What a difference a quarter of a century can make! In 1989, Poland stood out as a country in chronic political and economic crisis.1 It had been ravaged by strikes, economic decline and default since 1976. A popular view both in Poland and abroad was that Poland was incurable. Germans talked...

The euro crisis has been extensively discussed in terms of economics, finance, political intrigues, and European institutions, but a key aspect—the political economy of the crisis—has received little attention. Politicians and social scientists from emerging economies, especially...

The incidence of oligarchs is one of the most significant political problems after communism. An appropriate policy towards them has become a pressing issue for both Russia and Ukraine and addressing this matter will greatly influence the future economic systems of these countries. The paper...

The spectacular, sustained economic growth experienced in several East Asian countries leads to the question what Europe can learn from the East Asian economic model. Three advantages of the East Asian model stand out: small social transfers, low taxation and free labor markets. The superiority...

This paper discusses the global financial crisis of 2008/9 in thirteen countries, the ten new EU members that previously were communist and the three countries of Western former Soviet Union. Their problems were excessive current account deficits and private foreign debt, currency mismatches,...