In this thesis we examine the macroeconomic interactions of unconventional monetary policy introduced by European Central bank during crisis by estimating a panel vector autoregression. We study impact of such policies using monthly data from 13 Central and Eastern European countries within seven-year period from 2008 to 2014. We find a positive reactions of output and prices to expansionary unconventional monetary policy shock. Our results provide evidence that decrease in shadow policy rate of ECB leads to rise in output as well as temporary rise in inflation, however, the effect on inflation is weaker and less persistent. We also find that unconventional monetary policy positively influences market uncertainty, but we do not find any significant effect on exchange rates. Individual country estimates suggest that the reaction of exchange rates to non-standard monetary policy shock significantly vary across countries.

Peiwei Li Abstract: This paper is to investigate whether the Eurozone crisis brings similar effects to the economic growth of two groups of the EU's peripheral countries, including the PIIGS and the CEE countries. Greece, Ireland and Portugal from the PIIGS group; and the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland from the CEE group are selected as the researched countries in this paper. In order to quantify how the Eurozone crisis affects the economic growth of these two groups of countries, this research utilises the statistical software STATA to operate a panel regression model with country and time fixed effects. The employed panel data contains selected indicators of the six researched countries over 2004-2018. Indicators that may affect economic growth of countries during the Eurozone crisis includes current account balance, FDI inflows, debt, exports and unemployment. Apart from the generation of overall results for all the six countries over 2004-2018, this paper generates a dummy variable "eurozone" to divide the researched countries into two groups. Therefore, it compares the results of each group. The research period also be equally divided into three stages: 2004-2008, 2009-2013 and 2014-2018, which represent for pre-crisis period, crisis period and post-crisis period. The divided periods are used to...

The opening up process of the central and eastern European (CEE) countries marked new beginnings in terms of greater integration of trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) with Western Europe. Adopting a two-stage out-of-sample gravity equation approach to predicting East West trade patterns, a panel data set of bilateral exports from twelve EU countries to twenty OECD partner countries is estimated over the 1992-2003 period to examine how integrated the CEE countries are with the West European countries. In general, countries which are initially less well-integrated with the EU have strongest trade potential: among the EU accession countries, the potential candidate countries look set to benefit most whereas the mixed trade ratios among the EU associated countries reflect very diverse economic structures. Using a similar approach to project East West FDI patterns, the potential to actual ratios of FDI stocks indicate a very uneven distribution of FDI among the eleven CEE countries. The FDI stock ratios accord with patterns of regional specialisation for the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland and suggest greatest FDI potential lies with the two latest accession countries. As the West European countries represents the CEE countries main trading partners and their main sources of FDI, the nature of the trade-direct investment relation among the group of EU OECD countries is of potential importance to the CEE countries. Merging the determinants for both trade and FDI into one model and estimating the merged model as a trade equation and as an FDI equation, the EU OECD patterns of FDI are characterised by both horizontal FDI (HFDI) and vertical FDI (VFDI). The dual role of HFDI and VFDI is supported when the general model of trade and FDI determinants is estimated using an instrumental variables method and when the additional price variables of FDI and trade are interpreted as cross-price elasticity effects. In a competitive world, attracting more FDI to the CEE countries may not only mean catering to the traditional MNE motives, but can also depend on transition-related factors and host country policies. Using a panel data set of bilateral FDI flows from twelve EU countries to eleven CEE countries, the traditional determinants of direct investment along with the liberalisation process and infrastructure endowments are found to significantly affect FDI over the 1994-2003 period.

This study applies the cross-country growth accounting regressions derived from the augmented Solow-Swan model to ascertain the growth effects of education in CEE and Balkan countries. We firstly test whether the total stock or accumulation of education matters more for corresponding countries' growth and afterwards we decompose the total stock into educational stocks at primary, secondary and tertiary levels to test whether the disaggregated educational levels have different growth effects. We do so by applying the panel fixed effects technique on 17 CEE countries during the 1990-2010 period. In addition, we address the endogeneity of education by using the lags of different educational proxies as instruments. The results suggest that the average stock of education is significantly contributing to economic growth of CEE countries with the biggest growth effect of tertiary education. Regarding the Balkan countries only, the growth effect of education is almost a null. We conclude that one cannot have economic growth without a good educational system and efficient usage of human capital. Thus, the policy implications should be related to the proper identification of the quality of educational governance, problem of mismatch on labor market and better utilization of human capital. Keywords:...

The objective of this thesis is to examine the contagion in Central and Easter European countries, namely in Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. From all possible propagation channels, it chooses to focus on exchange rates. The method of coexceedance with consequent quantile regression is employed. We find that coexceedance does occur but not as frequently as assumed. The coexceedance occurs more frequently during the depreciation of the currencies. The persistence effect is very significant and the coexceedances are ``continual'' rather than ``correcting'' for previous extremes. We found evidence for both asset class effect and volatility effect. These effects have different impact during the 2008 Financial Crisis most of the times. An evidence for both Hungarian and Polish government bond yields having influence on the coexceedance with Czech Republic. Surprisingly, we did not find evidence for oil market influence on coexceedance.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to suggest the best locality in the CEE region for a prospective investment in wind farms for an undisclosed Czech company. This goal is to be achieved by comparison of generic projects that have the same technical specification, capital expenditures and operating expenses. These projects are investigated from different perspectives including wind conditions, financing terms, technology constraints and mainly the legal aspects of each respective country -- namely the regulatory environment for wind power-offtake either feed-in tariff or green certificate support schemes. The NPV of FCF and IRR (MIRR) are to be used for evaluation of these projects. Sensitivity analysis for key drivers will complement prior assumptions.

The thesis examines herding behavior of investors towards the market average in 10 CEE stock markets during the period 2000-2018. Least squares and quantile regression methods provide evidence of herding inside the majority of the countries. During the global financial crisis and the Eurozone crisis, the herding mentality was more intense only in Slovenia and Croatia. The thesis finds mixed results in asymmetric herding during days of positive and negative market returns. The main finding, and a contribution to the literature, is that the domestic cross-sectional dispersion of returns in the CEE is affected by the dispersion of returns of the foreign stock markets in the USA, the UK, and Germany. In addition, empirical results suggest that extreme market conditions in the U.K. market have an impact on the formation of herding forces within the CEE stock markets. Short-run arbitrageurs can benefit from collective decisions of investors that in turn drive stock prices away from their fair value, but the presence of herding undermines benefits of portfolio diversification. In the long-run, the contagious international effects may result in a severe instability of the whole region and in market inefficiency.

Barcode identification is a method that uses genetic information to differentiate species. Because of its general versatility it can be applied to contexts from archaeology to the food industry. Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is a fish species commonly hunted in modern times and has been found in archaeological settings. However, barcoding requires enough quality DNA for amplification and abiotic exposure tends to degrade it. High temperatures, such as when boiling, can diminish DNA quality. The extent of DNA degradation between fresh and boiled tissues and whether all tissues retain the same amount of DNA is unclear. In this study DNA was extracted from S. salar tissues fins, muscle, bones and scales without treatment and with boiling treatment. DNA concentrations between fresh and boiled bones were not significantly different, nor were comparisons between samples with the same treatments. Muscles had higher DNA concentrations when boiled and fins had higher when fresh. These findings show that regarding certain tissue types can be expected to better retain DNA concentrations after boiling.

Although civil societies in Central and Eastern Europe are often portrayed as similar, united by a shared communist past, they have developed along increasingly divergent trajectories over the past three decades. This article investigates the current state of civil society in the region and the role the institutional context plays in it. Drawing on historical institutionalism and the process of European integration, we classify the 14 countries under investigation into three distinct groups and analyze data from a survey of more than 350 local civil society experts. We find that, together with domestic governments, international donors and the EU are perceived as the most influential institutional actors for civil society organizations. Their respective influences, however, depend largely on a country's stage in the EU accession process. Overall, the study provides a differentiated mapping of civil society in this region and a better understanding of how the institutional context relates to a Country's civil society.

Esta dissertação(...) tem por objectivo analisar o tratamento dado pela Radiotelevisão Portuguesa à assinatura do Tratado de Adesão de Portugal à CEE (12/06/1985), o segundo maior acontecimento mediático nacional, em termos de mobilização de meios, que decorrera até então após o 25 de Abril de 1974. O trabalho traça uma breve contextualização histórica do processo, que mostra a progressiva e contraditória aproximação do país às democracias capitalistas ocidentais europeias, desde o final da Segunda Guerra Mundial até à conclusão das negociações de Adesão, a 29 de Março de 1985. A tese apresentada sugere que a adesão do país à CEE é tratada pela RTP não só num registo puramente noticioso, como também enquanto acontecimento mediático cerimonial, ou telecerimónia, (seguindo a teora de Daniel Dayan e Elihu Katz). Estes media events celebram valores tidos por consensuais numa sociedade e funcionam nas democracias como momentos de persuasão catódica e de legitimação das opções políticas dos governantes, procurando obter o apoio da opinião pública. A ampla minuciosa e protocolar acobertura do acontecimento pela RTP e as longas horas de debates e "telecelebração" promovidas pela emissora parecem erigir-se enquanto primeiro grande momento de "sedução" televisiva dos portugueses para o ideal europeu. Esta transmissão, de cerca de 14 horas na memória nacional o "rito de passagem" colectivo que ocorreu no Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, afinal um acontecimento-monumento construído pelos técnicos de televisão para perpetuar o instante em que Portugal se tornou membro da CEE. Uma construção que antecipa e desafia a escrita da História na Pós-Modernidade, impondo, por isso, ao historiador novos desafios.