Regional Strategies to Mitigate Unemployment in the Wake of Crises: Comparing the EU in Greece and Mercosur in Paraguay

Abstract

In the wake of the financial and economic crises the ripple effects of which are still felt, the European Commission made efforts to develop novel schemes to address the problem of unemployment attributed to the lack of ample competitiveness within the Single Market. This paper compares the impact of the unemployment mitigation strategies adopted by the European Union (the EU) and the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) between 2008 and 2013. In doing so, it focuses on the respective impact of these policies on Greece (for the EU) and Paraguay (for Mercosur). Some of the ideologically driven responses to the crises in certain countries helped to aggravate unemployment. Also from a comparative perspective and due to its institutional depth the approaches adopted in the EU to address the effects of the crises have been more visible.