The global crisis and the changing European industrial landscape

Capitalism is still in a systemic crisis that started in the Summer of 2007. Financial instability arose from the difficulties inherent in a particular segment of US financial markets, then spread to the rest of the world. The financial crisis mutated into a banking crisis and, in less than a year, it became a full blown crisis of the real economy. Now, the crisis of private debt has turned into a public debt crisis, and the global crisis has heavily affected Europe. The recession is likely to be a prolonged one even if one accepts that the feeble recovery, if there is a recovery at all, will not end in another depression. The trigger of a double dip may be European contradictions. Capitalism could therefore face again, in the medium term, a prolonged period of stagnation with mass unemployment. In this paper, we will first give a brief outlook of the global and European crisis. Then we will focus on Europe. We will inquire in particular into the contradictions of European neo-mercantilism, considering some 'microeconomic' but crucial dimensions of the nature of competition and industrial restructuring.