The Single Market virtual issue

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'Labour Market' virtual issue banner

The United Kingdom’s impending departure from the European Union is an occasion to reflect on the nature of that Union, which remains insufficiently understood and not only in Britain. In particular, Brexit is highlighting the crucial importance to the European economy of the Single Market, which was put in place during the late 1980s and early 1990s following Lord Cockfield’s famous 1985 White Paper. That document identified three types of barriers which had to be removed in order to create a single European market: physical barriers (notably border controls), technical barriers (for example different product regulations in different countries), and fiscal barriers (for example barriers relating to the implementation of different excise taxes and VAT regimes).

Brexit is a teachable moment, and its pedagogical impact will be maximised if we understand the history and underlying logic of the institutions which the United Kingdom is now, apparently, about to leave. Hopefully this virtual issue will contribute to that educational process.

The articles are freely available on the Oxford University Press website.
[Read the full Single Martet virtual issue]