European Institute

Mobile Moans by The Economist. A crucial reform for the eurozone, in its present economic quicksand, requires changing conditions throughout EU nations to facilitate labor mobility and cross-border migration by job-seeking Europeans. The free movement of workers was supposed to be a safety valve to ease economic adjustment in the eurozone once national currency devaluation was eliminated as a policy tool. But it has not functioned well. In theory, job migration throughout the EU is easy, but  there are strong practical disincentives: the absence of pension portability, transaction costs involved in selling a house and buying another, obstacles to transferring professional qualifications.  (April 27)