Economic Impact of EU Membership on Entrants: New Methods and Issues

As part of its EU strategy, the Swiss government commissioned several research projects covering the most important aspects of economic integration. Given the interesting results and the wealth of methods used in these studies we decided to organize a conference on the topic of 'The Economic Impact of EU Membership on Entrants: New Methods and Issues". The idea was to use the work on Switzerland as a case study for discussing modern approaches on how to assess the economic effects of joining an integration zone. This seemed to us to be a topic of considerable interest for the rising number of prospective EU-member countries. The response was very favourable with many eminent scholars agreeing to contribute. The conference took place in Lausanne, Switzerland in October 1999 and the papers submitted together with the discussions are published in this volume. We would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and to thank the University of Lausanne for providing the venue facilities for the conference. Many persons helped in the preparation of the conference and this volume but we would like to especially mention Marc Surchat who provided substantial input for the conference and Walter Brodmann who very efficiently reviewed and finalized the manuscript. The Editors RICHARD E. BALDWIN AND A YMO BRUNETTI THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF EU MEMBERSHIP ON ENTRANTS: NEW METHODS AND ISSUES INTRODUCTION What a transformation Europe has witnessed in the past 15 years.

Richard E. Baldwin worked for the Institute of International Studies. He was a Senior Staff Economist for the President's Council of Economic Advisors in the Bush Administration (1990-1991) and has advised the European Commission on several integration issues. He has also worked in the past for the European Commission, EFTA, the OECD, the FCO, the World Bank, USAID and UNCTAD. From 1991 to 2001 he was Co-Director of the International Trade Programme of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. His areas of specialisations are international trade, regional integration, and economic geography. Before coming to Geneva in May 1991, he was a professor at Columbia University Business School, having done his PhD in economics at MIT, an MSc at LSE, and a first degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Aymo Brunetti is Head of Economic Analysis in the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Switzerland. In addition, he is Professor of Economics at the University of Basel and teaches at the University of Bern, Switzerland.