The Impact of Integration on Wages and Employment in Border Regions

This report brings together three case studies on the effects of integration of border regions and the regional distribution of economic activity. These case studies include analyses of: the effects of previous enlargements on employment, wage and population growth as well as investment rates, the effect of German unification on the former border regions on western German regional labour markets in the time period from 1987 to 2000, the effects of the opening of candidate countries in the 1990s on gross and net employment changes and firm creation in border regions of Austria. Furthermore, this report comprises three research papers focusing on long-run regional growth in the new EU member states and accession candidate countries. The common theme of these papers is to identify potential effects of integration on regional disparities in candidate countries.