At the end of 1997 five transition countries - the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia - were invited to start negotiations on their accession to the EU. Three other countries - Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia - may still join the first group. Two other countries - Bulgaria...

The paper is an attempt at a comparative overview of banking sector systemic risk in six Central European countries as of the end of 1997 concluding with some policy recommendations. The countries covered by the paper (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) are specific...

Free 'Entry' and free 'Exit' are fundamental mechanisms of the competitive market economy operation. Free entry ensures that potential entrepreneurs will take advantage of profitable opportunities and enter profitable segments of the market, increasing competitive pressure on the incumbent...

The Privatisation process of State enterprises, in countries once being members of the Council for Mutual Economic Aid, is perceived as the main element of structural changes, leading to the economic system transformation and economic development. Although, privatisation cannot be understood as...

This paper is part of a project whic began in December 1994 and consists of research focusing on legal and institutional aspects of privatization as well as the courses and outcomes of privatization processes under way in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The specific issue this paper...

This paper attempts to consider in a systematic way the developments of the public debt in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania during the 1990.s. After a brief outline of the public indebtedness of the four countries before 1989, it examines the public debt dynamics after 1990 and...

This paper discusses problems connected with the accession of Central European Countries (CECs) to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). A lot of attention is given to the analysis of the agricultural situation and prospects in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Also the evolution and the...

During the last years, Hungary’s standard of living rose dynamically, but at the same time, government debt increased. The Orban government tries to reduce these debts not by austerity but by eroding purchasing power through induced inflation. By this, Hungary departs further and further...

This paper focuses on knowledge-based entrepreneurship, or new firm creation in industries which are considered to be science-based or to use research and development intensively, in the East Central European (ECE) context. On the basis of case studies of thirteen knowledge-based firms in six...

The paper concentrates on economic developments; it does not treat issues related to domestic and foreign policy. It may well be the case that in the latter fields the trends are not encouraging, but these problems are beyond the focus of our paper. One of the major points we wish to demonstrate...