Conditions for a contribution by the Structural Funds to real convergence of the Recently Acceded Member States

The recent EU enlargement poses immense challenges for EU regional policy in terms of increased necessity of priority setting and achieving allocative efficiency. In this context, the focus of this paper will be whether – or more precisely under which conditions – EU structural funds can be effective in making a significant contribution to real convergence in Europe. Based on theoretical insights and experiences in the incumbent Member States, conclusions will be drawn (though not exclusively) for the new Member States. In view of the very limited budgetary means of EU cohesion policy, representing less than 0.5 per cent of the EU-15 GDP, the following conditions will be identified as being important for maximising the impact: First, sound and supportive national policies, including macroeconomic policies, national regional policies and good governance, are an essential precondition for the achievement of a real impact. Second, the scarce financial means must be concentrated spatially, i.e. on the poorest Member States and regions and particularly in these countries they must be focused on national growth and growth poles rather than on equalising living conditions across the country and (more) dispersion of economic activity. Third, the strategic design of Structural Funds programmes must allow for a concentration on those types of expenditures most likely to lead to growth and employment. Fourth, ways have to be found to achieve the most effective use of EU Structural Funds. Before these conditions for maximising the impact of Structural Funds are described, empirical evidence and methods for assessing their contribution to real convergence in Europe will be discussed.

Conditions for a contribution by the Structural Funds to real convergence of the Recently Acceded Member States

The recent EU enlargement poses immense challenges for EU regional policy in terms of increased necessity of priority setting and achieving allocative efficiency. In this context, the focus of this paper will be whether – or more precisely under which conditions – EU structural funds can be effective in making a significant contribution to real convergence in Europe. Based on theoretical insights and experiences in the incumbent Member States, conclusions will be drawn (though not exclusively) for the new Member States. In view of the very limited budgetary means of EU cohesion policy, representing less than 0.5 per cent of the EU-15 GDP, the following conditions will be identified as being important for maximising the impact: First, sound and supportive national policies, including macroeconomic policies, national regional policies and good governance, are an essential precondition for the achievement of a real impact. Second, the scarce financial means must be concentrated spatially, i.e. on the poorest Member States and regions and particularly in these countries they must be focused on national growth and growth poles rather than on equalising living conditions across the country and (more) dispersion of economic activity. Third, the strategic design of Structural Funds programmes must allow for a concentration on those types of expenditures most likely to lead to growth and employment. Fourth, ways have to be found to achieve the most effective use of EU Structural Funds. Before these conditions for maximising the impact of Structural Funds are described, empirical evidence and methods for assessing their contribution to real convergence in Europe will be discussed

New economy - Wunschtraum oder Realität?

Die US-Volkswirtschaft ist seit einigen Jahren durch ein inflationsfreies Wachstum bei gleichzeitig niedriger Arbeitslosigkeit gekennzeichnet - eine Konstellation, die als New Economy bezeichnet wird. Handelt es sich dabei um eine grundlegende Veränderung der bisher vorherrschenden volkswirtschaftlichen Entwicklungsverläufe? --

Regional specialisation and sectoral concentration: an empirical analysis for the enlarged EU

Already within the current EU15, differences in national and regional economic specialisation are considerable. After the enlargement of the European Union in 2004, the diversity in the EU will increase statistically. In reality, the on-going economic integration in Europe already has effects on relative and absolute wealth positions as well as on structural change. Since years we may observe an ongoing debate, how international trade within the enlarged EU will affect different countries. Besides that, differences in regional specialisation between current and new as well as within individual member states may influence the strategy of national and European regional policy. Until recently, the data base for calculating the relevant indicators and providing an international comparison was weak. Recently, new sectoral and regional data became available in Eurostat's Regio database for most current and various new EU member states on NUTS 2 level, commonly using the new European System of National Accounts (ESA95). Based on these new data the paper will present results from various indicators on the differences in regional specialisation in the current as well as in the new member states

Characteristics of Business Cycles: Have they Changed?

The most recent economic downturn has shown that economic activity nowadays is still prone to large fluctuations. Despite a long tradition of research, the understanding of such fluctuations, namely business cycles, is still far from comprehensive. Moreover, in a developing world with new technologies, faster communication systems, a higher integration of world markets and increasingly better-skilled people the nature of business cycles changes continuously and new insights can be drawn from recent experience. Several issues of business cycles have been in the focus of researchers lately. First of all the understanding of business cycles requires an identification of the driving forces behind the fluctuations and the dynamics of economic activity. With the knowledge of the drivers it would be helpful for policy-makers and business managers to construct an indicator that predicts the development and that indicates the turning points of economic activity. The transmission of shocks from one economy, typically from the United States, to other economies is one aspect that has become increasingly important in a world of tightening trade and financial linkages. With the rising importance of economies such as China or India it is interesting to see if these countries could form a new regional block with a common business cycle and if the business cycle in East Asia has become in-creasingly independent from the one of the United States ..

The Different Function of Single Phosphorylation Sites of Drosophila melanogaster Lamin Dm and Lamin C

Lamins' functions are regulated by phosphorylation at specific sites but our understanding of the role of such modifications is practically limited to the function of cdc 2 (cdk1) kinase sites in depolymerization of the nuclear lamina during mitosis. In our study we used Drosophila lamin Dm (B-type) to examine the function of particular phosphorylation sites using pseudophosphorylated mutants mimicking single phosphorylation at experimentally confirmed in vivo phosphosites (S25E, S45E, T435E, S595E). We also analyzed lamin C (A-type) and its mutant S37E representing the N-terminal cdc2 (mitotic) site as well as lamin Dm R64H mutant as a control, non-polymerizing lamin. In the polymerization assay we could observe different effects of N-terminal cdc2 site pseudophosphorylation on A- and B-type lamins: lamin Dm S45E mutant was insoluble, in contrast to lamin C S37E. Lamin Dm T435E (C-terminal cdc2 site) and R64H were soluble in vitro. We also confirmed that none of the single phosphorylation site modifications affected the chromatin binding of lamin Dm, in contrast to the lamin C N-terminal cdc2 site. In vivo, all lamin Dm mutants were incorporated efficiently into the nuclear lamina in transfected Drosophila S2 and HeLa cells, although significant amounts of S45E and T435E were also located in cytoplasm. When farnesylation incompetent mutants were expressed in HeLa cells, lamin Dm T435E was cytoplasmic and showed higher mobility in FRAP assay

New economy - Wunschtraum oder Realität?

Die US-Volkswirtschaft ist seit einigen Jahren durch ein inflationsfreies Wachstum bei gleichzeitig niedriger Arbeitslosigkeit gekennzeichnet - eine Konstellation, die als New Economy bezeichnet wird. Handelt es sich dabei um eine grundlegende Veränderung der bisher vorherrschenden volkswirtschaftlichen Entwicklungsverläufe

Regional Economic Policy in Europe: new challenges for theory, empirics and normative interventions

Regional Economic Policy in Europe presents a tightly focused selection of policy, empirical and theoretical perspectives on contemporary dimensions of regional economic policy in the EU. It concentrates on three areas; the dissimilarities and resulting convergence of disparate regions within the EU; the localisation of economic activities and how regions can understand and manage them and, finally, the experiences and lessons that can be drawn from European regional policy. While exploring EU cohesion and regional development more widely, the book also examines Spanish, Belgian and Eastern European experiences on growth, human capital, foreign investment and technological spillovers.\ud \ud This up-to-date and thoroughly researched study is one that will be appreciated by academics and researchers of European studies and regional economics in Europe. Policymakers will also find the conclusions reached within the pages of this book invaluable