The main purpose of this book is to enhance the understanding of differences in productivity performance between countries and sectors and to improve our insight in the drivers of productivity levels and its growth. Due to demographics the speed-up of productivity growth will be of increasing importance to secure GDP growth in the future, since the other source of GDP growth (employment growth) will be limited in most Western Countries. A better insight in the patterns and drivers of productivity performance is therefore not simply a matter of academic interest, however valuable that in itself can be. Improving our knowledge of the drivers of productivity will enable us to determine which are the 'switches' policy makers have to use. The book takes the Netherlands as a case, but is hardly a book on productivity in the Low Countries alone. The different contributors focus on the drivers of productivity that prevail in every modern economy, using the Netherlands' experience as an example, which makes this book relevant for the analysis of productivity in other countries. Moreover, the book contains international comparisons between EU and OECD countries, in particular with regard to productivity performance. The book focuses on productivity in the business sector, leaving public sector productivity aside.

Subsidiarity in the European Union, as the guiding principle of decision-making "close to the people," is often motivated and discussed from a predominantly political perspective. In this book, experts draw the demarcation between national and European policies from an economic viewpoint. Insights from economic theory and empirical research are used both to analyse the assignment of policies between the EU and its member states and to identify appropriate levels of decision-making.

Subsidiarity in the European Union, as the guiding principle of decision-making "close to the people," is often motivated and discussed from a predominantly political perspective. In this book, experts draw the demarcation between national and European policies from an economic viewpoint. Insights from economic theory and empirical research are used both to analyse the assignment of policies between the EU and its member states and to identify appropriate levels of decision-making.