This paper looks both backward and forward. It starts by comparing the accession countries with the EU and by comparing the EU’s 2004 eastern enlargement with previous enlargements. It appears that the EU became poorer by every single enlargement. The EU’s GDP per capita decreased each time...

The European Union has not defined its limits in geographical terms. Each enlargement has led and will lead to a decrease of the European Union’s per capita GDP. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the transition countries went through a long and deep recession. However, they have reached a...

This paper presents a comprehensive review and analysis of tax harmonization and tax competition in the European Union. It is shown that while tax burdens in the European Union have increased substantially in the past 35 years, they did not converge. Also, there is no evidence of the ‘race to...

This paper looks at the position of Romania in the run-up to European Union membership. It starts by comparing the EU’s 2004 Eastern enlargement with previous enlargements. It ap-pears that the EU became poorer by every single enlargement. The EU’s GDP per capita decreased each time relative...

This paper analyzes tax capacity and tax effort in new European Union member countries and (potential) candidate member countries. In addition, the paper explores the hypotheses of negative relationships between corruption and tax effort and between corruption and foreign direct investments....