From the introduction of the editors:

Economic policy comprises all rule-setting and interventionist capabilities of states or state and other collective actors in order to provide public goods such as infrastructure, public utilities, price stability, social security or financial and business cycle stability. Ordinarily, in nationstates the process of public goods provision is organised in a vertical, i.e. hierarchical or teleological way. According to the principles of fiscal federalism, the appropriate (de-)centralisation of provision is determined by minimising production-, externalisation- and diversity costs. By way of clustering, different public goods are provided by different central (national level) or de-central (local or communal) public authorities or collective actors. Arne Heise addresses the issue that particularly centrally provided public goods – such as social security, price and business cycle stability – are being challenged by growing cross-border movements of goods, services and factors of production; i.e. by what is ordinarily called ‘globalisation’. This kind of de-limiting or de-rooting of economic activities seems to contradict the constitutional principles of nation-states being territorially defined. Possible solutions to these problems of public goods provision at the EU level are discussed, the existing European Economic governance system assessed and a future way ahead portrayed.