ABSTRACT
After five decades o f alm ost u n in te rru p ted econom ic growth, W estern Europeans at the en d o f the tw entieth century enjoy p er capita incom es that are abou t th ree and a half times as high as they were in 1950. M oreover, the incom e gap betw een ‘r ich ’ and ‘p o o r’ countries in western E urope is now m uch sm aller than it was then . This rise in m aterial welfare was associated with increasing in tegration and in terd ep en d en ce o f the E uropean econom ies with each o th er and with the rest o f the world.
