AUDIO
Gaining Ground: New Reforms from Old Europe
February 20, 2008
10:00 AM — 05:15 PM
"Old Europe"--the Western European and Scandinavian countries--has become, to some critics, a symbol of economic stagnation and political gridlock. But in recent years, many European countries have adopted reform policies that will surprise many Americans. Indeed, Western Europe is fast becoming a land of "new ideas" from which American policymakers can learn.
This conference adressed the following topics:
*Pension and Entitlement Reform in Europe
*French Energy Policy
*Markets and Transportation Policy in Europe
*Education Reform in Europe
“Old Europe”--the Western European and Scandinavian countries--has become, to some critics, a symbol of economic stagnation and political gridlock. But in recent years, many European countries have adopted reform policies that will surprise many Americans. Indeed, Western Europe is fast becoming a land of “new ideas” from which American policymakers can learn.
“Old Europe” has been particularly innovative in adopting market-based reforms to a variety of policy challenges. French energy policy, Swedish private social security accounts, Dutch entitlement reform, European air traffic control privatization, and Dutch and Swedish school choice are only a few of the arenas in which American policymakers can learn from successful policies abroad.
Just as importantly, these policies are pursued by parties on the Right and the Left. Social democrats, Christian democrats, conservatives, and liberals have all initiated and continued these reforms, making European policy reform a model of “bipartisanship” from which Americans can also learn.
How are these policies working in practice? How have seemingly “conservative” policies become accepted across the European political spectrum? Discussing these and other questions will be some of Europe’s leading experts and practitioners, including deputy secretary-general of the OECD and former Dutch minister of social affairs Aart Jan de Geus; special adviser to the French Atomic Energy Agency Jacques Bouchard; head of pensions at Sweden’s National Insurance Board Ole Settergren; and many others.
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