Papers > By author > Ponikvar Nina

The purpose of this study is to furnish empirical content upon the premise that the Eurozone's cross-country inequalities arise from country-specific structures. Drawing on the concept of unequal exchange, inspired by Prebisch-Singer, Lewis, and Emmanuel, the authors investigate whether the national sectoral and technological compositions, through international trade, distort the equivalence between the national product received and inputs used. The quantitative analysis for the period between 2003-2016 demonstrated that the geographical distribution of the economic output is disproportionate to the labour consumed in its production. Hence, the Eurozone's inequality remained rooted in the market disequilibria, distinct capital intensities, and distinct economic efficiencies. This research disclosed that the sectoral and technological compositions are crucial components of inequality determinants, manifesting through the divergence in profit and wage rates, social recognition of the labour consumed, and exploitation rates. Accordingly, the Eurozone's structure intrinsically contradicts the aims of an effective single market. Given the lack of adequate corrective institutes, to prevent disintegrating tendencies, this investigation must be used as the platform for re-questioning the Eurozone's neoliberal policy discourse. A detrimental narrative centred around the price stability ahead of full employment which favours the interest of capital over labour and affluent countries over destitute ones.