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Transport infrastructure has represented one of the cornerstones of development and cohesion strategies in the European Union (EU) and elsewhere in the world. However, despite the considerable funds devoted to it, its impact remains controversial. This paper revisits the question of to what extent transport infrastructure endowment - proxied by regional motorways - has contributed to regional growth in the EU between 1990 and 2004. It analyses infrastructure in relationship to other factors which may condition economic growth, such as innovation, migration, and the local 'social filter', taking also into account the geographical component of intervention in transport infrastructure and innovation. The results of the two-way fixed-effect (static) and difference GMM (dynamic) panel data regressions indicate that infrastructure endowment is a relatively poor predictor of economic growth and that regional growth in the EU results from a combination of an adequate 'social filter', good innovation capacity, both in the region and in neighbouring areas, and a region's capacity to attract migrants. The meagre returns of infrastructure endowment on economic growth raise interesting questions about the opportunity costs of further infrastructure investments across most of Western Europe. Resumen La infraestructura de transporte ha venido siendo una de las piedras angulares de las estrategias de desarrollo y cohesión en la Unión Europea ( UE) y el resto del mundo. Sin embargo, y a pesar de los considerables recursos que se le ha dedicado, su impacto es un tema controvertido. Este artículo revisa el interrogante de hasta que punto ha contribuido la dotación de infraestructura de transporte - representada por las autopistas regionales - al crecimiento regional en la UE entre 1990 y 2004. Se analiza la infraestructura en relación a otros factores que podrían condicionar el crecimiento económico, como la innovación, la migración, y el 'filtro social' local, teniendo en cuenta asimismo el componente geográfico de la intervención en la infraestructura de transporte y la innovación. Los resultados de las regresiones de datos de panel de efectos fijos (método estático) de doble vía y MGM por diferencias (método dinámico) indican que la dotación de infraestructura es un pobre indicador del crecimiento económico y que el crecimiento regional en la UE tiene su origen en una combinación de un 'filtro social' adecuado, en una buena capacidad innovadora tanto en la región como en áreas vecinas, y en la capacidad de la región de atraer migración. Los escasos retornos para el crecimiento económico de la dotación de infraestructura suscitan cuestiones interesantes sobre los costos de oportunidad de futuras inversiones en infraestructura para la mayoría de Europa Occidental. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the challenges that migration flows pose on policymaking aimed at fostering human capital accumulation in peripheral regions. We employ a unique data set generated through a postal survey designed and conducted by the authors. The focus of our analysis is on the micro-level location decisions of a sample of highly educated and skilled individuals residing in Basilicata, an Italian Mezzogiorno region, who have benefited from a locally funded human capital investment policy. Investigamos los retos que los flujos de migración imponen en la formulación de políticas dirigidas a acoger la acumulación de capital humano en regiones periféricas. Empleamos un único conjunto de datos generado a través de un muestreo postal diseñado y llevado a cabo por los autores. El punto focal de nuestro análisis es en las decisiones de ubicación a micro-nivel de una muestra de individuos altamente educados y capacitados residentes en la Basilicata, una región del Mezzogiorno italiano, que se han beneficiado de una política de inversión en capital humano financiada localmente. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins by noting a number of recent trends which challenge the self- contained autonomy of the nation-state, and the recent conceptualization of such trends in terms of 'globalization', a concept which is hard to fault, embracing as it does so many ambiguities and contradictions. Much related sociological work has focused on the cultural and economic dimensions of globalization, although one of its defining features is the emergence of multinational and transnational institutions. In the traditional intellectual division of labour it has fallen to our neighbour disciplines of law, international relations and political science to consider the substantive detail of such institutional developments. The present paper investigates their sociological significance, through a preliminary exploration of the issues raised by international population flows and policy responses in the context of the European Union (EU). Minimally, it proffers an account of the global/national tension noted in much of the globalization literature and apparent in the policy and politics of migration. More critically, this account attempts an assessment of quite how `post-national' Europe really is, and whether 'globalization' offers any help in unravelling the complexity of empirical evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 1 May 2004, 10 new states - including the 'A8' countries in Central and Eastern Europe - joined the European Union (EU). This article explores the impact of EU enlargement on A8 workers who were already working in the UK before 1 May 2004 - legally or illegally. More specifically, the article analyses the impact of the change in the legal (immigration) status that A8 workers experienced on 1 May 2004 on their earnings in the UK. The empirical analysis employs difference-in-difference estimation using data obtained from a relatively small but unique survey of migrant workers from four of the A8 countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Lithuania) and two other East European countries (Ukraine and Bulgaria), carried out one month before and six to eight months after EU enlargement in May 2004. The results of this exploratory analysis suggest a statistically significant and positive impact of acquiring EU status on earnings. The data further indicate that, in part, this effect was brought about by A8 workers gaining the right to freely change jobs after EU enlargement. There is no evidence of a 'legalization effect' on earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article will address the different political connotations achieved by Romanian young people's migration to Italy (Rome) and their involvement in illegal activities by drawing on the findings of a two-year (2006–2008) research project. The research took place during the final phase of negotiation of Romania's entry into the EU, and was aimed at understanding the nexus between young people's migration, their recourse to illegal activities and the role of social intervention. The article will argue that the (geo)political situation encompassing Romania's entry into the EU shaped the power dynamics and the discursive fields within which young migrants, institutions and NGOs acted according to their contrasting priorities and mandates, by deploying different strategic understandings of what constitutes ‘the best interest of the child’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses how migration is the main reason for population growth in low-fertility industrialized countries. Migration accounted for nearly 80% of the population increase in the European Union in 2004. In the United States, natural increase is the main reason for population growth for 2004. Such unbalanced emigration can have a substantial effect on the affected countries. Industrialized countries will have to deal with an inflow of relatively low-skilled workers and the possible outflow of native talent. Writer, Richard Florida, believes that the U.S. is slowly losing its creative talent to other countries because of its restrictive policy toward foreign workers.