Reports
Central Europe will go through stress tests in 2017
As the European Union is trying to reinvent itself and the United States considers recasting its global role, the Central European nations see no obvious path to follow. The relatively prosperous region faces tests of political and economic maturity that go beyond anything it has experienced since the fall of ...
Central European states face dual fiscal challenge
By the beginning of the next decade, Central European countries will face two tough fiscal challenges. First is the risk of losing access to generous EU funds, which today support infrastructure investments. Second is the fiscal burden of health-care spending, which will rise rapidly as their populations age. These problems ...
Central Europe gropes for ways to deal with bad demographics
Central Europe’s population is shrinking faster than any other region in the world. To avert an economic disaster, Poland is trying a bazooka-like blast of cash grants to needy families. Experience suggests it won’t work.
Central Europe’s economies buck global trend
Central European economies have thus far escaped the worst of the turbulence that has hit emerging markets. A cyclical upswing is strong in the region and, barring unfavorable global developments, could continue in the medium and even the long term.
Central Europe is headed for turbulence, not Putinization
Recent political developments in Hungary and Poland have been interpreted as portending a reversal of westernization. If history is any guide, this perception is wrong. It is true that the region appears headed for institutional turbulence that could foster growing political and economic volatility. But a more serious upheaval is ...
