ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on some economic and institutional aspects of the Lisbon Strategy (LS). It looks at the economics of the LS by performing a principal component and a cluster analysis. The chapter identifies groups of countries with similar characteristics and explore a possible convergence process towards a higher growth and employment. The chapter considers the experience of the LS two years after the Lisbon summit. It discusses the institutional aspects of the strategy, based on the so-called Open Method of Coordination. The chapter compares the LS with the Maastricht Strategy to monetary union which, instead, deals mainly with macroeconomic issues. The LS lacks such a clear leadership, as the best european union performers in the move towards a new economy, both in terms of innovation efforts and market reform, are the small Nordic countries while the large continental countries are lagging behind in many respects.
