3 Review(s)

At the end of 1991, the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei hosted the Integration Symposium of the Confederation of European Associations of Economists on "Europe between East and South". This volume brings together the selected and edited proceedings of the conference. The focus of the book is the transformation of the formerly planned economies in Eastern and Central Europe from an international perspective. The opening up of the Eastern bloc adds a new and extremely challenging dimension to the relationship between the more and the less developed economies. Almost all developing countries implemented liberalisation policies throughout the Eighties, thereby dramatically increasing the market orientation of their economies. The "recipes" used in the South are also being applied virtually unmodified, in Eastern Europe. The symposium was one of the first forays comparing the two sets of experiences, showing that the lessons from the South are of great value for Eastern European reforms. Reforms in Eastern European countries equally affect economic flows between Europe and developing countries, and create new challenges for European countries themselves. Eastern Europe is an enclave of cheap and relatively skilled labour, thus a dramatic competitive threat for other developing countries and poorer EC regions. Furthermore, the strategic relevance of this area for the western world is likely to cause a diversion of public resources previously earmarked for the development of southern economies. All these issues could have tremendous consequences for the environment.