The past, present and future of the European Union

Abstract:

The International Economic Association is a federation of some sixty national associations in all parts of the world. Its basic purpose is the development of economics as an intellectual discipline, recognising a diversity of problems, systems and values in the world and taking note of methodological diversities. This work comprises the best of those papers dealing with the European Union that were presented at the thirteenth Congress of the Association held in Lisbon in September 2002.

There are ten chapters which open with the editor’s introduction. This is followed by an address given by Romano Prodi, then President of the European Commission, concerning the euro and enlargement. Chapter three looks at the Stability and Growth Pact and macroeconomic adjustment. Chapter four examines the available empirical evidence of price convergence. Chapters five to eight consider the effects of enlargement on both current Member States and new entrants, featuring both macroeconomic and microeconomic effects and the overall impacts on growth and welfare. Chapter nine explores the beginnings of a macro-econometric model that might well grow in coverage and usefulness along with the EU. Chapter ten offers apolitical perspective on how the institutions of the EU are likely to evolve.

The work will interest scholars, students and economists engaged in European studies and European enlargement.

Alan V. Deardorff is John W. Sweetland Professor of International Economics and Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan.