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What Happened to the Economic Convergence of Central and Eastern Europe After the Global Financial Crisis?

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  • Anders Åslund

    (Atlantic Council)

Abstract

During the boom years 2000–2007, the new Central and East European (CEE) members of the European Union (EU) had more than twice as high economic growth as the 15 countries that were members of the EU before 2004. From 2010, however, their growth rates have been mediocre though still higher than those of the older EU members. This paper investigates seven structural benchmarks, fiscal burden, tax system, labor markets, education, pensions, governance, and research and development. The CEE countries are continuing to perform quite well in all these regards apart from research and development. Another cause of concern is large emigration. Thus, growth of GDP per capita instead of GDP growth looks much better for the CEE countries. No middle-income trap is apparent.

Suggested Citation

  • Anders Åslund, 2018. "What Happened to the Economic Convergence of Central and Eastern Europe After the Global Financial Crisis?," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 60(2), pages 254-270, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:60:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1057_s41294-018-0060-x
    DOI: 10.1057/s41294-018-0060-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Istvan Konya, 2023. "Catching up or getting stuck: convergence in Eastern European economies," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(2), pages 237-258, June.
    2. Ronny Correa-Quezada & Lucía Cueva-Rodríguez & José Álvarez-García & María de la Cruz del Río-Rama, 2020. "Application of the Kernel Density Function for the Analysis of Regional Growth and Convergence in the Service Sector through Productivity," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-20, July.
    3. Carsten M. Stann & Theocharis N. Grigoriadis, 2020. "Monetary Policy Transmission to Russia and Eastern Europe," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 62(2), pages 303-353, June.
    4. Tommaso Colozza & Emilio Barucci, 2021. "European financial systems through the crisis: Patterns and convergence," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 1451-1485, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Central and Eastern Europe; European Union; Economic growth; Structural reform; Demography;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • P10 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - General
    • P35 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Public Finance
    • P51 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems

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