Central and Eastern European economies in a Goldilocks age: A model of labor market institutional choice

The past 25 years have been characterised by a surge in international trade as economies have become increasingly inter-linked. In many advanced economies this surge has been associated with increased import competition from low-wage economies. This paper explores the effects of such competition on manufacturing jobs in the UK. We consider two developments that influenced the nature of international trade: the ascendency of China as an important player in global markets and the accession to the European Union of a number of Eastern European economies in 2004. Both of these changes were associated with a shift in trade regimes and led to a sharp rise in import competition in particular UK manufacturing sectors. We find that these changes are likely to have hastened the decline of UK manufacturing.

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Economic Dualism as a Structural Constraint of South Eastern European Economies and Societies

SpringerBriefs in Economics - Economic Dualism and Agrarian Policies ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-47836-0_3 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 11-28

Author(s):

Adina Dabu ◽

Paul D. Aligica

Keyword(s):

Eastern European ◽

Structural Constraint ◽

South Eastern ◽

European Economies

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The Commonality of Envelope Wages in Eastern European Economies

Eastern European Economics ◽

10.2753/eee0012-8775470203 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 47 (2) ◽

pp. 37-52 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Colin C. Williams

Keyword(s):

Eastern European ◽

European Economies

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Institutional Reform and Export Competitiveness of Central and Eastern European Economies

International Business ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-9814-7.ch065 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 1402-1425

Author(s):

Doren Chadee ◽

Alex Kouznetsov ◽

Banjo Roxas

Keyword(s):

Corporate Governance ◽

Competition Policy ◽

Global Economy ◽

Eastern European ◽

The European Union ◽

Institutional Reforms ◽

Export Sector ◽

Export Competitiveness ◽

Eastern European Countries ◽

European Economies

Following their political and economic independence in 1989, a group of ten Central and Eastern European countries (CEEs) embarked on major institutional reforms to modernise their economies in order to become an integral part of the global economy. This chapter provides an overview of the main institutional reforms undertaken in the CEEs and their effects on export competitiveness. The chapter focuses on selected meso and macro institutional reforms, namely price liberalisation, competition policy, trade and foreign exchange, privatisation, and corporate governance. The results show that institutional reforms in the CEEs were rapid and generally successful. All CEEs became members of the European Union (EU) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Institutional reforms contributed significantly to improved efficiency and growth in the export sector. The results also suggest that further reforms are needed to improve competition policy and corporate governance, both of which are still below the standards found in Western industrialised countries.

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Critical Junctures and the Politics of Institutional Adjustment

Globalization Under and After Socialism ◽

10.11126/stanford/9781503605138.003.0007 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 168-193

Author(s):

Besnik Pula

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Czech Republic ◽

International Market ◽

The Political ◽

Eastern European ◽

Institutional Adjustment ◽

Political Factors ◽

Critical Junctures ◽

Political Challenge ◽

European Economies

This chapter demonstrates how political factors determined the path of postsocialist development and international market specialization in the 2000s. International market roles of individual economies built upon the cumulative advantages in transnational production Central and Eastern European economies gained during their socialist experience, but it was the political challenge of turning cumulative advantage into a sustained comparative institutional advantage that brought important gains in the capital, technological and skill base of the economy that concerned the politics of reform in the 1990s and 2000s. It was here that the interplay between industrial restructuring and reform of other institutions of the political economy came to matter. The chapter examines these policy patterns to show the divergent specialization of Hungary and Slovakia into an assembly platform, Czech Republic and Slovenia into an intermediate producer, and Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania into combined roles.

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