The global economic crisis is affecting families and communities across the planet. With regions bearing the brunt of the crisis, affecting businesses, jobs and people generally, regional policies are very much part of the solution.

Has monetary union helped structural reform in Europe? The 2007 Economic Survey of the Euro area attempts an answer. On the one hand, well-functioning markets and stronger supply incentives would offer scope to better exploit the benefits of the euro, by taking advantage of more price transparency and lower international transaction costs.

When European Union heads of state and government met at a summit in Lisbon in 2000, they set the goal of making Europe “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world.” That goal is far from being met, not least in tertiary education.*