Evaluating real convergence or divergence in the EU is challenging because it is diffi cult to fi nd an appropriate counterfactual or comparison benchmark, or to formulate one. Should we compare the status quo with convergence that would have been obtained had the European Union (EU) never...

Having had little time to absorb the economic and social shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union is confronted with staggering increases in the cost of living. While household burdens vary significantly across and within countries, most European countries are struggling to cushion the...

After an initial take-off during the first eight years following unification, the Eastern German economy started to stall and regress to its old growth path of the 1950s and 1960s. The initial quick convergence only compensated for the dismal stagnation that the expropriation and concentration...

The multiplicity of institutions that are responsible for West Germany’ regional policy is creating numerous coordination problems. A fundamental solution of these problems is expected from the forthcoming Federal Space Use Programme.

"Possibilities of a regional structural policy in industrial states as demonstrated by the example of the Federal Republic of Germany". This was the subject of the main lecture which Senator Kern delivered on Dec. 20, 1972, in the course of his tour of Japan in Tokio at the Keidanren, the most...

Youth unemployment has been on the rise since the beginning of the crisis in 2008. Even more troublesome is the dramatic rise in the number of youth not in employment, education or training, which has led to widespread concerns about the impact on social cohesion and fears of a “lost...