Industrial and Regional Policies in an Enlarging EU

After years of near ‘disrepute’ in official circles, Industrial Policy has made something of a comeback over the last few years and is now very much back on the agenda at national and EU levels, driven by concerns over globalisation, deindustrialisation, unemployment and perceived poor growth in the EU. Simultaneously, the European Commission’s Fourth Report on Economic and Social Cohesion has kicked off the debate over challenges to cohesion, the shape of EU Cohesion policy beyond 2013, and how resources should be managed. This debate will find added momentum with the imminent ‘mid-term’ review being launched by the Commission. Discussions over the success or not of the Lisbon Agenda, on-going debates over cluster policies, and recent developments in policy evaluation have also contributed to a burgeoning academic literature over the last eighteen months. This edited volume is especially pertinent given such developments and pulls together a diverse range of contributions from leading authorities in the field to add to these debates and to illustrate connections between them.

1. Editorial: Industrial and Regional Policies in an Enlarging EU 2. Evaluating EU Regional Policy: How Might We Understand the Causal Connections between Interventions and Outcomes More Effectively? MARK HART 3. Reforming EU Cohesion Policy: A Reappraisal of the Performance of the Structural Funds JOHN BACHTLER and GRZEGORZ GORZELAK 4. Reconciling Cohesion and Competitiveness through EU Cluster Policies? LISA DE PROPRIS 5. A Cohesion Pact for the Regions: A Role for Industrial Policy? LESLIE BUDD 6. European Industrial and Competition Policy: Perspectives, Trends and a New Approach CHRISTOS N. PITELIS 7. Globalisation, Economic Freedom and Strategic Decision-Making: A Role for Industrial Policy? DAVID BAILEY and ALEX DE RUYTER