In a new MPIfG Discussion Paper, Fabio Bulfone, Mischa Stratenwerth, and Arianna Tassinari trace the evolution of Southern European growth trajectories between the financial crisis and the covid pandemic. Looking at Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, they show that export-led growth has been insufficient to boost aggregate growth, stimulate high value-added services or manufacturing, reverse pro-cyclical employment declines, or create high-wage employment opportunities in these countries. Portugal and Spain, however, were able to achieve stronger growth than Italy and Greece by combining domestic demand and exports.

Dustin Voss, a senior researcher at the MPIfG, has received the 2025 Journal Article Prize of the Society of Friends and Former Associates of the MPIfG. The award was presented during the Institute’s 40th anniversary celebrations in May for Voss’s article “Sectors Versus Borders: Interest Group Cleavages and Struggles Over Corporate Governance in the Age of Asset Management,” published in Socio-Economic Review in 2024. His study examines the role of global asset managers such as BlackRock in the context of a co-determination reform in Germany.

The Game: The Economy of Undocumented Migration from Afghanistan to Europe offers an ethnographic account of Afghan refugees navigating the perilous journey from Afghanistan to Germany. MPIfG researcher Hannah Pool accompanies a group of Afghan families and friends as they move through Iran, Turkey, Greece, and the Balkan route in pursuit of asylum and safety. Based on her award-winning dissertation, the book explores the “moral economy” of migration – the social norms, mutual obligations, and expectations that shape the actions of migrants.