Potential new entrants to the European Union from Central and Eastern European countries face many challenges to achieve financial convergence with the existing EU nations. Using detailed case studies from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland and analysis of cross country...

Many developing and transition economies have not yet undertaken the policy integration measures needed to enhance the impact of industry on sustainable development. In this original and insightful book, national experts from Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey and...

Privatization investment funds are the key feature of mass privatization programmes in transitional economies. This book offers a thorough survey of mass privatization programmes in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia, supported with extensive empirical analysis. The study of 'top-down'...

This book explores whether foreign direct investment (FDI) can contribute to the competitiveness of industries in Central Europe and to narrowing the gap between these transition economies and countries within the European Union. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia have attracted...

This highly topical book focuses on a particularly interesting area of post-1989 social policy. Existing public pension systems in Central-Eastern Europe underwent fundamental change as Latin-American style pension reforms were adopted. Such radical change in retirement provision defied...

This book fills a gap in the existing literature by dealing with several issues linked to long-term contracts and the efficiency of electricity markets. These include the impact of long-term contracts and vertical integration on effective competition, generation investment in risky markets, and...

As an essential component for economic growth, energy has a significant impact on the global economy. The need to meet growing energy demand has prompted cutting-edge innovation in clean technology in an attempt to realise environmental and cost objectives, whilst ensuring the security of energy...

Technological change plays a crucial role in realizing energy efficiency improvements and, therefore, in ameliorating the conflict between economic growth and environmental quality. However, the diffusion of new technologies can prove a costly and lengthy process, meaning that many firms do not...

This book revisits traditional evaluation methods, such as cost-benefit analysis, to try and find a balance between the ever-increasing demand for transport, the search for sustainable mobility and green transport solutions, and the limited financial resources that governments are able to invest...

1. Introduction -- 2. Key concepts -- 3. The historic debate -- 4. Profit maximization is only part of the answer -- 5. Organizational mortality and its fruits -- 6. Causes of organizational failure -- 7. Uncontrollability -- 8. Empirical evidence -- 9. The soft constraint syndrome -- 10. When...