The map gives some hints about where there might be problems - the unemployed who have debts have more difficulties keeping up with their loan payments - the unemployed don't pay very much in taxes and thus don't contribute to the government coffers - the unemployed are rather more prone to engage in activities such as social unrest.
It's also interesting to see how unemployment often does not follow national borders. Northern Italy, for example, seems to have more in common with the German-speaking area of Europe than with southern Italy. Sometimes, however, the national borders make a big difference, e.g. between Spain and Portugal.
Also note that France looks a lot more like the central part of Italy than it looks like Germany when it comes to unemployment. Bienvenue au club PIIGSF, monsieur Hollande!
The difference in Germany between former East Germany and West Germany is still clearly visible, as the east still hasn't caught up with the west.
Another striking difference is that between Czechia and Slovakia, where Czechia looks like Germany, but Slovakia (except the Bratislava region) has a high unemployment rate that increases towards the east.
This is a translation of a post from my Swedish blog.
Very stimulating thoughts. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHave to nitpick one thing as someone who traces his ancestry to Brno: it's the capital of Moravia, and thus part of the Czech Republic, not Slovakia. (Obviously this only strengthens your comment.)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting chart though. It's the first time I've seen this kind of representation for Europe.
Sorry, it should be Bratislava of course! Corrected!
DeleteExcellent information, thank you.
ReplyDeleteGreat info. Do you have access to data for similar map on household wealth? Would be interesting to see.
ReplyDeleteAs an Italian I can assure you the Northern Italy HAS more in common with the German-speaking area of Europe than it has with the South of Italy. While the south of Italy has more in common with Greece and Spain than it has with Northern Italy. The things in common are called attitude toward life and attitude. And those on the map are simply the results. AMEN.
ReplyDeleteI know that very well, since I've spent a lot of time in Italy, both northern and southern.
DeleteMost non-Italians don't realise that there's such a big cultural difference.
Your post is objective, no doubt, but it's filled with common sense prejudice and its premises are wrong. Economic performance (measured by unemployment rate) determined by 'culture' (which remains a container for everything 'non-economic', such as 'attitude toward life') = bad economics.
ReplyDeleteThere's a reason for the success of bad economists, they just say what their audiences want to hear. With this kind of analysis, no wonder you write 'one of Sweden's most read economics blogs'.
Hi Anonymous person! I do agree with you to some extent. What would you recommend me reading? Or could I read more of you somewhere?
DeleteThanks for your job, very interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhen referring to Spain you do not distinguish inside its official borders, so I would like to point out a couple of things.
The first one is that for the Catalan people, obliged to live under the Spanish rule, this relation is a big disgrace. The lack of skills of the Spaniards when developing any project and their only will to live from the work of another people (America in XVI-XVII centuries, remaining Colonies in XVIII-XIX centuries, Catalans in XVIII-XX centuries, EU in XX-XXI centuries) is a national shame that they are proud of and we are tired of. Please support us and distinguish Catalonia from the rest of Spain. You can obtain much more information in http://emma-col-cat.blogspot.com.es/
A second comment comes from the analysis of the colours inside the current Spanish borders. You can see that in the Basque country unemployment is in a level average to central Europe. This is because the depraved tax system in Spain allows the Basque country to scape from contributing to the money wasting in central Spain, thus allowing them to develop a rational economy and give a proper way of living to their inhabitants. We Catalans are tired to pay and pay and pay and being treated like "niggers" (sorry) by the rest of the Spanish community that is permanently thinking on ways to spoil us a bit more. Do we have to raise a Catalan ETA to win some respect?
Thank you.
It is a lie. Do you know what a "nigger" was? If you were "niggers", you could not be writing here, at least you can "pay" something, the same quantity that many Spaniards pay
DeleteJoan, please, vete a tomar por culo
ReplyDeleteExactly as I said ... you see?
DeleteAnd here I thought that Catalonia was full of workers from the South of Spain, which means is full of 'Spaniards'. What a big surprise?! It's also very surprising that when things are going OK and you get your money from the rest of Spain everything is fine and you don't feel so bad about 'living under the rules of Spain'. And you know what, I'm not even Spaniard, but I've been living in Spain for 15 years and people like you get me sick.
DeleteSince I've been working from the time I finished my college on and never left my job for a disease longer than a day's cold, ¿may I consider myself a clear green no matter how 'Andaluz Español' I am?
ReplyDeleteI just mean that statistics (and hence the words of Joan) being true (the statistics, not the words of Joan) could be absolutely cruel. I know it's obvious but I thought that I had to state it.
Thanx.
See the neighboring to Greece Bulgarian region. It's pretty green while Northern Greece is brown. You don't need to have Economy studies in the Harvard to understand why that happens :) Greece uses the "euro", Bulgaria not
ReplyDeleteIn Spain, Italy and Greece there is a lot of black / illegal job. So they are not lazy at all, simply they try to overcome problems related to lack of investment in this way. The difference between Northern of Italy and South is caused by historical and political reasons. Only stupid racists believe that peoples from the South are worst than the ones from the North (in fact, many of them originated from the South...).
ReplyDeletespain = + cheat + unemployment
ReplyDeleteitaly = + cheat + unemployment
greece = super cheats + super unemployment
= all of them share the same political values based on corruption, high level of tax evasion.
norway = honest country, low unemployment, progressive economy a meritocracy.
All the difference here lies in their political class, their work atittude and their respect for the others.
In Italy is cheat or be cheated...
Its partially true, but its not the only factor. For example - sadly, my own country has a way to go regarding political values. Corruption is widespread, creating big public outcry right now (only when the economy became affected) and still we do relatively well. Its done by several factors, but Germany's proximity is undoubtedly one of them.
DeleteNote: My country = Czech Republic
DeleteStrikingly refreshing info. Really new perspective and Czechia is fine example of it. The regional division seems be more important than national policies (to some degrees) and actually all the suffering regions are furthest from the well doing center or near EU edge. Quite striking.
ReplyDelete