In foundational thinking, the “cost of living crisis “ across all of Europe since the beginning of the Ukraine war is a crisis of foundational unliveability which we understand through the three pillar concept of liveability.

One key pillar is income, or more exactly residual income in low-income households which was always modest and precarious; residual household income was then squeezed by the spike in energy prices and food price inflation creating heating vs eating choices. But, this acute crisis from spring 2022 comes on top of grumbling chronic crisis in the 2010s when real wages stagnated for many. At the same time, the two other liveability pillars of essential services and social infrastructure were being undermined by austerity public budgeting and marketization plus private sector financialization. Late 2010s symptoms of distress included the increasing use of food banks in the UK and the gilets jaunes movement in France.

Collective members have produced analysis of this crisis of liveability and the government policy response for the UK and for 5 EU countries in Western Europe.

• In the When Nothing Works book the British FERL team presents an analysis of the post 2022 crisis in the UK[1] This is set in the context of the crisis’  pre- history in the 2010s and before as all three pillars of liveability are eroded. The book presents an analysis of the irrelevance of the irrelevance of the UK’s jobs and growth agenda for making the economy work; and in the book’s final chapter, the authors propose alternative policies for making the household work
• David Bassens joined the FERL team to extend the analysis of residual income by considering evidence of expenditure patterns for low- income households in five West European countries as well as the UK. Market entitlement and the foundational economy/FE4 metric.  Comparative study highlights the immediate stress caused by rising food and energy prices and the high cost of untargeted government assistance; and also high lights the long term importance of the national housing settlement and access to  cheap housing. A parallel research report for the Counterbalance NGO, Things have to Change, points out the irrelevance of EU policies which reflect elite priorities and argues the case for alternative policies which reflect household priorities.

[1] L. Calafati et al (2023)  When Nothing Works, pp.158-71