Understanding economic growth and development in Central and Eastern Europe . Workshop in Economic History and Development

A Workshop in Economic History and Development 'Understanding economic growth and development in Central and Eastern Europe' will take place at HSE in Moscow from September 2 - 3, 2016. The event has been organized by HSE, the WEast initiative, and Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

 Call for Papers (DOCX, 150 Кб)

Central and East European countries (CEEs) had the planned economy past characterized by an inefficient economic structure. It is widely recognized that these adverse conditions discouraged economic growth in the region and made these economies less prosperous in comparison with the West. At present, after two decades of transition, the command economy rudiments are mostly eliminated. However, there are still significant differences in the levels of GDP per capita between CEEs. For example, Slovenia is successfully ‘catching-up’ economically with its Western neighbors, while Moldova continuous to lag behind. This suggests that the historical roots of the East-West dissimilarity go far beyond the planned economy period.

The WEast initiative facilitates research in the centuries-long economic history of the region. It is bringing together young researchers and senior leading experts in the field, both from Eastern and Western institutions. The upcoming Moscow seminar is the sixth in a row of similar seminars that begun in 2011 and so far took place in Groningen, Warsaw, Belgrade, Budapest, and Prague (forthcoming in July 2016).

The Moscow seminar will be hosted by the Faculty of Economic Sciences and the School of History at Higher School of Economics. We invite both established researchers and graduate students to submit their papers considering various aspects of economic history of the region. We welcome both submissions concerning general economic issues and those that deal with less widely known aspects of Central and Eastern European development.