Countries in the Western Balkans – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia – all aspire to membership of the European Union, but they face a major convergence challenge in terms of living standards. The main reason behind this prosperity gap lies in the...

Using the responses in the latest round of the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) of approximately 1,800 business owners and senior managers in the Western Balkans, this paper examines the linkages between firm performance and perceived obstacles to doing business. We...

Real exchange rates in the transition region have been relatively volatile over the past two decades, with major variation across countries and over time. In most countries, there was a shift between the pre-global crisis period, when the region saw significant real appreciation of currencies,...