Enlargement of the EU increases economic diversity and inequality between countries and regions, making cohesion difficult. This book attempts to provide a deeper understanding of the interaction between investment, knowledge spillovers and entrepreneurship; a crucial factor in reducing the economic disparity caused by the geographic expansion of the EU. The book offers new empirical evidence regarding the spatial dimension of investment, entrepreneurship and knowledge spillovers, and features both individual and cross-country analyses. FDI in accession countries is examined, as is the effect of EU integration on own-country investment. Innovative methodologies and unique new models are then used to provide lessons and policy implications for economic growth prospects in the recently enlarged EU. Researchers and policy makers working in the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation, economic growth, economic integration and regional development will find this book to be of great interest. It will also be warmly welcomed by students and academics with an interest in European studies, international economics and regional and urban economics.

This book contributes fresh theoretical and empirical evidence on competitiveness and growth in connection with the commitment made by European leaders at the Lisbon Summit in 2000 to 'render the European Union the most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world by 2010, capable of sustainable economic growth, with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion'. Until now, there has been little in-depth economic analysis of the objectives and policy implementations of the Lisbon Strategy. Competitiveness and Growth in Europe aims to fill this gap by contributing to a better and deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities of the Lisbon Strategy. This book presents, in a coherent framework, policy relevant research on the main aspects of the Lisbon Agenda: the determinants of growth, cohesion strategies and the role of institutions, education, R&D and technological progress in economic performance. It will be of particular interest to researchers and policy makers working in the fields of competitiveness and growth in the context of economic and monetary integration as well as to academics of European studies in general.