For several decades advanced economies have been undergoing a profound structural change. Its main characteristic appears to be the progressive decline of industry as the driving force of economy. The propulsory role once played by the manufacturing industry seems to have been replaced by the...

The last decades have witnessed the rise of a new wave of economic regionalism, the most remarkable example of which is the European Union. Regional economic integration is generally interpreted either as an attempt to resist the centrifugal forces of globalisation by strenghtening economic ties...

In the last two decades, due to falling barriers to trade and investment, the world economic scenario has profoundly changed. Few rich countries (United States, Great Britain, France, Japan, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands) have been securing a substantial stake in worldwide production...