This paper analyzes competitiveness in the Baltics in the run-up to European Union accession. Several factors appear to have driven movements in equilibrium real exchange rates in the Baltics since the start of the transition process. In the earlier years of transition, price liberalization,...

This technical note explores the reasons for a comparatively high interest rate spread in Kazakhstan in the context of competition in the banking sector. In spite of significant gains in efficiency made in recent years, operational costs and provisioning for loan losses remain high compared with...

As in other sectors, competition in finance matters for allocative, productive and dynamic efficiency. Theory suggests, however, that unfettered competition is not first best given the special features of finance. I review these analytics and describe how to assess the degree of competition in...

Introduction: knowledge intensive business services and regional competitiveness : an overview / João J. Ferreira, Mário Raposo, Cristina Fernandes and Marcus Dejardin -- KIBS and industrial dynamics -- Knowledge intensive business services research : a bibliometric study of leading...

Over the last few years, much progress has been made in developing rail charges to ensure non-discriminatory access to, and efficient use of national rail networks, but in Europe the international dimension is still missing, particularly in terms of the freight market. Integration of European...