Integration and Transition in Europe: The Economic Geography of Interaction

Part of the publisher’s “Studies in the European Economy”, series, this anthology of 13 papers brings together 15 European geographers, economists, political scientists to “analyse and discuss the spatial characteristics and implications of the ongoing integration‐transition process in Europe”. Some take a pan‐European approach while others focus on specific regions or nations. Supplemented with numerous charts, maps, and tables, chapters discuss the spatial impact of East‐West integration, regional disparities in the EU as seen “through the lens of official statistics”, urban change, dilemmas of regional policy, regional labour market differentials (one of two Hungarian case studies), employment problems and regional differences in central and eastern Europe, the significance of EU integration for transition countries, a comparison of the “mental maps” of business students in Vienna and Bratislava to assess the lasting impact of communism, the scope and structure of Austria’s foreign direct investment in Eastern Europe, export competition between central and eastern European countries in the EU market, and the challenge of integration as seen in Greece and the Balkans. More than a dozen years removed from the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, this is a valuable and detailed snapshot of a continent amidst substantial change.