Neda Delfani (27, University of Amsterdam) is the winner of the 2012 SER Thesis Prize, for which more than ninety Master’s Degree students competed. The submissions covered a wide range of disciplines and topics, such as pensions, corporate social responsibility, own-account workers, and the benefits of admitting Turkey to the European Union. The other two nominees were: Abdessalam Es-Saghir and Sander van Hees.
Nedal Delfani’s winning thesis examines the role of partisanship in the effectiveness of the European Strategy for Growth and Jobs (ESGJ) and it reveals that governments do not give equal attention to all recommendations and guidelines but engage in cherry-picking: they address in particular those recommendations and guidelines that fit within the ideological preferences of the incumbent parties. However, given the fact that government coalitions alternate regularly and that it is hard to reverse implemented policies, she expects that in the long run the ESGJ affects the direction of domestic labour market policy.