We assess the correlation of supply and demand shocks between current countries in the euro area and EU accession … with the euro area and conclude that continuing integration within the EU is likely to align the business cycles of these … countries in a manner similar to the synchronisation of supply and demand shocks we document for the EU in the 1990s.JEL numbers …

Starting on 1st of May 2004, 11 countries in Central-Eastern and South Eastern Europe and in the Baltics (EU11) joined …

This chapter offers a framework to analyse the impact of EU membership on economic ("means"), institutional ("ways …") and social ("ends") convergence of EU11 countries to the frontier. It identifies the channels through which this impact … works: trade, investment, finance, migration and institutions. Using this framework, the analysis finds that EU membership …

advanced accession countries, the shocks remain significantly more idiosyncratic. Furthermore, many EU countries seem to have a … EU seems to have aligned the business cycles of these countries as well …

criteria implies extensive business cycle harmonization between CEECs and EU countries in the medium term …

We assess the correlation of supply and demand shocks between current countries in the euro area and EU accession … with the euro area and conclude that continuing integration within the EU is likely to align the business cycles of these … countries in a manner similar to the synchronisation of supply and demand shocks we document for the EU in the 1990s …