Growth and Inequality in Central Europe: Between Havel’s Vision and Today’s

Join us for a third edition of the annual Václav Havel European Dialogues, a global series of discussions inspired by Havel’s enduring legacy organised jointly by the Czech Centre London, SSEES and the Research Centre for the Study of Places, Identities, and Memories (PIMs).

Over the last three decades, the Central European countries have experienced some of the fastest economic growths in the world. The region has joined the ranks of highly developed countries, and its citizens are wealthier and living longer than ever before. In Czechia, this transformation was closely tied to the democratic ideals articulated by Václav Havel, whose vision of an open society and civic responsibility shaped the country’s path during the early years of transition. Yet, within a generation, Central Europe has also moved from being one of the most egalitarian regions in Europe to one of the most unequal. This indicates that the growth has not benefited all equally. What are the sources of the Central European miracle, and who are its main beneficiaries? What are the consequences of the increasing inequalities for these societies, especially in the context of growing political polarisation? How can we ensure that future growth in the region will be inclusive?

The event will be moderated by Jessie Barton Hronešová and will feature an esteemed panel of speakers, including Zsoka Koczan, Lead Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Lubomír Lízal, economist and former director of CERGE-EI, Prague, Pawel Bukowski, co-director of the new Research Center for the Study of Places, Identities, and Memories (PIMs), and a word of welcome by Přemysl Pela, the director of the Czech Center in London.

About the speakers:

Zsoka Koczan is Associate Director, Lead Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. At the EBRD, she edits the Regional Economic Prospects, which review the latest economic developments in the EBRD regions, works on the Transition Report, EBRD’s annual flagship publication, and runs the Life in Transition Survey, a large household survey covering 44 economies. Prior to joining the EBRD, she worked as an economist at the International Monetary Fund in the European and the Research Departments, primarily on the World Economic Outlook. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Cambridge

Paweł Bukowski is a Lecturer in Economics at the University College London and the Polish Academy of Sciences. Also affiliated with the London School of Economics. He is a Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Places, Identities and Memories (PIMs) at UCL. His research focuses on socio-economic inequalities and labour economics. He has won multiple international research grants, founded an expert group – Dobrobyt na Pokolenia and is a member of Concilium Civitas - a group of influential Polish social scientists working abroad. His book, “Inequalities a’la Polonaise”, won the Puls Biznesu Scientific Economics Book of the Year 2024 and the Marcin Król Prize 2025, given for a significant contribution to the humanities and social sciences.

Lubomír Lízal has been a member of the Czech National Bank Board in 2011-2017; the Board is bank governing body and monetary policy committee. Since 1993 he has worked as a researcher at the Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. In 2003–2008 he has been Director of both the Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences and CERGE, Charles University. He is a member of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University, and other scientific boards. He was a member of the National Economic Council of the Government. In years 2018-2019 he has served as the President of the Anglo-American University in Prague. Currently he is an associate professor at the Czech Technical University and at the University of Finance and Administration.
Mr Lízal graduated at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University. In 1998 he obtained a PhD in economics at CERGE, Charles University and in 2006 he qualified as an associate professor in economics at Charles University. In his research he has focused on transition and environmental economics, recently also on energy economics.

Jessie Barton Hronešová is a Lecturer in Political Sociology at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL, and Co-Director of the Centre for Study of Places, Identities and Memories. In her work, she focuses on victimhood narratives, the politics of memory, transitional justice and dealing with the past in Central and Southeast Europe. She is particularly interested in the political uses of emotionally charged and traumatic memories as well as how victims and survivors navigate politics. She is the author of The Struggle of Redress: Victim Capital in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2020) and Post-War Ethno-National Identities of Young People in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2012) and co-editor of The Nexus between Democracy, Collective Identity Formation, and EU Enlargement (2011). From 2019 to 2021 she was the ESRC Postdoctoral research Fellow at the University of Oxford and then a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at UNC Chapel Hill and Ca' Foscari. Outside of academia, she is a frequent policy advisor and consultant in international development in Central and Southeast Europe.

Přemysl Pela is the Director of the Czech Centre London and the Programme Director of Czechia EXPO 2025 in Osaka. Premysl has served as the Director of the Czech Center in New York and worked for, among others, the Charles University's CERGE-EI Institute and the Czech Academy of Sciences. In the private sector, he has held various international top managerial roles. He also headed the Strategy and Innovation Department at the Czech Centre's HQ in Prague and developed innovative projects presenting scientific creativity through advanced digital technology. He holds graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin and Ostrava University and has completed academic and professional programmes in New York University, Michigan University and the Civil Management College in London.

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