Using a gravity model, we analyse the possible effects of the EU Eastern enlargement on trade between current and future members. We find evidence that trade integration between the EU and the CEECs has largely been achieved in the second half of the Nineties. The asymmetric liberalization of...

The paper represents a first tentative analysis of the phenomenon of rural poverty in in the European Union's regions. In the first part, the paper discusses the problem of defining rural areas and examines the indicators used for international comparisons, notably the OECD definition, which...

This Country Focus analyses a not frequently studied dimension of the large and persistent regional economic divide in Italy this divide: the performance of exports and their composition. The regional divide in Italy is large also as regards export capability. Besides being much less open than...