Roberta Barbieri, Francesco Natale, Valentina Cattivelli (p), Benedetta Coluccia (p)

Ashley Burdett

see long abstract

Ashley Burdett (p), Matteo Richiardi

Dawid Majcherek

The paper examines the impact of the major demographic, macroeconomic (green transition) and technological (digital transition) shocks on the future of regional labour markets in five European economies (United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Hungary and Greece), characterised by different economic models and welfare regimes.
To this aim, we build on an innovative micro-analytical framework to project individual life course trajectories. The framework, originally developed for the UK, is applied to four EU countries, and extended to include regional disaggregation at the NUTS-3 level and incorporation of macroeconomic scenarios derived from a dynamic input-output macro model. This allows us to shed new light on the distributional impact of the ongoing economic and social transformations, beyond the broad picture and simplifying assumptions made in standard macro approaches. Further, our dynamic framework integrates in every simulated period inputs from a static tax-benefit model, permitting analyses of the short-, medium- and long-run effects of fiscal policies.

Dawid Majcherek (p), Arkadiusz Kowalski, Małgorzata Lewandowska, Desislava Dikova, Scott Hegerty

Valentina Cattivelli

The digitalization of healthcare presents a significant opportunity to reduce inequalities in access to medical services across the European Union. The rapid adoption of digital health technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated their potential to mitigate challenges in healthcare delivery. Building on this momentum, we compiled a dataset for the 27 EU countries using the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS), the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), and other Eurostat sources. Applying k-means cluster analysis, we categorized EU countries based on two key dimensions: digitalization levels and disparities in healthcare access. Our findings reveal five distinct clusters, with two clusters experiencing high, two facing moderate, and one showing low levels of unmet medical needs. Notably, only the Nordic countries, Spain, and Cyprus demonstrate high digital readiness. Meanwhile, Western European nations with strong healthcare systems fall into a cluster characterized by moderate levels of both digitalization and unmet need. The majority of EU countries still require substantial investment in digital infrastructure to expand the adoption of digital healthcare solutions among patients and professionals. To enhance equitable healthcare access, policymakers must prioritize initiatives that foster digital health innovations as an essential component of modern healthcare systems.