"Preface" [2003] ELECD 5; in Tumpel-Gugerell, Gertrude; Mooslechner, Peter (eds), "Economic Convergence and Divergence in Europe" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003)

Book Title: Economic Convergence and Divergence in Europe

Editor(s): Tumpel-Gugerell, Gertrude; Mooslechner, Peter

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843762416

Section Title: Preface

Number of pages: 12

Extract:

Preface
Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell

This volume comes out of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank's East­West
Conference 2001 which took place in Vienna from 4 to 6 November and
was entitled `Convergence and Divergence in Europe'. Experience with
convergence and divergence in the European Union as well as the chal-
lenges raised by the convergence of Central and Eastern European coun-
tries with the European Union are central to this volume. The chapters
focus not only on convergence at the country level, but also deal with the
development of regions within individual countries.
The Introduction sketches important issues illuminating the background
to this volume. The income-per-capita levels of the Central and Eastern
European countries are generally far lower than those in the European
Union and at the same time far from homogeneous among these countries
themselves. Moreover, in recent years real growth rates in the accession
countries have stood at relatively moderate levels; unemployment rates are
still high or have increased even further in some countries. It is stated that
economic policy should aim at fostering real growth in a stability-oriented
environment and warned against premature efforts to comply with the
Maastricht nominal convergence criteria.
Part I starts with an overview of the history of convergence and diver-
gence in Europe, by Ivan T. Berend. The author stresses that, as a result of
the industrial revolution, the gap between the locomotive-driven cores and
horse-driven trudging peripheries widened tremendously during the first
60 years of the nineteenth ...