This paper discusses the theory and practice of counter-cyclical fiscal policy to draw conclusions relevant for the fiscal architecture of the European Union. It starts by reviewing major lines of criticism on counter-cyclical fiscal policy, such as the existence of various lags, versions of...

With the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda in 2000, the European Union established for itself the ambitious goal of becoming the most dynamic and competitive economy in the world by 2010. Despite initial optimism, the first half of the decade has been dispiriting and targets established under the...

Since May 1, 2004 the European Union's new member states (NMS) have been subject to the same fiscal rules established in the Treaty on the European Union and Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) as the old member states (OMS). The NMS entered the EU running structural fiscal deficits. More than half...

The fifth enlargement of the EU has now brought together twenty five countries, a massive success. But success has its price: twenty-five countries do not cooperate as six used to. The result is a general impression that the undertaking is being diluted and that national interests prevail over...

With the collapse of the Soviet Empire in 1991, a new frontier in the process of globalization of the world economy opened up: the economic integration of the Eurasian "super-continent". This paper begins to explore the process and prospects of economic integration of the huge land-mass that...

This paper discloses major developments of Ukrainian foreign trade for the recent years, shows the behavior of main factors which influenced foreign trade, presents results of modeling as well as short-term forecasts. In this paper we describe the structure of Ukrainian merchandise trade,...

The paper examines the nature of the Bulgarian banking and currency crises in 1996-1997 and evaluates the causal link between them. The analysis shows that the banking crisis has resulted from slow structural reforms, inefficient prudential regulation and prolonged unsound lending practices. The...

The aim of the paper is to analyze theoretically and empirically the likely impact of the reduction in exchange rate uncertainty, due to the EMU accession, on the intensity of FDI inflow into candidate countries. Theoretical models give an ambiguous picture of how exchange rate uncertainty and...

Iraq faces structural reforms designed to effect transition from opaque administrative structures to competitive markets. The process has already begun with a series of measures announced by the Coalition Provisional Authority for Iraq. The paper provides arguments in favor of establishing...

The aim of this paper is to provide some insights on the estimation and forecasting of Ukrainian GDP from the supply side. The aggregate output is modeled on the basis of the aggregate production function estimated from official data on 33 branches of the economy. Later, the model was enhanced...