The article discusses the role of foreign banks and foreign lending in the CEE countries from the financial stability perspective using the data on international banking business. The pattern of foreign banks’ involvement is analyzed and the risk of cross-border contagion explored, focusing on...

We evaluate proposals for an independent fiscal authority put forward as a solution to excessive public spending. Our main conclusion is that shifting the responsibility to set broad measures of fiscal policy from the hands of the government to an independent fiscal council is not necessarily...

Foreign direct investment has been one of the main drivers of economic developments over the past few years in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Within the ongoing globalization and international division of labor, a large number of foreign companies have established production units in CEE...

This article discusses the role of foreign exchange interventions in the inflation-targeting regime, focusing on the Czech experience since 1998. We find some evidence that the interventions had a statistically significant, but short lived and economically not very important, impact on the...

The paper discusses the inflows of foreign direct investment into the CEE countries and focuses on analysis of productivity spillovers. An overview of the relevance of foreign firms in the CEE economies is presented. Using firm-level data on manufacturing industries for the period...

We evaluate proposals for independent fiscal authority put forward as a solution to excessive public spending. Our main conclusion is that moving the responsibility to set broad measures of fiscal policy from the hands of government to an independent fiscal council is not necessarily welfare...

This article examines procyclicality of the financial system. The introduction describes the natural and regulatory sources of procyclicality, focusing on the potential procyclical effect of the current Basel II regulatory framework for banks. It also mentions the regulatory tools for mitigating...

This paper examines procyclicality of the financial system. The introduction describes the natural and regulatory sources of procyclicality, focusing on the potential procyclical effect of the current Basel II regulatory framework for banks. It also mentions the regulatory tools for mitigating...

The paper compares the quality of the institutional framework of the Czech Republic with other new EU Member States and the EU 15 average using the World Bank data on Governance Indicators and argues that the pressure from the EU institutions during the accession negotiations period to reform...