The rapid journey from central planning to EU (euro area) membership stress-tested the social learning processes of the … EU, spurred major reform waves and led to the very rapid introduction of best-practice institutions. Although social … institutions played a dominant role in shaping the transition process. Along with the EU accession process, the EU acted as a …

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 …