Ricerc@Sapienza

After decades of economic integration and EU enlargement, the economic geography
of Europe has shifted, with new peripheries emerging and the core
showing signs of fragmentation. This book examines the paths of the core and
peripheral countries, with a focus on their diverse productive capabilities and
their interdependence.
Crisis in the European Monetary Union: A Core-Periphery
Perspective provides
a new framework for analysing the economic crisis that has shaken the
Eurozone countries. Its analysis goes beyond the short-term,

The Eurozone faces two great challenges: a structural core-periphery divide, which resulted in the deepest economic crisis since the war, and several significant societal problems. To restore sustainable growth, EU policies must address both: tackle the fragility of the
periphery’s industrial base, reducing the divergences in industrial capabilities, and create a new agenda for innovation and growth. The
following sections argue that this calls for a policy combining support for demand with industrial policies tailored to the specific needs of

This paper briefly reviews the factors responsible for the increasing divergence between and within the core and peripheral
countries of the EMU, describes the economic and political consequences of the crisis which began in 2008 and still grips the southern periphery, and discusses the possible paths to a sustainable EMU.

Despite being symmetric in its very nature, the Covid-19 shock is affecting European economies in a very asymmetric way, threatening to deepen the divide between core and peripheral countries even more. It is not Covid-19 itself, however, but the contradictions within the EU’s growth model and institutional architecture that would be to blame for such an outcome. The dramatic impact of the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic and the threat that it poses to Eurozone survival seem to have forced a reluctant Germany into action: a minor step, but an important signal.