Development of standards of living in Finland, Austria and Sweden after joining EU

The diploma thesis looks at the relationship between the development of the standard of living of the citizens and the economic development of the state in relation to membership in the European Union. It compares the three Member States that joined the EU in 1995 - Austria, Finland and Sweden. For comparisons outside the EU were selected Norway and Switzerland. These countries have been selected because both refused to join the EU. Third country to compare is the largest economy in the world (which is the inspiration of the Union - the United States of America). The theoretical part deals with the history of individual countries as well as with the development and current problems of the Union. The main indicators of the practical part of the work include GDP (its development, per capita), inflation, income of the population (development, disposable income), tax rates (social tax), social insurance, unemployment (development, youth unemployment) , property price developments, demographic indicators (development, migration, share of seniors), population expenditures (savings, debt to GDP, development of the volume of financial assets of their ownership), development of major stock indices, exports (development and volumes). The work concludes that the Swiss and Norwegian models of non-membership in the EU bring better results across the indicators. It is essential to reform and decentralize the Union. Another questionable part of EU this is the euro project - in the light of developments in Finland I would not recommend it.