Main themes

This course aims to set out the microeconomic issues of European integration, and to analyse the related policies and institutional mechanisms.

Content and teaching methods

Content
The first part of the course will be devoted to a description of the resources of the European Community:
- natural resources (raw materials, agriculture and energy) and associated community policies;
- human resources (demography and the active population, education and training, and work productivity);
- capital stock, its productivity and the level of technology; and national and Community policies in this area.
The second part will be given over to the structural characteristics of the Community economy, and will compare it with dominant economies (i.e. the USA and Japan):
- production, consumption, savings and investment;
- the distribution of incomes and regional disparities;
- the balance between the private sector, the public sector and the unofficial economy;
- external trade and investment.
The third part will deal with regional integration, and particularly with:
- the Single Market: freedom of movement (people, goods, services and capital), shared disciplines (competition, and fiscal and social fields) and support policies;
- the European Monetary System and its possible evolution into a Monetary Union.
The fourth part will examine the Community's capacity for action on the world stage:
- the issue of international trade;
- monetary problems and macroeconomic problems;
- the issue of north-south and east-west relations.
Methodology
The course will insist as far as possible on participation by students, particularly when they are working on the basis of a programme of reading.

Other credits in programs