Over the last decades, at a European level, efforts have been made so that regions become capable of sustainable economic growth, with great social cohesion and better distribution of wealth, while at the same time under open market conditions, they are being exposed to external competitiveness....

The 'Beyond GDP' approach considers GDP (Gross Domestic Product) insufficient to capture the multidimensional nature of progress and promotes the use of alternative indicators in policy. Although commonly used as an indicator of well-being, GDP is a measure of economic performance, reflecting...

Child labour is a widespread phenomenon. Although economic activities of children have been commonplace even before the industrialisation, it has in the meanwhile become a lasting symbol of the industrial revolution and of industrialisation in general. In most countries the inclusion of children...

This paper looks at the integration of regions and nations through the prism of the merger of populations (societies). The paper employs a particular index of social stress. Stylized examples of the merging of two populations suggest that with integration, the social stress index will increase....

Sourcing intermediate goods efficiently is essential for a country's production capacity. Countries located in a neighborhood providing a wide range of intermediate goods cheaply available can take advantage of scale economies to reduce their production costs and improve their global...