• Low tax morale -  government effectiveness, rule of law and control of corruption (positive relationship).
• Good citizenship motive (engaging and establishing social connections)
  
  

• not incorporated (no a legal identity separate owners, lack of complete accounts)
• have few workers or are unregistered (<5 employees)
• produced goods and services t are markable and meant for sale or barter

• people working “on the side” while still receiving unemployment benefits
• occupationally inactive (not working and not looking for work)

•  agricultural enterprises
•  domestic and personal services provided by unpaid household members
• volunteer services rendered to the community

• mentioned categories are not always a reliable indicator of informal economy (could be caused by other factors standing in no relation with informal economy)

• VSEs are overestimated since not all very small firms employ informal activities
• On the other hand, there are fully informal VSEs of which there is no governmental record at all

• Provides estimates based on information disclosed in surveys
• the questions are solely about consumption not partaking
  --> higher likelihood of truthful answers
• The estimates are in absolute numbers

• The Surveys must be evaluated individually
   --> very time consuming
• Assumes that informal economy mainly occurs on a very small economic scale
• Needs to be related to other estimates for more precise view of bigger picture

• Markets naturally operate best in a liberal way, therefore the postwar era is the historically specific one, not the neoliberal. --> Advocated by Hayek, Friedman and others in the Mont Pelerin Society.
• Keynesian framework could not explain the 70's stagflation in the US.                                      --> Full employment is not goal anymore.

• Redistribution is not as popular as believed.                                  -->The "median voter theorem"  is not supported empirically.
  • Elites might have more power to influence politics, so that it benefits them.
  • Voters might not be perfectly rational and utility maximizing.

• lifetime inequality (inequality in an individual's income throughout his life)
• wealth inequality (distribution of wealth among households or individuals at a given point in time)
• inequality of opportunity (the impact on income of circumstances beyond an individual's control, such as family socio-economic status, gender, or ethnicity)
  
  

• Should care work be commodified? What are the pros & cons and different viewpoints?
• What is the impact of the commodification of care-work on gender inequality?

• Under the assumption that the intention to bequeath constitutes a significant motive for productivity, especially in later years of life, an argument is made that limiting or even abolishing inheritance would result in disincentivizing the aforementioned productivity of prospective decedents. Furthermore, restriction on inheritance could cause increased spending and decreased saving, and consequently decreased investment during old age. However, the inheritance of significant amounts reduces productivity in heirs as the need for individual market success diminishes.