This paper investigates the process of trade integration between the enlarged European Union and the Newly Independent States (NIS), focusing on the new EU member states (NMS) and selected NIS (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Kazakhstan). The paper analyses the evolution of the regional...

The Black Sea region comprises a heterogeneous group of countries Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. Their economies differ in their size, institutional characteristics and integration perspectives, are facing vastly different problems, and find...

This is the text of Professor Robert Feenstra's 'Global Economy Lecture' which he delivered in February 2007. It is part of a lecture series organized jointly by the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) and the Austrian National Bank (OeNB). In this lecture, Professor...

After the Visegrad countries’ accession to the EU in 2004, one of the most remarkable developments was the sudden upturn in their mutual trade. In 2007 the value of aggregate intra-Visegrad trade was two and a half times higher than in 2003. The rate of growth in these countries’ trade with...

Romania will become a member of the European Union in 2007 or 2008. This paper explores the potential impacts of this step on Austria in three major fields foreign trade, FDI and labour market. Romania is a more backward country than those which joined the EU in 2004, but it has been on a path...

Ukraine's recent political developments have been rather turbulent and their effects on the economy controversial. The economy was rapidly growing between 2000 and 2004, albeit starting from a very low base. Among the growth factors were the devaluation of the hryvnia in 1999, the rising demand...

After the EU enlargement of May 2004, the exchange of agro-food goods between the EU 15 and the new member states (NMS) has accelerated considerably. In particular the expansion of Polish exports in 2005 resulted in the highest surplus registered by the NMS 4 (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland,...

The process of European Union (EU) integration proceeds from economic to political integration. The economic integration itself proceeds from trade to financial to complete market integration. The sustainability of the process depends on some causal relation existing between economic and...

This overview paper deals with selected economic aspects of EU enlargement related to Austria and the five Central European countries Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia (CEC-5). Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Austria has been enjoying over-proportionate gains from...

This paper analyses the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry in the CEE candidate countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) with special emphasis on trade with the European Union during the second half of the...