Supranational cooperations and economic and currency unions are top issues on the agenda. Questions about explicit and implicit financial equalization between member countries, industrial and infrastructure policies gain importance.
Globalization and the expanding information technologies will force reforms both in the EU and in the South American Mercosur. The discussion is organized under four headings: Financial Crises, inevitably connected to the advantages of global and liberalized financial markets. Consequences of Cooperation and Integration on the -old- industries...

Ongoing processes in the European Union and the South American Mercosur enforce political and institutional reforms. Economists and politicians must be able to understand these processes to formulate strategic scenarios, to design and implement interventions which contribute favorably to the future. Under four headings the discussion is organized: regional economic integration with respect to financial markets (and the consequences for Basel II), commercial and competitive policy, and the role of foreign direct investments. International trade and growth related to agricultural products,...