Table of Contents

List of charts, tables, and boxes; Contributors; Acknowledgments; Introduction Anders Åslund and Marek Dabrowski; 1. Has Europe lost its heart? Charles Wyplosz; 2. Economic implications of the social provisions of the stalled EU constitution Georges de Menil; 3. Fiscal policy and fiscal rules in the European Union Vito Tanzi; 4. Design and implementation of the stability and growth pact: the perspective of new Member States Fabrizio Coricelli; 5. Perspective on the Lisbon strategy: how to increase European competitiveness Daniel Gros; 6. Is Europe reforming? Evidence from cross-country structural indicators Patrick Lenain; 7. Recovery growth as a stage of post-socialist transition Yegor T. Gaidar; 8. Comparative oligarchy: Russia, Ukraine and the United States Anders Åslund; 9. The economic rationale of the 'European neighborhood policy' Susanne Milcher, Ben Slay and Mark Collins; 10. Economic integration of Eurasia: opportunities and challenges of global significance Johannes F. Linn and David Tiomkin.

Promotional Information

In this 2007 book, leading economists assess the five primary challenges facing the 25-member European Union.

About the Author

Anders Aslund is a Senior Fellow and specialist on post-communist economic transformation, especially the Russian and Ukrainian economies, at the Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC. From 1994 till 2005, he worked at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as a senior associate and later as Director of the Russian and Eurasian Program. Dr Aslund is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, and has also served as an economic advisor to the Russian government in 1991-94, to the Ukrainian government in 1994-97, and to President Askar Akaev of the Kyrgyz Republic in 1998-2004. He is the author of six books, including Building Capitalism: The Transformation of the Former Soviet Bloc (Cambridge University Press, 2002), How Russia Became a Market Economy (1995), Gorbachev's Struggle for Economic Reform (1989), and Private Enterprise in Eastern Europe: The Non-Agricultural Private Sector in Poland and the GDR, 1945-83 (1985). In addition, he has edited eleven books, most recently, Revolution in Orange. Marek Dabrowski is a founder and Chairman of the Council of the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE) in Warsaw, Poland. He also chairs the Supervisory Board of CASE Ukraine in Kiev, is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for the Economy in Transition. Dr Dabrowski has actively participated in discussion on economic reforms in Poland since 1978. From September 1989 to September 1990 he was the First Deputy Finance Minister of Poland and later served as a Member of Parliament (1991-1993), Chairman of the Governmental Council of Ownership Changes (1991-1996) and a member of the Monetary Policy Council of the National Bank of Poland (1998-2004). Marek Dabrowski has been involved in policy advice, policy research and training for the World Bank and UNDP and 16 European and Asian nations. He is an author and co-author of numerous publications on the EU and European monetary union.

Reviews

A pantheon of economic thinkers grapples with the problems facing Europe. No longer about East vs. West or even rich vs. aspiring, the issue now is whether all of Europe can stay (relatively) rich while it ages. As the authors make clear, for really dealing with this complex problem and all its facets, it's much later than you think. -- Simon Johnson, Sloan School of Management, MIT Enlargement has irreversibly transformed the European Union and this must lead to a rethinking of its principles and policies. Aslund and D browski offer analyses, ideas and proposals that cover a wide range of issues. This is a most welcome contribution to the debate on the course the new Europe should take in the years to come -- Jean Pisani-Ferry, Director of Bruegel, Brussels This book discusses - in a profound and transparent way - many important topics, e.g. EU constitution, aging, fiscal rules, economic growth in the European countries. It usefully covers EU-IS, New Members as well as Eurasia. -- Leszek Balcerowicz, President, National Bank of Poland