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The study examines the effect of sets of determinants of economic growth, which are widely emphasised in the literature, in a group of 27 selected post-Soviet, post-communist and transition countries from Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Mongolia during 1997–2017. The set of baseline variables includes, among others, trade openness, investment rate, public consumption spending, and selected demographic factors. The methodology uses panel data and it is supported by multivariate statistical methods of grouping objects. The panel data provides results that are mainly consistent with the literature review. However, the effects of demographic factors are rather not significant, but the role of investment has been emphasised. In turn, the multivariate statistical approaches indicate the shifts in regional (dis)similarity between the analysed countries with respect to the performance of the selected variables over the last 20 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an empirical analysis of determinants of inflation in 28 European economies that belonged to the transition group of countries in the end of the last century. We rely on dynamic panel methodology and find that economic and structural variables, including economic openness, unemployment, real wages, institutional effects, as well as external factors, such as prices of food and oil, determine the short-run inflationary dynamics in these countries. The obtained results also indicate that inflation rate is autoregressive in the observed period (2005-2015), confirming that contemporaneous inflation rate is determined by the entire history of these determinants. Our further investigation reveals long-term effects of the majority of these variables on price dynamics. Interestingly, distinction between the current EU and transition countries in the model does not lead to different conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the key goals of the economic policy makers of every country is to achieve internal and external balance. An unavoidable segment of the analysis concerning the achievement of internal and external balance is certainly the influence of the exchange rate regime applied in a country. European transition countries, despite their similar initial problems and final objectives, applied different exchange rate regimes adapted to the economic circumstances and needs of the country. The paper aims to examine and demonstrate the impact of the applied exchange rate regime on the internal balance of the transition countries. The research encompasses 10 representative transition countries, in the period from 2000-2014. The results of the research, from the aspect of internal balance, confirmed the justification of the application of the floating exchange rate regime in more developed, but not in less-developed, European transition countries. The application of floating exchange rate regimes in less-developed transition countries is associated with a considerably higher average inflation rate, which may be explained by the higher import dependence of lessdeveloped countries and by the consequent transfer of depreciation to price growth.

We use an institutional approach to analyze differences and similarities between competition policy regimes in Slovenia and Germany. We first indicate differences that exist in the implementation of EU competition law at the national level, given the unified framework of EU competition policy. In a next step, we discuss recent cases in both countries and indicate how historical developments and economic factors influence decision making and case law. We also discuss recent developments of the national competition policy regimes and indicate how the digital economy might shape competition policy in the future.

This paper deals with the economic effect of cross-border mergers and acquisitions on GDP per capita in European transition countries for the 2000- 2014 period. Our analysis shows that cross-border mergers and acquisitions have a negative effect on GDP per capita in the current period, whereas their lagged level positively impacts output performance. We found that transition countries characterized by a higher quality of institutional setting have achieved a positive impact on GDP per capita.

Background: Biotechnology is rapidly developing on a global scale. However, some evidence indicates that Eastern European (EE) countries are not fulfilling their potential in this field.

The systemic transformation of post-socialist countries from central planning to a market economy was a very complex and unprecedented undertaking. In this study we critically examine three influential classifications proposed by Coates [2000, 2006], Hall and Soskice [2001], and Amable [2003], within the “comparative capitalisms” literature stream, and argue that they are unsuitable for evaluating the progress made by transition economies since 1990. The basis of the criticism stems from timing: these theoretical frameworks were developed primarily to evaluate the growth of advanced and mature capitalist countries. Thus, they fail to capture the unique features of transition economies and the complexity of the transformation process that led to the emergence of different market-based systems. From this vantage point, we discusses and also critique a recent classification developed by Myant and Drahokoupil [2011, 2015], who distinguish five ideal models (i.e. “varieties of capitalism”) that have evolved within transition countries. In our conclusion we point to areas within the field that may be explored by future research.

In this paper we investigate the impact of environmental taxes on CO2 emissions in the context of emerging market economies. An attempt has been made to identify what role environmental policy and specific tax policy measures play in understanding the relationship between economic development and environmental degradation. The empirical analysis covers ten Central and Eastern European countries in the period from 1995 to 2015. The latest data on environmental taxes are available only from 1995. We contribute to recent literature in two respects. First, we study this relationship within a dynamic framework in which we take into account the issues of serial correlation and endogeneity in the regressors due to the cointegration relationship. Specifically, we rely on the fully-modified least squares (FM-OLS) estimation technique to model the long-term relationship between income and carbon-dioxide emissions. Second, this paper advances our understanding on the effectiveness of tax policy measures in curbing CO2 emissions, on which we have scarce empirical evidence. The results of this analysis provide rather strong evidence in support of an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and the environment. However, environmental taxes do not seem to be effective in modifying the behaviour of economic agents and in protecting the environment. The results are robust to different models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with traditional forms of education and training, e-learning is gaining increasing importance not only within the academic setting of formal education, but also in the corporate environment. Concerning the latter, it is evident that with increasing pressure on cost efficiency and competitiveness, in addition to the current harsh financial and economic conditions, companies are being challenged and this tends to change their behaviour patterns. In this article, the results of a survey are presented. The survey focused on the current status and possible future trends of corporate e-learning methods in Slovenia, which is among the so-called transition countries. This survey brings more than one aspect of this issue to light. The findings show increasing rates of acceptance of the e-learning education model by the local corporate environment. Nevertheless, significant gaps are evident when compared with the most advanced European and worldwide economies in terms of the widespread use of comprehensive e-learning models and the latest e-learning technologies, such as LMS systems. Furthermore, the survey reveals that e-learning is perceived by companies as cost efficient and flexible, but on the other hand it is not yet perceived to contribute to a higher quality level of staff training when compared with traditional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Th e article examines the recent developments in public service training in Hungary and draws conclusions for the future. Hungary is considered to be part of the legalistic culture of European PA; therefore we analyze the connection between the legalistic approach as a cultural environment of PA practice and PA education as an influential factor of changing this environment. Th e empirical part of the research contains three elements: analysis of the professional training of civil service, the content of PA university training and the composition of professions within the central civil service. Th e empirical findings on these three dimensions are analyzed in light of recent structural changes of PA university education and professional training. Under a Government Decree issued in 2012, the National University of Public Services was appointed by the Government to be in charge of PA education and training. Th e university itself was recently created by the merger of law enforcement, military and civil PA universities (academies). Th is structural change can be characterized by centralization and, to a certain extent, simplification, too. Th e restructuring of PA training is completed by the concept of the Government making the fields of public service permeable, open to each other. Th e university itself is a test field for this concept since police and military students have the opportunity to study civil PA courses. Th e need for this kind of cross-learning is supported by the new phenomenon that defense and policing are gradually becoming more civilian in their character, while traditional training in these fields must undergo serious changes too. Although the article states that the basic framework of public administration education - as a major driver of public administration culture - is still dominantly legalistic, it also introduces the ways in which the new public-administration education system has tried to change the content of its degree programs and how it has attempted to have an impact on the entire public-administrative system to move from procedural orientation to a more solution-oriented mindset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A remarkable upgrading of export performance and a major re-orientation of foreign trade in favour of the EU-15 have been among the most outstanding features of the transition and EU integration processes of former socialist countries from Central, Eastern and South East Europe. This paper looks at the importance of (EU) market access for the upgrading of the export performance of these countries. Based on the empirical approach of Redding and Venables (2003, 2004), and Fugazza (2004), it was found that market access growth represents the main determinant of export growth for transition countries. Additionally, the importance of foreign market access growth for the export growth of transition countries is constantly increasing. Market access growth, in the case of both the NMS-8 (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) and most of the CC-3 (Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia) occurred predominantly within the EU-15. Better EU-15 market access can largely explain the better export performance of the NMS-8 in comparison to other transition countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]