Authors Iain Begg | Gabriel Glöckler | Anke Hassel ... - The Europaeum

as the emergence of high-tech start ups in countries such as Estonia, and
hints of tripartite agreements in Romania, confirms the view according to
which a differentiated pattern of development is present among the least
developed EU countries. At the same time, the importance of regional
differences in countries like the UK, Italy, Spain, and Germany, suggest
that patterns of institutional complementarity are not only a feature of
the national level, as suggested by the first formulation of the VoC, but
are developing also at the sub-national level. It is possible to hypothsise
that the completion of the single market and the increased economic
integration of EU countries has increased the relative importance of
local institutions as sources of comparative advantages. An increased
knowledge of these patterns, carried out through cooperation between
research units within EU institutions, academia, and member states, can
point not only to a more refined understanding of the economic reforms
that are likely to succeed, but also to a more specific set of criteria to orient
EU cohesion funds.
Chapter 8 – Dermot Hodson and Marco Simoni 127