Prof' Dominic Power Uppsala University dominic'powerkultgeog'uu'se

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Prof. Dominic Power Uppsala Universitydominic.p
ower_at_kultgeog.uu.se

• European Integration Lecture I
• Integration at the level of firms and the economy

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Trends in the European Economy

• Post-War boom (the Marshall plan the rise of
  consumerism) political efforts (Coal and Steel
  Pact, EEC, EU) interlinked European economy and
  firms
• Globalisation has made this trend possible and
  even stronger
• Globalisation a fallible attempt to capture
  something fundamental that is happening across
  the globe, much of which we can only understand
  in a partial and incomplete way (John Allen,
  199558)
• Global Shift (Dicken 1998) globalisation is part
  of a much longer internationalisation process
• Causes
• ICT and new transport methods
• Deregulation-political integration
• Spatially flexible institutions and
  organisations from MNCs (Colt, Dunlop, etc) to
  TNCs (BP, Shell, ABB)

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More Trends in the European Economy

• Key trends in the European economy
• Post-Fordism
• Flexible specialization
• The rise of services
• The post-material generations dont want any old
  job
• Feminization of the work force increasing number
  of women in work (declining in E.Eur.)
• New working life no more job for life
• The knowledge economy
• Governmental intervention next week

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National economies 1998-2008
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Where is the growth?

• In general it is a picture of spatial
  concentration
• Blue Banana
• Sunbelts
• World cities London, Paris, Milan, (Frankfurt)
• Post-industrial cities Barcelona culture and
  economy
• High-tech clusters and technopoles
• Ireland dynamic and wonderful
• Environmentally/regulatory relaxed areas Eastern
  countries UK

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• Blue Banana
• 40 of Europe's citizens
• 20 percent of Europe's space
• 50 of Europes GDP

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Old and new bananas
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Unemployment and poverty

• Jobless growth
• Regional differences

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Where is declining

• 2 main places of decline, outward migration
• Rural areas agriculture and industry lost
  tourism about the only hope in many areas or
  commuting in smaller countries
• Despite the idea of the global cottage working
  from the country is increasingly hard
• Industrial heartlands Ruhr Valley, Liverpool,
  Manchester, Bergslagen, etc. A story of heavy
  industry, heavy pollution, path
  dependency/blindness Places not suited to
  compete in the knowledge economy

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Integration issues and problems

• Europeanization from national economies to a
  continental economy dominated by cities and
  regions
• This presents governments, etc. with a problem
  the aim in democracies is that everyone,
  everywhere has equal chances and equal living
  standards

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New members an even wider Europe

• EU has always been growing (this is nothing new)
• New members big differences between them
• More to come
• What this means for European countries and firms
  
• New additions of low-cost locations
• V.
• New markets
• Are these competitors or complements? Depends on
  who you talk to
• Economic theory the more available inputs
  (labour) the more your economy will grow

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Conclusions

• Challenges for the future
• Keeping on track with the knowledge economy
• Dealing with structural problems esp. the
  demographic time bomb (or we are too old to pay
  for everything)
• Integrating new members
• Integrating new citizens and workers from outside
  the EU
• Dealing with regional differences and
  inequalities must we accept an unequal world?