This chapter revisits the scholarship on life satisfaction in Eastern Europe. We first look at the broader drivers of life satisfaction identified in the literature. Then, we discuss the 'happiness gap' in Eastern Europe - the observed difference between the self-declared happiness of residents...

The process of transition and growth in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) provides interesting insights, considering the countries' historical relationship with the Soviet Union. The 20 years after the Eastern enlargement of the European Union show an integrative power within the Single Market....

Understanding the structural change in catching-up regions and the spatial distribution of economic sectors is essential for designing comprehensive policy strategies to promote balanced economic development. This study examines the economic restructuring of the 11 central and eastern European...

Past trauma resulting from personal life shocks, especially during periods of particular volatility such as regime transition (or regime change), can give rise to significant long-lasting effects on people's health and well-being. We study this question by drawing on longitudinal and...

The economic situation of farms is determined by a number of factors, which have been widely described in the literature. One factor is market integration, which shapes the farmer's position in the food supply chain. The involvement of farmers in the integration may be related to their social...

In recent years, the focus on state-owned enterprises (SOE) has returned. SOEs are an important part of the post-socialist countries that comprise Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). However, there are still no consistent findings on SOEs’ performance and dividend payouts, although the popular...

The Draghi Report recommended actions to secure the long-term EU competitive position but did not discuss the challenges related to specific countries or regional groups, including those of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. While CEE economies remain focused on manufacturing,...

This study rigorously examines the causality between banking development, economic growth, and income inequality using annual panel data for 13 Central Eastern European transition economies from 2000 to 2020. The Granger non-causality test of heterogeneous panels based on the Toda and Yamamoto...

The changing geopolitical situation in the European region has actualized the issues of further EU enlargement. As a result, the relevance of studying many aspects of the functioning economic systems of candidate countries has increased. In this context, the purpose of this article is to...

Twenty years have passed since the first eastern enlargements of the European Union (EU). This paper assesses the impacts of EU accession on agriculture and rural regions of Central and Eastern European countries and identifies the reasons behind differences in country performance. Results...

Understanding the structural change in catching-up regions and the spatial distribution of economic sectors is essential for designing comprehensive policy strategies to promote balanced economic development. This study examines the economic restructuring of the 11 central and eastern European...

Transformation is key term in the broader study of socio-economic provisioning system that has gained increased prominence and visibility in recent years due to intensifying economic, social and ecological risks and crises in the global economy. In this short review we assess key understandings...

No empirical evidence has ever been reported that the large inflow of accession immigrants - following the 2004 expansion of the European Union - led to a fall in wages or employment, or a rise in unemployment in the UK between 2004 and 2006. This immigration shock was unexpectedly larger and...

We provide new evidence on the effects of adopting a common European currency on banks' profitability in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region. We construct a panel of 1033 bank-year observations across 11 countries between 2006 and 2020. Our results suggest that the effect of the eurozone...

Extreme heat is becoming one of the most lethal and underestimated threats to cities in Europe and Central Asia, exacerbating health risks, undermining productivity, and pushing infrastructure to its limits. This report presents new analysis showing that without urgent adaptation, heat-related...

Transformation is key term in the broader study of socio-economic provisioning system that has gained increased prominence and visibility in recent years due to intensifying economic, social and ecological risks and crises in the global economy. In this short review we assess key understandings...

We investigate the determinants of firm survival in 17 emerging European markets during the dual crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war. Using a large dataset of over 59,000 firms and employing a Cox proportional hazards model, the study evaluates how firm-specific...

This unique insight into the corporate investment in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (CESEE) examines companies' finance needs and the constraints they face. The 2024 edition also provides insight into the pressing issues facing firms, such as climate change, high energy costs and the...

While cleaner road vehicles and fuels have become more available, the sector's impacts on health, the environment and climate change persist. A shift towards low- or zero-emission mobility, and more sustainable transport modes, is needed to meet the EU's carbon neutrality targets. This requires...

While cleaner road vehicles and fuels have become more available, the sector's impacts on health, the environment and climate change persist. A shift towards low- or zero-emission mobility, and more sustainable transport modes, is needed to meet the EU's carbon neutrality targets. This requires...

The Covenant of Mayors initiative in the Eastern Partnership countries (CoM East) was launched in 2011. Since then it has evolved and its scope enlarged. Today, hundreds of local authorities are part of the initiative in the Eastern Partnership region committed to acting against climate change....

This report presents the results of the tenth round of the external quality assessment (EQA-10) scheme for Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) typing in EU/EEA and EU enlargement countries, organised for national public health reference laboratories (NPHRLs) providing data to the Food- and...

EU enlargement has stalled since the last member joined over ten years ago, marking the longest period without expansion since 1973. This elapsed time contrasts with the potential income gains membership promises. Drawing on the biggest EU enlargement in 2004 and employing a synthetic...

The European Parliament played a fundamental role in reshaping the political landscape of central and eastern Europe during and after the end of the Cold War, setting out an agenda for European enlargement and substantiating European integration. Amid an atmosphere that signalled the triumph of...

The present document describes the methods used by Member States, candidate and EFTA countries in their surveys on road freight transport statistics. Part I describes national methodologies for data collection. This information is based on the national reference metadata produced by the...

The article examines the financial management of companies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, the relationship between their capital structure and risk changes during the pandemic. The study aims to determine how companies' total, systematic and idiosyncratic risks changed...

Greenhouse gas emissions, primarily carbon dioxide (Co₂), influence climate change and have a significant impact on public health. The relationship is a subject of interest to many researchers. However, the situation of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries is not sufficiently explored...

This study explores the complex relationship between banking sector performance and economic growth in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Given the banking sector’'s prominent role within the CEE financial system, our research examines its potential as a driver of economic growth...

The evolving macroeconomic landscape, shaped by the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, poses significant challenges for economies worldwide. However, Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European (CESEE) countries have demonstrated resilience and rapid recovery during crises,...

For this Flash Eurobarometer, a representative sample of citizens, aged 15 and over, in four selected enlargement countries (Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) was interviewed. Between 13 January and 2 February 2025, 3 539 interviews were conducted over the telephone (landline and...

For this Flash Eurobarometer, a representative sample of citizens, aged 15 and over, in four selected enlargement countries (Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) was interviewed. Between 13 January and 2 February 2025, 3 539 interviews were conducted over the telephone (landline and...

This paper analyzes the economic growth trajectories of post-communist countries that emerged following the collapse of the USSR. I treat the Soviet Union's sudden dissolution as a natural experiment that triggered rapid institutional changes, providing a unique opportunity to iso- late...

This paper examines exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) to prices in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, focusing on the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Romania. We employ a Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) model to analyse the transmission of exchange rate shocks to...

Purpose - This study examines how GDP growth, interest rates, and unemployment rates influence residential real estate prices in politically and economically stable Eastern European countries, aiming to identify key drivers of property value changes in the region. Research methodology - The...

We compare inequality and social mobility trends in Eastern European countries exposed to Soviet Communist (SC) regimes with those not exposed, using similar welfare measures. We draw upon a rich retrospective dataset that collects relevant welfare measures across regimes including information...

This study explores the heterogeneous and asymmetric macro-financial effects of climate change in CESEE countries, depending on the level of underlying macrofinancial vulnerabilities. Focusing solely on acute physical risks - those arising from extreme weather events - it employs panel quantile...

This edition of the Macro Poverty Outlooks periodical contains country-by-country forecasts and overviews for GDP, fiscal, debt and poverty indicators for the developing countries of Europe and Central Asia. Macroeconomic indicators such as population, gross domestic product and gross domestic...

This study estimates the impact of public debt on public investment in Central and Eastern European (CEE) economies. We implement Cross-sectionally Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) model, which effectively handles cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity, while...