After the outbreak of the global financial crisis, some governments in the EU experienced serious fiscal problems, while others were less affected. This paper seeks to shed light on the divergent fiscal performance in the EU countries before and after the outbreak of the crisis. Fiscal reaction...

This paper considers the effects of sequencing and reform speed on output performance in transition countries. These largely unsettled issues are addressed using principal component techniques to construct reform clusters and by explicit tests of speed effects. The results indicate that...

This paper investigates the process of price convergence in the 10 new EU countries from Central and Eastern Europe. The analyses are based on panel data from 1995 to 2008 of the common currency price relative to the EU15 average. The lagged income level exhibit little explanatory power towards...

This paper discusses the public finances of the 10 new EU Countries from Central and Eastern Europe, with particular emphasis on the effects of the global financial crisis that started in 2008. The budget outcomes have differed markedly across the new EU countries, both before and during the...

According to the Maastricht Treaty, a country seeking to join the European Monetary Union cannot have an inflation rate in excess of 1.5 per cent plus the average inflation rates in the three 'best performing' EU countries. This inflation reference value is a non-increasing function of the...

This paper seeks to identify factors driving consumer price inflation in the new EU member countries from Central and Eastern Europe. Different theories are discussed, including some of particular importance to economies experiencing high economic growth and rapid structural change. The...

This paper analyses the interaction between the political and economic reforms undertaken in post-communist countries since the early 1990s. The empirical investigation uses panel data from 27 transition countries for the period 1991 to 2005. Democratisation has led to market economic reforms,...