Presents the scale and the scope of the challenges facing Europe as it adjusts to globalization and advances in technology. The editors offer disconcerting findings: Europe has not kept pace with some technological advances; it may have lost dynamism; and employment creation has become lacklustre.

This book discusses the unprecedented impact of the financial and economic crisis on government finances and economic performance across Europe, which has raised skepticism on the ability of the current course of integration to promote prosperity. Correspondingly, the European Union is about to contract for the first time in its history. This timely book covers the economic issues that challenge the future of integration in Europe. The chapters are authored by international experts and examine current and emerging challenges and trends for the European Union: economic convergence, monetary policy, competition law, transport policy, the informal sector, employment, recovery and enlargement. Four chapters focus on Greece, which has been the greatest challenge faced by European institutions in the context of the sovereign debt crisis, and one chapter discusses the possible costs of Brexit. The reader will benefit from understanding the key economic challenges, which, if effectively addressed, will lead to deepening the union, or in contrast to a multi-speed Europe.

Europe grew rapidly for many years, but now, faced with greater challenges, several of the large economies in Europe have either failed to generate enough jobs or have failed to achieve the highest levels of productivity or both. This study explores why Europe's growth slowed, what contribution information technology makes to growth, and what policies could facilitate economic transformation. It emphasizes a system with strong work incentives and a high level of competitive intensity. Europe doesn't need to eliminate its protections for individuals, the authors conclude, but both social programs and policies toward business must be reoriented so that they encourage economic change.

The European Union's growth to 25 members and the speed of its economic integration is described in this study of competitive pressures on companies outside the EU, particularly in India, that depend on European suppliers and markets.

A cogent and systematic look at the ways in which enacting fiscal and governmental policy changes might reinvigorate Europe's stagnant economy.