Many of the emerging market economies in Europe are presently running current account deficits which are quite high relative to any global or historical standard and are fundamentally unsustainable. This includes the three poorer European Union (EU) members of the old Europe (Greece, Portugal,...

This essay discusses the challenges in financing economic development in the eastern European and CIS economies. The advantages and pitfalls of extensively relying external capital are explored.

The effect of financial openness on economic integration for two clusters of countries is estimated: the formerly planned economies of Eastern Europe and central Asia (emerging market economies) and some western advanced economies. We focus on two dimensions of economic integration: convergence...

The paper provides an analysis of the first three years of the European Monetary Union. It discusses the changeover to Euro notes, the performance of monetary policy in terms of price stability and real growth, the establishment of credibility for the ECB, and the two pillar strategy. The...

Gender equality is a basic human right and is as such a part of the social policy framework. At the same time, it is a multi-faceted concept with its cultural, social, legal, political and economic dimensions and interrelations. The prevalent practice in most countries illustrates that...

Corruption is a significant factor which determines the quality of the “doing business” environment at large. The aim of this paper is to contribute to our understanding of entrepreneurs’ corrupt behavior by looking at two questions: (1) does gender matter in corrupt behavior and (2) can...

This paper describes how the global financial crisis of 2007-2010 impacted trade both globally and more specifically for the European emerging economies, which in terms of GDP decline, were the most negatively impacted economies in the world. Just as with GDP, the trade of the European emerging...

The economic and financial crisis of 2007-2009 had a serious impact on the larger European region. For western Europe this was the deepest economic downturn since the Second World War. Given the well-developed safety nets for this region the immediate impact on health is likely to be minor....

The Pan-European Region made significant progress from 1995 to 2007 in improving the economic, social, environmental and health indicators incorporated into the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, given the huge set-backs associated with the transition recession in the early 1990s and...

This paper discusses the relevance of the Balassa-Samuelson effect for the transition economies since 1990. Their experience is consistent with this hypothesis and the further implications of this are discussed especially in regard to EMU targets for exchange rate stability and inflation.