ABSTRACT

Globalisation of industrial competition, as well as the Europeanisation of its rules, affects the Länder as much as every nation-state. In contrast to nation-states, however, they are much less equipped with the range of policy instruments and scale of resources that would allow them to react to an economic crisis situation autonomously. Their power to influence their economic fortunes is limited. Still, the Länder are more than victims of adverse circumstances, and they are not all in the same boat. Size and economic performance vary considerably and so does the mixture of policies chosen to improve regional competitiveness.