Introduction

Where is Europe heading? The project of European integration has hardly ever been so strongly contested since its beginnings in the 1950s. Faced with several political, social and economic challenges on a global scale, some argue for a return of Europe’s nation states, while others hope instead for a United States of Europe. But neither a European superstate nor a retreat back to the national level are likely be a good fit for the enormous diversity of Europe faced with the vagaries of globalization. This book is an attempt to describe the economic development of Europe from the perspective of regions in the long run, before the First World War until today. It is the first quantitative description that aims at a comparison of European regions over time, in the cross section and to other parts of the world. This was possible only due to the collaboration of many researchers from all parts of Europe, who contributed their specific knowledge towards a new synthesis.