Germany's socio-economic model and the Euro crisis

Germany's socio-economic model, the "social market economy", was established in West Germany after World War II and extended to the unified Germany in 1990. During a prolonged recession after the adoption of the Euro in 1998, major reforms (Agenda 2010) were introduced which many consider as the key of Germany's recent success. The reforms had mixed results: employment increased but has consisted to a large extent of precarious low-wage jobs. Growth depended on export surpluses based on an internal real devaluation (low unit labour costs) which make Germany vulnerable to global recessions as in 2009. Overall inequality increased substantially.

Why budget accountability fails? The elusive links between parliaments and audit agencies in the oversight of the budget

ABSTRACTParliaments and audit agencies have critical and complementary roles in the oversight of the budget and the enforcement of government accountability. Yet, the nexus between parliaments and audit agencies is one of the weakest links in the accountability chain, generating an accountability gap in the budget process. This articles analyses the interactions between parliaments and audit agencies in the oversight of government finances during the latter stages of the budget process. Using proxies to evaluate the quality of those linkages, such as the follow-up to audit findings and the discharge of government, it shows important dysfunctions in the interactions between parliaments and audit agencies due to a combination of technical capacity constraints and political economy disincentives. It suggests that the effective functioning of the system of checks and balances in public budgeting critically hinges on the agility of the linkages between accountability institutions. As such, the failure of budget accountability is due to systemic dysfunctions in the systems of accountability, rather than the failure of an individual accountability institution acting in isolation. In addition, the effectiveness of the horizontal accountability architecture depends on the political economy incentives shaping the budget process, which are generated by the interactions between the choice of institutional design and budget rules, with the degree of political competition and electoral rules.

Ouvertures. Hors-série : la revue des centres sociaux / [Fédération des centres sociaux et socio-culturels de France] ; [dir. publ. Etienne Matray]

1990/10 (N2).

Ouvertures. Hors-série : la revue des centres sociaux / [Fédération des centres sociaux et socio-culturels de France] ; [dir. publ. Etienne Matray]

1992 (N8).

Ouvertures. Hors-série : la revue des centres sociaux / [Fédération des centres sociaux et socio-culturels de France] ; [dir. publ. Etienne Matray]

1990/12 (N3).

Ouvertures. Hors-série : la revue des centres sociaux / [Fédération des centres sociaux et socio-culturels de France] ; [dir. publ. Etienne Matray]

1993 (N10).

Ouvertures. Hors-série : la revue des centres sociaux / [Fédération des centres sociaux et socio-culturels de France] ; [dir. publ. Etienne Matray]

1990/06 (N1).

Ouvertures. Hors-série : la revue des centres sociaux / [Fédération des centres sociaux et socio-culturels de France] ; [dir. publ. Etienne Matray]

1994 (N13).

Ouvertures. Hors-série : la revue des centres sociaux / [Fédération des centres sociaux et socio-culturels de France] ; [dir. publ. Etienne Matray]

1991 (N4).

Ouvertures. Hors-série : la revue des centres sociaux / [Fédération des centres sociaux et socio-culturels de France] ; [dir. publ. Etienne Matray]

1993 (N11).

Ouvertures. Hors-série : la revue des centres sociaux / [Fédération des centres sociaux et socio-culturels de France] ; [dir. publ. Etienne Matray]

1993 (N12).

Ouvertures. Hors-série : la revue des centres sociaux / [Fédération des centres sociaux et socio-culturels de France] ; [dir. publ. Etienne Matray]

1994 (N14).

Ouvertures. Hors-série : la revue des centres sociaux / [Fédération des centres sociaux et socio-culturels de France] ; [dir. publ. Etienne Matray]

1994 (N15).

Ouvertures. Hors-série : la revue des centres sociaux / [Fédération des centres sociaux et socio-culturels de France] ; [dir. publ. Etienne Matray]

1991 (N6)-1992 (N7).