History matters for the future of Europe in a globalizing world. European institutions are the outcome of a long historical process of development. Many of them were created or shaped in the past as a reaction to the forces of economic integration. Moreover, in spite of wide differences among countries, Western Europe offers, in broad terms, a coherent socio-economic model based on the coexistence and positive integration between market and non-market institutions. The European historical experience demonstrates that regulation, coordination rules and market integration can successfully complement and reinforce each other, and that markets tend to perform better if they are embedded in a range of non-market institutions whose function is to create, regulate, stabilize and legitimate markets. This is exactly the argument some critical observers are putting forward in the current globalization debate. How should European institutions adjust to current globalizations?
In order to answer that question, it is critical to improve our understanding of the historical roots and trajectory of socio-economic development models, including comparisons of their historical evolution and key determinants between Europe, USA and other relevant world regions. Historical awareness is also essential to address current pressures leading to convergence towards a single socio-economic development model for Europe, within the perspectives of integration, enlargement and globalization.
The research teams coordinating through the Programme will implement a common agenda of data collection, research, dissemination and education activities, on the following main areas, reflecting the key issues on which data are increasingly available and debate advanced more:
Area 1: The political economy of globalization: trade, migration and social cohesion
Main issues: long-run trends in commodity market integration; the rise of protectionist and liberalizing coalitions; the impact of globalization on standard of living and income distribution; the consequences of migration flows (both international and intra-European) for labour markets; and the comparative development of labour market regulation and social protection.
Area 2: Economic integration and interdependence
Main issues: the timing and synchronization of business cycles across Europe; a long-run view of the economic geography of economic activities in Europe; the integration of capital markets and the regulation of financial systems under different monetary regimes.
Area 3: Globalization, growth and productivity: technological change, human capital and diffusion of knowledge.
Main issues: the empirical investigation on the proximate and ultimate sources of economic growth, the reconstruction of historical national accounting, the comparison of productivity levels and growth in agriculture, manufacture and services; patterns of technological innovation and technology transfer; the political economy of knowledge.