Borders are a man-made institution, and as such their shape cannot be taken as part of the physical landscape. The size of countries is endogenous to politico-economic forces. This paper discusses recent efforts by economists to study three related questions: What determines the evolution of the size of countries? Does size matter for economic success? Given the trend toward decentralization an...

rise in most European countries – North and South, East and West – and that they resort to anti-EU rhetoric to increase their political and electoral support. The combination of the global financial and economic crises (since 2008) with the specifically European sovereign debt crisis (since 2010) has only strengthened this trend. It is equally undeniable that mainstream parties now embrace some...

This paper considers the effect of different firm leadership on the innovative performance of firms from seven EU countries. We investigate whether owner-led or manager-led firms achieve a larger share of their turnover with product innovations. Economic theory does not propose clear results on that question. In the empirical analysis it turns out that the manager-led firms are more active inno...

1. This paper discusses recent developments in the case law of the Court of Justice relating to the prohibition on age discrimination. In summary it describes the debate over the question of whether it is possible to rely on a general principle of community law, namely equality, in order to prohibit age discrimination. It also describes the emerging interpretation of Article 6 of Council Direct...

research for publication on various aspects of European integration. He works as a special adviser on integration at the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The views expressed in this report are the personal observations of the author and are not necessarily those of Observatoire social européen or the Finnish Ministry.