Introduction

This purpose of this chapter is to examine the appropriate structure, and the prospects for constructing, a SAM for Europe. The chapter is essentially an exercise in regional accounting and is intended to readdress the issues raised in the seminal paper on the subject by Stone (1961a) which was aimed primarily at regions defined at the subnational level. Supra-national regional systems such as Europe are rather different. Furthermore, in addition to the regional accounting issues, it also provides an opportunity to incorporate some of the features of the SAM approach more directly.

A ‘SAM for Europe’ is an intriguing concept in a number of respects. In a most obvious sense Europe cannot be considered as a fixed geographical region; its boundaries are continually changing. Even so there may be several ways in which a European SAM might be viewed. One way might be to consider the European region as a whole and investigate the possibilities of assembling a data framework better to reflect, say, Europe's position vis-à-vis the rest of the world. A second approach might be to focus on the existence of the European single market and hence ascertain ways in which the economies of the member states interact one with another.