Cohesion in the European community: Illusion or reality?

Abstract

The EC's regional policy is faced with the issue of the impact of market integration on the goals of economic and social cohesion in the Community. There are two major approaches in the literature in predicting the consequences of market integration on cohesion. The first approach stresses the divergence of levels of development while the second predicts that a gradual reduction of disparities will take place. To test these two hypotheses an analysis of regional and national level data covering the first nine member states of the Community over a 40‐year period is conducted. The results demonstrate that there has been a constant and significant convergence in levels of economic and social cohesion in the Community and within nation states during the last 40 years.