During the past few years all the regions of Europe have suffered from the effects of the World Financial Crisis. Most notably in Eastern Europe, countries have adopted different approaches to combat the crisis and the impact has been varying – politically, economically and socially. This book gives an overview of chosen countries and their situation before and during the crisis, providing a detailed view of the different regions during this difficult period. It also looks at their current status and the individual ways in which they have attempted to stimulate recovery.

"The financial crisis of 2008-2009 has become the most serious challenge for Central and Eastern European countries, after they had completed the process of post-socialist transformation and became EU Members. The negative impacts of the recession on their important international partners multiplied their own tensions and imbalances which, in some cases, have led to a dramatic decline of the GDP, as well as serious cuts in public spending and personal incomes. The situation within the this group of countries is far from uniform. On the one hand, there is the example of Poland: the only country in Europe that has not gone through a recession. Then, on the other hand, there are the Baltic Republics that have lost 1/5 of their output. Also, the anti-crisis policies implemented in particular countries were strongly differentiated. Keeping in mind all these differences, one may say that these new Member States, on the whole, have confronted the challenges of the crisis bravely and effectively, due to the great adaptability and flexibility of both their political elites and societies. Thus, they may become an example for other EU Member States, which are currently struggling with economic difficulties and strong social protests against necessary but harsh economic measures. This book contains papers presented at a World Bank-sponsored seminar that was held in Warsaw in September 2009, when the crisis was still in full swing. The authors reflect on the general dimensions of the crisis and also report on the particular situations in Central and Eastern European countries, and in the group as a whole."--Publisher's description.

Since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, the EU has been in almost permanent crisis mode. It is witnessing new dimensions of internal differentiation among its member states, and the migration crisis has shown that the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEs) in particular are slowly but certainly transforming themselves from predominantly passive policy-takers towards becoming more active players in the process of shaping the EU’s governance agenda. This edited volume offers the first comprehensive and critical insight into how the CEEs position themselves in the EU’s changing internal and external environment, their stance towards the European integration process under current crisis conditions, and what political and economic strategies they prioritize.

During the past few years all the regions of Europe have suffered from the effects of the World Financial Crisis. Most notably in Eastern Europe, countries have adopted different approaches to combat the crisis and the impact has been varying – politically, economically and socially. This book gives an overview of chosen countries and their situation before and during the crisis, providing a detailed view of the different regions during this difficult period. It also looks at their current status and the individual ways in which they have attempted to stimulate recovery.

The global financial crisis has provided an important opportunity to revisit debates about post-socialist transition and the relative success of different reform paths. Post-communist Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs) in particular show resilience in the wake of the international crisis with a diverse range of economic transformations. Transformation and Crisis in Central and Eastern Europe offers an in depth analysis of a diverse range of countries, including Poland, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic and Slovakia. This volume assesses each country’s institutional transformations, geopolitical policies, and local adaptations that have led them down divergent post-communist paths. Chapters take the reader systematically through the evolution of former communist national economic systems, before ending with lessons and conclusions for the future. Subsequent chapters demonstrate that economic performance crucially depends on achieving a sustainable balance between sound institutional design and policies on one hand, and localization on the other. This new volume from a prestigious group of academics offers a fascinating and timely study which will be of interest to all scholars and policy makers with an interest in European Economics, Russian and East European Studies, Transition Economies, Political Economy and the post-2008 world more generally.

This research paper investigates the differences in the various responses of 10 Eastern European countries to the first financial crisis shock in 2008-2009. While 2009 was a difficult year for all economies, some countries performed better than others: while Latvia decreased its GDP by 18% in a single year, the economy of Poland increased by 1.3% during the same period. While trying to explain the differences in economic performance during the crisis, we look at a large number of possible factors, such as government budget balance, government debt, current account balance, competition in domestic banking, and average growth in the year preceding the crisis.

The transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, among all emerging- and developing-economy regions, have been hardest hit by the global economic crisis of 2008-09. This is partly due to the region s deep integration into the global economy across many dimensions trade, financial, and labor flows. Attempts by countries that came later to the transition to catch up rapidly to Western European living standards at a time when global liquidity was unusually abundant, together with some policy weaknesses, made them vulnerable to reversals in market sentiment. Written on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, 'Turmoil at Twenty' analyzes the run-up to the current crisis and addresses a number of key questions related to vulnerability to the recession, expected recovery, and necessary reforms in the region: Did the transition from command to market economies, and the period during which this took place, plant the seeds of vulnerability that made transition countries more prone to crisis than other developing countries? Did the choices made on the road from plan to market shape the ability of crisis-hit countries to recover? What combination of domestic policy reform and international collective action is needed to bring about a recovery and minimize the humanitarian cost of the crisis? What structural reforms are needed today to address the most binding constraints on growth in a world where capital fl ows to transition and developing countries are expected to be considerably lower than before the crisis? 'Turmoil at Twenty' will be of interest to policy makers and their advisers, researchers, and students of economics who seek lessons from the current economic crisis, as well as scholars of the transition.

Latvia stands out as the East European country hardest hit by the global financial crisis; it lost approximately 25 percent of its GDP between 2008 and 2010. It was also the most overheated economy before the crisis. But in the second half of 2010, Latvia returned to economic growth. How did this happen so quickly? Current Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, who shepherded Latvia through the crisis, and renowned author Anders slund discuss why the Latvian economy became so overheated; why an IMF and European Union stabilization program was needed; what the Latvian government did to resolve the financial crisis and why it made these choices; and what the outcome has been. This book offers a rare insider's look at how a national government responded to a global financial crisis, made tough choices, and led the country back to economic growth.

The papers in this proceedings volume were presented at the 9th international conference “The Economies of the Balkan and Eastern European Countries in the Changing World” (EBEEC) held in Athens, Greece, in April 2017. They include the scientific results of research on current issues relevant for the wider area of Eastern Europe. Authors from 30 different countries develop new ideas, covering topics such as international economies, European integration, the economic crisis, macroeconomics, banking, stock markets, education, energy, innovation, and marketing. The contributions also examine the role of the economies of the Balkan and Eastern European countries in a pan-European context.