With the harmonization of the EU economies, and issues of EU enlargement and integration with Europe's transition economies topping the political agenda, the economic geography of Europe is being recast. This important volume analyses the spatial implications of the integration-transition process, and examines key issues such as north-south and east-west divides, regional cooperation and cross-border dynamics.

This important book takes a critical view on regional industry clusters, in particular their identification and formation, and the policies which help create and support them. The distinguished international contributors comprehensively discuss the theoretical and empirical issues concerning clusters and cluster policy from a regional economic perspective. Based on a broad range of methods, the authors derive results about the existence and structure of regional industrial clusters and assess their contribution to the development of regions. As a whole, the book examines the hyperbole that often surrounds clusters by employing sound scientific evidence and rigorous analysis. Academics and advanced students of regional science, regional economics and economic geography will find the academic discussion of spatial concentrations of economic activities to be of much interest. Policymakers will also appreciate the critical approach taken towards the currently fashionable cluster policy.

Two areas have fascinated me for a long time. One is the micro economic theory of consumer behavior, the other one the role of space in economic processes. Usually, the two don't go together very well. In more advanced versions of microeconomic consumer theory its economic actor may face uncertainty, have to allocate resources over time, or have to take into ac count the characteristics of products, but rarely deals with space. He/she inhabits a spaceless point economy. Regional Science, on the other hand, describes and analyzes the spatial structure and development of the econ omy, but either ignores individual decision making altogether or treats it in a rather simplistic way. In this book I try to bring together these two areas of interest of mine. I do this by use of the microeconomic concept of search and placing it in an explicit spatial context. The result, in my opinion, is a theoretical concept with fascinating implications, a broad set of potential implications, and numerous interesting research questions. After reading this book, where I layout the basic idea of spatial search, describe its elements, and discuss some of its implications, I hope the reader will share this opinion. There are still plenty of unanswered research questions in this part of economic theory. Hopefully, this book will stimulate more work along these lines."