IN THIS ISSUE...

This issue of the Bulletin reports research on the harmonization of social policies and the foundations and practice of competition policies in the EU. It also summarizes conference proceedings on unemployment persistence and business-cycle analysis, and reports on discussion meetings on state aids to EU industries, policy towards drugs, and the determinants of OECD export performance.

EU Social Policies
CEPR's eighth annual Monitoring European Integration report examines the relationships between national and community-level social policies in the EU, with particular emphasis on the interactions between social policy and economic integration. The report evaluates ideas for the Social Chapter and suggests criteria for effective EU-level social policies, given the context of continued deepening and widening of integration.

EU Competition Policies
A new CEPR publication provides a comprehensive review of the principles and practice of EU policy towards agreements and undertakings between firms. The book highlights the main strengths and weaknesses of the current approach, and formulates proposals for improvements in the legal framework and the practical application of the policy.

Re-Evaluating the Natural Rate
A CEPR conference on long-run unemployment persistence set out to examine the observed movements in European unemployment and to assess whether these could be explained by changes in labour-market equilibria, as opposed to dynamic unemployment processes. Policy implications, including the need for a new agenda to combat Europe's high unemployment levels, were also considered.

Business Cycles
A CEPR conference assembled a wide range of recent contributions on the measurement and theory of the business cycle from different methodological perspectives. The themes included the relationship between micro- and macroeconomic dynamics; trend-cycle decompositions for macroeconomic indicators; equilibrium business-cycle theory; and simulation results

Discussion Meetings

At recent meetings in Warsaw and in London, Paul Seabright considered the implications for the 'accession' countries of EU moves to control state aids to industry; Frederick van der Ploeg put the economic case for a more liberal drugs policy in the United Kingdom, drawing on the Dutch experience of a pragmatic, public health-oriented approach; and Wendy Carlin and John Van Reenen asked how much costs matter in explaining export performance in key OECD industries, and what determines the sensitivity with which exports react to cost changes.

Among Recent Discussion Papers