The aim of this study is to undertake an up-to-date assessment of market power in Central and Eastern European banking markets and explore how the global financial crisis has affected market power and what has been the impact of foreign ownership. Three main results emerge. First, while there is...

This paper attempts to consider in a systematic way the developments of the public debt in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania during the 1990's. After a brief outline of the public indebtedness of the four countries before 1989, it examines the public debt dynamics after 1990 and...

Pension systems and pension expenditures show large variations among countries worldwide. This variation appears to reflect mainly demographic factors and differences in the level of insurance protection, the latter tending to increase with the level of development. The focus of this paper is...

The paper presents series of medium term economic simulations, evaluating fiscal costs of different EMU entry scenarios for six of the new EU members. Projections cover period of 2004- 2012 and use basic macroeconomic equations in an attempt to assess the value of public debtrelated costs that...

In the past ten years all transition economies have adopted modern bankruptcy legislation as part of their institution building efforts. But their approach to insolvency and their determination to use the insolvency process as a selection mechanism have varied widely. The aim of the paper is two...

The paper analyses the relationship between labour costs and employment development in manufacturing industry in Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary. It indicates the need for thorough labour cost analysis in Europe in the context low employment rates among New Member States. The steps taken...

This paper investigates the differences in innovation behaviour, i.e. differences in innovation sources and innovation effects, among manufacturing firms in three NMS: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. It is based on a survey of firms operating in four manufacturing industries: food and...

The Privatisation process of State enterprises, in countries once being members of the Council for Mutual Economic Aid, is perceived as the main element of structural changes, leading to the economic system transformation and economic development. Although, privatisation cannot be understood as...

On December 16, 1991 Poland signed an Association Agreement with the European Communities which came into force on February 1, 1994. The remaining countries of the Wyshegrad Group (Hungary, and the Czech and Slovak Republics) also signed such agreements with the European Union. It is...

Transformation of the centrally planned economy to a market based system in Hungary has been a more gradual process than in other transitory economies, although 1990 - when the new democratic government was elected - is considered as an 'official' starting point of the transition period. Since...