Two rounds of EU eastern enlargement will pose difficult economic and political adjustment problems. Based on recent analysis one also finds many opportunities for both the EU-15 and the accession countries which, however, face the negative spillovers from the Russian transition crisis. The transformation crisis in Russia is analyzed in its own right and explained via the interplay of domestic reform failure and inadequate external transformation support - including an ill-guided transition approach of the IMF. Based on a broad analysis the ingredients of a successful transformation strategy...

This book analyses the role of deregulation, competition and modernization in telecommunications and energy in Europe, particularly in Eastern Europe. It features a comprehensive analysis of telecommunications policy and industry developments in the EU and selected postsocialist countries; the focus is on deregulation of public utilities, especially the electricity sector. Policy options for systemic transition are evaluated: Ex-GDR, Poland, Czech Republic and Russia. The book provides new data, information on institutional changes and new theoretical approaches to network industries....

Die Telekommunikationswirtschaft ist das Nervensystem der modernen Wirtschafts- und Freizeitgesellschaft in Europa. Dieses Buch behandelt die strategische Rolle der Telekommunikation in der Informationsgesellschaft, prasentiert aktuelle internationale Entwicklungen und diskutiert die zentralen Aspekte einer zukunftsweisenden Deregulierungspolitik sowie Liberalisierungsoptionen in Deutschland und den EU-Partnerlandern. Privatisierungsaspekte, das Phanomen internationaler Allianzen und langfristige Internationalisierungstendenzen werden in ihren wirtschaftlichen Bedeutungen analysiert."

Economic globalization has intensified since the 1980s and created faster channels of international interdependence and an accelerating technology race. In this new asymmetric world economy the EU is facing a dynamic and flexible US system which takes advantage of the global quest for foreign direct investment. Innovation policies in the EU - in particular in Germany - are found to be rather inadequate. There are also new theoretical challenges where a "structural macro model" and a Schumpetrian model of innovation and full employment are presented as new approaches. Besides theoretical...

Economic globalization has intensified on the basis of new international links, especially in the field of foreign direct investment, financial capital flows and telecommunications liberalization. These and other developments have reinforced international interdependence and raise new issues for international organizations as well as for strategic behavior of major actors. Based on historical perspectives of evolution of major organizations and the latest developments in the 1990s the analysis focus on financial market dynamics, monetary issues and labor market aspects. Reform options for...

The Russian transformation crisis is analyzed and put into the context of national policy failures and international shocks. The study also has a focus on structural change and foreign direct investment - including an econometric perspective. Basic problems of economic opening-up, macroeconomic policy and aspects of political economy are also discussed. The role of institutional reforms, membership in international organizations and supply-side policies are emphasized.

The creation of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the start of the Euro in 1999 are historical marks for Europe. With the start of the new currency and the ECB the world economy also is facing a major structural change and new challenges. In a historical perspective the European Monetary Union has the unique feature that a common new institution, the ECB, has been created. This is in marked contrast to the Scandinavian and the Latin Monetary Union (France, Italy, Belgium th and Switzerland) in the late 19 century which was a period in which national central banks were created in...

High unemployment rates in the period of an internationalization of economies and an intensified technological competition are the main problems that exist in most EU countries. Taking stock of unemployment patterns, technological trends and employment opportunities in the EU and the US is crucial for the reform debate in Europe. In continental Europe, major problems are an insufficient creation of new firms in innovative technology fields, inadequate labor market developments and inconsistent R&D policies. Founded on new data evaluations, the book presents an innovative analysis of these...

Financial Markets Savings and Monetary Integration in a World with Uncertain Convergence.

Paul J. J. Welfens European monetary union has been discussed for more than three decades and is likely to be realized in 1999. One may anticipate generous interpretations of the fiscal convergence criteria. Such generosity consistent with the Maastricht Treaty might impair the credibility of the ECB and the stability of the Euro, respectively, despite the fact that inflation is a monetary phenomenon and has little to do with government deficits, unless they were financed via the printing press, which is excluded in the Maastricht Treaty. The European Commission's forecast of spring 1997...