The EU stated that «the future of the Western Balkans rests within the European Union». On an economic level, however, the establishment of a market economy and the capability to stand the competition in the single market have been formulated as prerequisites for an EU-accession. As the contributions to this book from experts of the region demonstrate, strategies to create the demanded competitive structures in the countries of the Western Balkans vary, depending on the different stages of development, inherited economic structures and the previous transition and integration process. In this context, the articles mainly concentrate on the actual economic development, trade performance, the attraction of FDI and endogenous determinants of competitiveness as education and innovation in the analysed economies. This book follows the first compendium on the region edited by S. KuSic. «Path-Dependent Development in the Western Balkans - The Impact of Privatization», published 2005 by Peter Lang.