The EMU debt crisis that
emerged in 2010 has identified a group of Southern countries, especially
Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, as low performers exhibiting several serious
macroeconomic imbalances, and it has also highlighted that EU integration experienced
by Eastern European countries (especially the latter-comers to EU) was not
accompanied by a rapid process of real convergence. Since then, the research
about the effects of peripherality have regained a renewed interest to
ultimately ground better regional policy recommendations aimed at achieving a
sustained reduction of income per capita disparities across EU regions. 



In this new work, Pascariu and Duarte, along with an international group of
acclaimed scholars, delve into key challenges currently facing the European
Union. They investigate this central question: does the domestic market system
lead to the development of a center-periphery model, by highlight gaps, or does
it support the convergence process? Analyzing the effects of peripherality
across the EU regions, a two-fold approach is used to deliver policy
recommendations grounded in economic theory, and of interest to other countries
and regions facing a process of integration.