Supranational Cooperation and Integration: Goods and Services vs. Information

Supranational cooperations and economic and currency unions are top issues on the agenda. Questions about explicit and implicit financial equalization between member countries, industrial and infrastructure policies gain importance. Globalization and the expanding information technologies will force reforms both in the EU and in the South American Mercosur. The discussion is organized under four headings: Financial Crises, inevitably connected to the advantages of global and liberalized financial markets. Consequences of Cooperation and Integration on the old industries with respect to economic fluctuations and intra-industry trade. Fundamental changes in Information Technologies affect the international capital mobility, the cost advantages of alternative locations, as well as academic teaching and learning. Consequences for Labor Markets of the structural transformation of knowledge societies.