Capital movements and economic integration; Study of the role of international long - term capital movements in international economic integration with particular reference to Euro

Even though the efforts at economic integration in Western Europe since the Second World War have had a largely political basis, as have also the integration projects-whether realized or shelved-which they have produced, purely economic considerations have obviously played a prominent part. The whole case for international economic, integration ultimately rests on certain well-known and fundamental economic conceptions concerning the advantages of international competition and division of labour. Generally, therefore, any step towards the elimination of national economic barriers could be taken on a firm foundation of economic theory. Does this also hold true for the details of individual integration projects? Are these projects applied economics or are they rather the product of diplomatic negotiations?

In order to be able to answer such questions with some adequacy it would be necessary to have an intimate knowledge of economic litera ture in this vast field and to have followed closely all the work done on European economic integration in the last fifteen years. One who can claim to meet these requirements only to a very limited extent cannot venture to put forward any answers but can only express his personal feeling. With this reservation it may be suggested that a certain gap often exists between economic theory and practical projects for economic integration.