European Integration and the Functioning of Product Markets

Europe's achievements in economic integration have attracted worldwide interest and are seen as an example for other regions to follow. Ten years after the completion of the Single Market Programme, this book is able to utilise empirical data not available to previous studies, also building on research by reputed academic experts and staff at the European Commission. The book reveals that European product market integration has a significant impact on the conditions of competition, the strategies of companies and the structure of industry. It adds a quarter of a percentage to annual GDP growth rates and has not led to an increased exposure of the EU to asymmetric shocks. However, the book argues that further improvements in the functioning of European product markets are needed in order to improve the EU's growth performance over the next decade.

Invaluably, the book provides not only current information about Europe's achievements in economic integration but also methodology to assess the outcome of economic integration in other regions of the World, such as NAFTA, MERCOSUR and ASEAN.

Offering a uniquely up-to-date and comprehensive empirical analysis and assessment of the European integration process, this book will be of great use and interest to international institutions and NGOs as well as researchers and scholars of European studies and economics.

Edited by Adriaan Dierx, Head of Sector, Directorate–General for Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission, Belgium, Fabienne Ilzkovitz, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium and Khalid Sekkat, Professor of Economics, DULBEA, University of Brussels, Belgium