ABSTRACT
This chapter endeavours to answer the question whether archetypes of infrastructural integration between countries exist. It is needless to say that cross-border traffic of infrastructural goods and services and cross-border links between infrastructural networks are vital for economic development. Infrastructures are the basis for most types of economic activity, regardless of whether they span cities or regions, national economies, the European economic area, or even the world economy. The chapter examines a historical-empirical approach to answering the question of archetypes. If there is an empirical element to the study, there are only archetypes in terms of time, geography and sector. The chapter explores the meaning of the term infrastructural integration. Parameters include for example interest rates, exchange rates, prices, wages, or per capita income. Standards are technical, operational, legal, tariff and other widely applied requirements. Norms are established social patterns of behaviour such as conventions, manners or values.
