OECD’s 2004 Economic Review of the Euro area puts forward a number of policy recommendations that seek to heighten the area’s resilience against adverse shocks, to reap the benefits from deeper integration, and to reverse the persistent underutilisation of labour and weak productivity in lagging regions and countries. This edition’s special feature is titled Regions at Work.
Table of contents:
Executive summary Assessment and recommendations I. Outlook and challenges -Recent trends and projections -Challenges ahead II. Managing the single currency -Inflation performance -The policy stance -When will the new EU-members be ready to join the euro area? -Bibliography III. Fiscal coordination at the crossroads -The state of play -How we got there -Where to go from here -Annex 3.A1. Short-term forecasting accuracy of the stability programmes -Annex 3.A2. Population ageing, fiscal sustainability and the close-to-balance or in surplus rule -Bibliography IV. One money, one cycle? -Sources and evidence of cyclical divergence -The policy agenda -Bibliography V. Regions at work -The links between convergence and integration -The policy issues -How much would the euro area gain from convergence? -Bibliography -Annex 5.A1. Growth, integration and convergence -Bibliography -Annex 5.A2. Structural funds and regional policies -Bibliography -Annex 5.A3. Supporting material -Bibliography -Annex A. A glossary of major EU institutions and bodies Acronyms and abbreviations
