Thus, generalizations about the past and the future may be hard to make, particularly in the current dynamic and uncertain environment of economic change. We need to ask, for example, whether we should be concerned with the degree of income inequality if all groups are experiencing relatively rapid gains in their real incomes, though those rates of gain may differ.
Moreover, the coordinated focus on green investment and digitalisation has the potential to generate additional productivity gains on a cross-European basis in view of the shared benefits of an orderly carbon transition and the positive network externalities from enhanced digital capacity across all Member States. Of course, fiscal support for basic research and development activities also serves as an international public good.