The pursuit of economic growth is at the top of every nation's policy agenda at the end of the 20th century. This authoritative and comprehensive book goes beyond the narrowly-based convergence model of economic growth by considering global, national and regional patterns of growth from a comparative perspective. Issues examined include:* the evolution of the firm and the role of R&D* long-term implications of the loss of national sovereignty * international 'openness'* social and political institutions* patterns of regional harmonization in the United States, particularly income and earnings trends across states and the reasons for convergence* persistent regional disparities in Europe including the roles of sectoral transformation, regional spillovers, human capital formation and the allocation of structural funds* the experience of convergence in individual countries including Italy, the UK, Spain and Germany