Queen Mary Academics Clinch Business Journalism Research Award
Dr Gouzoulis, Dr Galanis (Queen Mary University of London), and Dr Iliopoulos (KU Leuven) received an award from the Karl Renner Institute and the SPÖ Parliamentary Club for their work on their project ‘financialisation and the future of workers’. The award recognises outstanding scientists in business journalism.
The research project ‘financialisation and the future of workers’ reveals the impact of financial factors on the job market. Their work goes beyond traditional economic and labour studies by incorporating the influence of household finances on employment outcomes.
In particular, the research integrates insights from sociology and finance anthropology into standard labour market analysis. They’ve discovered that individuals burdened with debt tend to exhibit increased discipline at work due to the fear of losing their jobs or failing to meet their financial obligations.
Expanding on this idea, their research project examined data from various economies spanning several decades. They found that the substantial increase in household debt and the growing prominence of financial investments in pension funds are closely associated with a global increase in precarious employment, a decline in labour strikes (until recently), and a disconnect between worker productivity and wage growth.
Commenting on the award Dr Gouzoulis, Dr Galanis said, “We are honoured to be among the co-recipients of the 2023 Kurt W. Rothschild Award by the Karl Renner Institute and the Social Democratic Parliamentary Group of Austria. We would like to thank the jury for recognising our work and we hope that our contribution improves our understanding on how to tackle contemporary labour market inequalities.”
Together with the SPÖ Parliamentary Club, the Karl Renner Institute has been awarding the Kurt Rothschild Prize for Economic Research and Journalism since 2016 . The prize strengthens research and scientific communication that achieves relevant results by placing economic questions in a broad context instead of reproducing neoclassical beliefs. The award winners are also characterized by the fact that they want to help shape politics and society and therefore get involved in the public debate.