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Neighbours in Transition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

Michael Peneder  and
Robert Stehrer
Michael Peneder*
Affiliation:
Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO)
Robert Stehrer*
Affiliation:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw)
*
e-mail: Michael.Peneder@wifo.ac.at
e-mail: stehrer@wiiw.ac.at
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Abstract

The breakdown of the communist regime in Eastern Europe marked a historical event for countries on both sides of the iron curtain. Applying the recently released EU KLEMS database on sectoral growth and productivity measures, we study the period after the transformational recession 1995-2004 for Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovak Republic, and Slovenia and compare the performance to a group of European core economies. Our analysis reveals pronounced differences in performance but also striking similarities in terms of industrial structure. Beginning witha brief account of aggregate growth and its components, the focus is then on specialisation patterns and the varying contribution of industries characterised by educational intensity. Fianlly, we investigate the manufacturing sector in more detail, demonstrating that the Eastern European countries sucessfully specialised in higher-tech sectors which might be explained by high productivity growth rates in these sectors.

Keywords

Economic transitiongrowthtotal factor productivityD24P52
Type
Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 200 , 01 April 2007 , pp. 96 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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Footnotes

This project is funded by the European Commision, Research Directorate General, as part of the 6th Framework Programme, Priority 8, ‘Policy Support and Anticipating Scientific and Technological Needs’.

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