Throughout the 20th century, the countries of Central Europe appeared as a laboratory for new political and economic ideas. These countries experienced liberal capitalism in the early 20th century, state protectionism of the 1930s, they then experienced war before transforming into centrally planned economies in its varied forms. From 1989, these countries continued their extraordinary experiments with change and transformation as they embarked on the challenging road back to market economies. Policy choices, political constraints and growth trajectories led to numerous debates on the causes of divergence and possibility of a return to convergence in the region. Until the debate shifted again with the 2008 global economic crisis, as economic gaps between different parts of this mega region increased as well as their institutional and political differences.

Against this rich and complex backdrop, there is much to learn from the region. First, a key area of interests continues to be the debate about institution and economic development. Why are institutions so central to the issues of economic development and growth? What have we learned from the experience of transition? And how does the 2008 crisis fit with this understanding? Second, a growing number of academics argue that different institutions, in a broad sense, are required at different stages of development. The rationale for this is easily illustrated: do countries really need an efficient protection of intellectual property when they sit far from the technological frontier and may benefit more from adopting and adapting existing technologies at the lowest possible cost? Or is the same health care system required by countries with very different demographics? Can this tell us something about the appropriate pace and sequencing of reforms? Finally, a new strand of literature is now developing around the particular challenge of transition from middle income to high income country: what are the type of innovations and investments that are associated with this transition? Central Europe is an especially relevant region in which to investigate all of these burning questions.

Objectives:

With this in mind, this conference aims to take stock of our understanding of recent developments in Central Europe from a variety of perspectives and with a broad set of focal points. Through a mixture of keynote speeches from invited experts and selected contributions received through a call for papers, we will be major achievements and challenges in the region.

Programme:

Monday 22 June 2015

9.00-9.35

Registration

9.35-9.45

Welcome: Jan Kubik and Elodie Douarin

9.45– 11.00

Keynote 1: Convergence, Divergence and the Problem of External Imbalances in the European Economy. Michael Landesmann (WIIW)

Chair and discussants: TBC

11.00-11.30

Comfort break

11.30-13.15

Paper Session 1

1.1. Crisis and Public Finance

Fiscal deficit and Public Debt in the Western Balkan. Zsoka Koczan (IMF)

Political Economy of Crisis Adjustment in CEE. Daniel Kral (SSEES UCL)

Testing Competing Interpretations of Public Debt Eva Kagan (SSEES UCL)

1.2. Political Participation

Do Economic Factors really drive Protest? Jan Kubik (SSEES UCL)

Migration and Political action. Elodie Douarin and Dragos Radu (SSEES UCL)

Minorities and voting. Sherill Stroschein (SPP – UCL)

13.15-14.15

Lunch

14.15-16.35

Paper Session 2

2.1. Innovation I

What improves Firm Productivity more: Innovation or Management Practices? Wiebke Bartz, Pierre Mohnen and Helena Schweiger (EBRD)

Structural Change in the National Innovation Systems of the EU10 countries. Attila Havas (Hungarian Academy of Sciences)

Integration of CEECs in the internationalisation of R&D and innovation – A Policy Perspective Bjorn Jindra (Bremen University), Slavo Radosevic and Matija Rojec

National Systems of Innovation: A Neo-Institutionalist Perspective. Habib Nuhu (Bradford Univeristy)

2.2. Wellbeing and Welfare

How much should we trust Life satisfaction data? Evidence from the LiTS. Elena Nikolova and Penter Sanfey (EBRD)

Inequality and Poverty in the Western Balkan. Zsoka Kocsan (IMF)

TBC. Author X

16.35-17.00

Break

17.00-18.15

Round Table: TBC

Tuesday 23 June 2015

Finance Morning, co-organised with Bournemouth University

9.00-10.00

Keynote 2: Financial Inclusion and Risk Management of Individuals and Entrepreneurs in Central Europe. Leora Klapper (WB)

Chair and discussants: TBC

10.00-11.10

Paper Session 3

3. Finance 1

Loans and SME Performance – the case of Indian Manufacturing. Jens Holscher, Peter Howard-Jones and Allan Webster (Bournemouth University)

Black Spots in Capital Structure Studies: the Case of non-existing Debt. Eugene Nivorozhkin (SSEES UCL)

11.10-11.30

Break

11.30-13.15

Paper Session 4

4. Finance 2

Bank Funding Models and Credit Growth in Central and Eastern Europe: Digging into the effects of Foreign Ownership. Gregorio Impavido (IMF), Jerome Vandenbussche and Li Zeng

Show me yours and I’ll show you mine: Sharing Borrower information in a competitive credit market. Jaap Bos, Ralph De Haas and Matteo Millone (EBRD)

Real Investment Finance of Entrepreneurial Firms in Emerging Markets: Evidence for BEEPs data. Natalia Isachenkova, Julia Korosteleva (SSEES UCL) and Yulia Rodionova.

13.15-14.15

Lunch

14.15-15.30

Keynote 3: Schumpeterian Analysis of Catch-up and Catch-up Cycles. Keun Lee (Seoul National University)

Chair: Slavo Radosevic

15.30-16.00

Break

16.00-18.20

Paper Session 5

5.1. Innovation II

A new metric of Technology Upgrading: the Central and East European countries in a Comparative Perspective. Slavo Radosevic and Esin Yoruk (SSEES UCL)

Institutions, Innovations and Growth: Cross-country evidence. Florent Silve and Alexander Plekhanov (EBRD)

TFP across Europe: specialisation and Catch up. Randolph Bruno (SSEES UCL), Elodie Douarin, Julia Korosteleva and Slavo Radosevic

The Limits of lending: banks and technology adoption across Russia. Cagatay Bircan and Ralph De Haas (EBRD).

5.2. European Integration?

Interdependence between Core and Peripheries of the European Economy: Secular stagnation and growth in the Western Balkans. Will Bartlett (LSE) and Ivana Prica

Which Way goes Romanian Capitalism? Making a case for Reforms, inclusive institutions and a better functioning EU. Daniel Daianu (National bank of Romania) and Bogdan Murgescu.

Could euro-integration Substitute Economic Ties with Russia? Igor Yegorov (National Academy of Sciences, Ukraine)

The Political Economy of a European Unemployment Scheme. Raphael Espinoza and Filipa Figueira (SSEES UCL)

Wednesday 24 June 2015

9.00-10.45

Paper Session 6

6.1. Labour Market Regulation and Restructuring

The Growth Effects of Labour Market Regulation in CESEE. Jiri PodPiera (IMF) and Jiae Yoo

Integration and workers rights in CEE: Opportunity or Threat? Sara Kahn-Nisser (Open University of Israel)

Productivity and Inequality effects of Rapid Labour Reallocation – Insights from a Meta-Analysis of Studies in Transition. Jan Svejnar, Joanna Tyrowicz and Lucas van der Velde (University of Warsaw)

6.2. Social Capital and Corruption

How Persistent is Social Capital? Jan Fidrmuc (Brunel University)

A Comparative study of Market and Network Corruption. Maria Kravtsova and Aleksey Oshchepkov. (High School of Economics, Moscow)

How city Characteristics, Trust, and Technology affect Corruption. A Multilevel Comparative Study.

Julia Korosteleva (SSEES UCL), Tomasz Mickiewicz and Paulina Stepien

10.45-11.10

Break

11.10 – 13.30

Paper Session 7

7.1. Labour Force

Is self-employment equivalent to a bad job in developing countries? Empirical answers from self-employment and life satisfaction in China

Chizheng Miao (Linnaeus University)

Talent Workers as entrepreneurs: a new approach to aspirational self-employed. Barbara Liberda, Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw) and Joanna Tyrowicz

Labour Market Effects of EU immigration to the UK: Individual Level Analysis. Cigdem Borke Tunali and Jan Fidrmuc (Brunel University)

7.2. Currency

Hungary – A Case for Monetary Sovereignty? Vladan Hodulak (Mazaryk University) and Oldrich Krpec

Euro Adoption – Macroeconomic Benefits and Challenges. Jiri Podpiera (IMF), Johannes Wiegand and Jiae Yoo

A Central Bank’s Dilemmas in Highly Uncertain Time. Daniel Daianu (National Bank of Romania)

Will the Euro ever be Adopted in East-central Europe? Katya Kocourek

13.30-14.30

Lunch

Departure