This volume was prepared by Thomas Steinwachs while he was working at the ifo Center for International Economics. It was completed in September 2018 and accepted as a doctoral dissertation by the Department of Economics at the University of Munich (LMU). It is a collection of four self-contained...

The present study examines the economic development of the NUTS-2 level regions in the EU-27 from 1995 to 2003. It focuses on income and employment developments in the regions of the new EU Member States (NMS) and compares the results to the developments in the regions of Northern as well as...

Although a certain amount of catching-up in the Western Balkans has been recorded in the construction of transport infrastructure in recent years, the railway density remains low and the motorway density is even lower. Also, the deficiency in energy infrastructure is substantial. The current...

The aim of this study is to analyse the state of the competitiveness of seven Western Balkan economies and to suggest policy recommendations in order to increase their capacity to compete. Most countries from the Western Balkans have a persistent current account deficit of about 10% of GDP which...

The report analyses the fiscal and macroeconomic environment in the lagging regions and the relevant Member States of the EU, as a sound and sustainable macroeconomic framework is a necessary, but by itself not a sufficient precondition for investment and growth in the regions. It starts with...

This report is concerned with analysing, for eight EU Member States with lagging regions, the main structural reforms carried out over the past five to ten years, essentially those which are relevant for the European Structural and Investment Funds. Furthermore it provides an overview of the...

This report is an annex to wiiw Research Report 421, 'Economic Challenges of Lagging Regions I Fiscal and Macroeconomic Environment'. It provides eight detailed country case studies, analysing the fiscal and macroeconomic environment in Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania...

In this study we argue for a 'Big Push' in infrastructure investments in greater Europe. We propose the building of a European Silk Road, which connects the industrial centres in the west with the populous, but less developed regions in the east of the continent and thereby is meant to generate...

Obgleich am Westbalkan in den letzten Jahren ein gewisser Aufholprozess bei der Errichtung von Verkehrsinfrastruktur zu verzeichnen war, bleibt die Eisenbahndichte gering und die Autobahndichte noch geringer. Auch der Nachholbedarf bei Energieinfrastruktur ist substantiell. Die aktuelle...

Die meisten Westbalkanländer haben ein hohes und in der Regel persistentes Leistungsbilanzdefizit von annähernd 10% des BIP. Reduktionen des Leistungsbilanzdefizits der letzten Jahre sind vor allem auf krisenhafte Importzurückhaltung zurückzuführen. Das durchschnittliche Westbalkanland (im...