Society and Economics in Europe : Disparity Versus Convergence?

This book takes stock of the lessons to be learned from the experiences of different countries on their way to a transition into a unified Europe. It demonstrates how the project of a unified Europe is a social pilot project that is unique in human history, both with respect to the sheer number of people involved and with respect to the cultural diversity it aims to turn into a progressive advantage. With no historical experience at hand, the transition into a unified Europe is an exploratory process, often risky but sometimes also surprisingly successful. To improve the chances of establishing a successful unification it is particularly important that we learn from the mistakes made so far; and that we learn rapidly, since the forces working against the pilot project of Europe will gain power very fast if the unification success slows down. And as the recent developments in Greece show, the vision of the final goal itself can well change during this exciting quest. Apart from providing the pieces of a mosaic on which a more general theory can be built, this book can be read as a collection of experiences – mistakes as well as triumphs – which should help the European learning process. The structure of the book mirrors Europe’s diversity: specific country studies are combined with more general chapters, and quantitatively oriented econometric work is combined with qualitatively oriented sociological studies. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Shangri-La Governance. A Sketch of an Integral Solution for European Economic Policy Based on a Synthesis of Europe’s Problems....Pages 1-18 The Convergence Process and the Volatility of the Money and Capital Markets....Pages 19-30 Polish Economic Policy, Internationalization, and Globalization....Pages 31-51 A Geopolitical and Institutional Model of Poland’s Participation in the New Baltic Europe....Pages 53-64 The Main Economic Effects of Poland’s Entrance into the European Union....Pages 65-88 Socioeconomic Development in Bulgaria....Pages 89-103 EU Strategy on the Governance of the Euro Area....Pages 105-113 Questioning the Social Efficiency of Computerization in an Enlarged Europe: The Lithuanian Case....Pages 115-126 Bulgarian Social Partners and the Information Society: A Cursory Acquaintance....Pages 127-135 European Integration and Security in South Eastern Europe....Pages 137-156 The Dual Character of Hungarian Labor Relations: The Institution of Employee Participation from a European Perspective....Pages 157-176 Toward a New Cold War: NATO Enlargement, Russia, and the Baltic States....Pages 177-183 A Kaleckian Model of New Orders of Non-defense Capital Goods in the USA 1992–2010....Pages 185-198 The IT Industry and the Economic Crisis: Empirical Findings from the USA....Pages 199-206 The Cyprus Banking Crisis: The Bail-in Strategy as a Game Changer for the Too-Big-to-Fail Mentality of the Fractional Reserve Banking System....Pages 207-216 Conclusion—The Birth of Europe....Pages 217-221 "This book takes stock of the lessons to be learned from the experiences of different countries on their way to a transition into a unified Europe. It demonstrates how the project of a unified Europe is a social pilot project that is unique in human history, both with respect to the sheer number of people involved and with respect to the cultural diversity it aims to turn into a progressive advantage. With no historical experience at hand, the transition into a unified Europe is an exploratory process, often risky but sometimes also surprisingly successful. To improve the chances of establishing a successful unification it is particularly important that we learn from the mistakes made so far; and that we learn rapidly, since the forces working against the pilot project of Europe will gain power very fast if the unification success slows down. Apart from providing the pieces of a mosaic on which a more general theory can be built, this book can be read as a collection of experiences--mistakes as well as triumphs--which should help the European learning process. The structure of the book mirrors Europe's diversity: specific country studies are combined with more general chapters, and quantitatively oriented econometric work is combined with qualitatively oriented sociological studies." -- Back cover