Research, Quality, Competitiveness European Union Technology Policy
This book covers a gap in EU policy literature by addressing the intersection between research policy and industrial policy. It analyzes how the EU supports the competitiveness of domestic companies and the common objective of sustained (and sustainable)
- PDF / 18,434,792 Bytes
- 548 Pages / 441 x 666 pts Page_size
- 87 Downloads / 210 Views
The Recommended Reading web site http://stajano.deis.unibo.it/RQC.htm is available on line
Attilio Stajano
Research, Quality, Competitiveness European Union Technology Policy for the Knowledge-based Society Second edition
123
Attilio Stajano University of Bologna, Italy [email protected]
ISBN: 978-0-387-79264-4
e-ISBN: 978-0-387-79265-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008934732 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.
c
Printed on acid-free paper springer.com
To Kathleen
Foreword
The European Union (EU) was launched as a response to the economic dominance of the United States and – to a lesser degree – the Soviet Union. The nations of Western Europe were too small to compete against large scale and diversified economies on their own. Six countries, eventually expanding to 27 (and counting), took a series of steps toward progressively deeper integration: the removal of internal tariffs, the construction of a common external tariff, the elimination of many (but not all) non-tariff barriers leading to a single market, and the adoption of a common currency by 15 of the member states. The EU today equals and even exceeds the U.S. on many key indicators of performance. In the process, two similar but nonetheless divergent models of social and economic life stand in contrast with each other. The U.S. is more committed to capitalism and does little to dilute its harsh edges while the nations of Europe support wider social safety nets and more active regulation of commercial activity to mute the crueller aspects of the free-market. Until recently, the economic dynamism of the U.S. called into question whether the so-called European social model was sustainable in an era of globalization. The EU was slipping in competitiveness and was being challenged by new global powerhouses like China and India. Although the U.S. economy has slowed, there is little indication that European countries are capable of leveraging the situation to their advantage. This book by Attilio Stajano investigates the EU’s competitiveness and the role played by research as its underlying engine. As such, it provides an important analysis on whether competition requires sacrifice of the traditional social safety net and its accompanying regulatory regime. The single market lies at the heart of the analysis.
Data Loading...
