• Briefing note by Katinka Barysch, 02 February 2009

    The EU's new member-states have been hit hard by the credit crunch and collapsing export markets. The Central and East Europeans sense that their post-Cold War growth model – consisting of liberalisation and EU integration – is broken.

  • Essay by Simon Tilford, 20 November 2008

    European countries need to improve their record of developing high-tech businesses if they are to prosper. This was explicitly recognised in the EU's Lisbon agenda of economic reforms launched in 2000. The reasons for Europe's poor record of innovation are complex, but one factor may be competition policy.

  • Briefing note by Philip Whyte, 05 November 2008

    The credit crunch has unleashed widespread anger outside the financial sector. And rightly so. Not only have taxpayers had to bail out an industry that is uncommonly well rewarded. But the effects of the credit crunch on the real economy are likely to be painful and prolonged – not least on the jobs market.

  • Opinion piece by Simon Tilford
    The Wall Street Journal, 02 October 2008

    Europe's prosperity depends on its developing and sustaining high-tech businesses. Twenty years ago, Europe was the center of the pharmaceutical industry, which invested roughly 30% more in R&D here than in the U.S.

  • Bulletin article by Simon Tilford, 01 August 2008

    Europe’s economic liberals have had a successful ten years. There have been protectionist pressures throughout this period, of course.

  • Bulletin article by Philip Whyte, 01 April 2008

    Europeans have long sought to reconcile markets with social solidarity. The EU’s economic reform programme, the Lisbon agenda, falls squarely within this tradition. Launched in 2000, its vaulting ambition was to turn the EU into the “most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010”.

  • Report by Philip Whyte, Simon Tilford, 01 February 2008

    After more than half a decade of economic gloom, the years 2006 and 2007 restored some much-needed optimism to Europe. Faster GDP growth and falling unemployment were at least partly due to the implementation of structural reform.

  • Policy brief by David Shirreff , 03 December 2007

    Integrated markets for entertainment and communications, as well as nearly all goods, stretch from the Arctic to Cyprus. By contrast, Europe’s retail banking industry remains largely segmented along national lines.