Macroeconomic Challenges in Central and Eastern Europe: Sustainable Growth and Economic Resilience (Routledge Studies in Central and Eastern European Business and Economics)

Three decades after the fall of communism, the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have achieved income convergence that would have seemed implausible in 1990.This book argues that the growth model which powered this catch-up, built on integration into foreign-controlled value chains, large capital inflows, technology adoption rather than indigenous creation, and EU transfers, has also created structural dependencies that now constrain further development.Income convergence, in other words, has occurred without comparable convergence in productive capabilities. Eight thematic chapters examine how this tension plays out across specific domains: macroeconomic convergence and divergence, the evolving role of FDI and productivity, export competitiveness, the deceleration of global trade, energy transition, agricultural modernisation under the CAP, demographic change, and fiscal policy under competing pressures from defence spending, ageing populations, and decarbonisation.The anal