Der Übergang der früheren Staatshandelsländer Mittel- und Osteuropas hat sich in den letzten zehn Jahren keineswegs so kontinuierlich und bruchlos vollzogen, wie dies westliche Ökonomen erwartet oder zumindest erhofft hatten. Stattdessen kam es in den verschiedensten Bereichen - sowohl...

In this paper we argue that strong political economy forces explain the rush of the EU to expand eastwards. We use a model of vertical product differentiation in order to claim that technologically- advanced EU firms (residing in high-income member countries) prefer a mutual market-opening with...

Exchange-rate policies of Central Eastern European Countries (CEEC) have often been a subject matter. Yet, some new insights in terms of political economy considerations upon exchange-rate policy are provided. It is pointed out that it is more appropriate to analyse exchange-rate policy in...

This working paper surveys the relevant literature in both political science and economics to explain why and how the Eastward enlargement of the EU has been agreed upon. The focus lies on delivering a politico-economic account of EUs̕ recent history. The comments stress the role of two...