The Limits to Dependent Growth in East-Central Europe

Between 1990 and 2017 the four central eastern European countries (CEECs), Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia narrowed the gap in economic levels with the EU average. The key driver in most of this period was inward foreign direct investment (FDI) by multinational companies (MNCs), which brought...

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Main Author: Martin Myant
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Recherche & Régulation 2018-12-01
Series:Revue de la Régulation
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/13351
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author Martin Myant
author_facet Martin Myant
author_sort Martin Myant
collection DOAJ
description Between 1990 and 2017 the four central eastern European countries (CEECs), Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia narrowed the gap in economic levels with the EU average. The key driver in most of this period was inward foreign direct investment (FDI) by multinational companies (MNCs), which brought success for export-oriented manufacturing activities. This justifies a characterisation of the resulting variety of capitalism as “dependent”, following theories of dependent development used for Latin America. However, this development brought rapid growth only for a time, still leaving a substantial lag relative to western Europe. The potential for further growth is investigated with an analysis of the strategies pursued in CEECs by those MNCs, using data on the products they export. The fact of lower wages gives them good reasons for not transferring their most advanced products and processes to CEECs and the transfer of less advanced activities in turn helps keep wage levels below those of western Europe. The implication is that CEECs may not catch up with western Europe without a change in their growth model.
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spelling doaj-art-18ca95b538c042b3adc1734d94f4a1aa2025-01-30T14:27:00ZengAssociation Recherche & RégulationRevue de la Régulation1957-77962018-12-012410.4000/regulation.13351The Limits to Dependent Growth in East-Central EuropeMartin MyantBetween 1990 and 2017 the four central eastern European countries (CEECs), Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia narrowed the gap in economic levels with the EU average. The key driver in most of this period was inward foreign direct investment (FDI) by multinational companies (MNCs), which brought success for export-oriented manufacturing activities. This justifies a characterisation of the resulting variety of capitalism as “dependent”, following theories of dependent development used for Latin America. However, this development brought rapid growth only for a time, still leaving a substantial lag relative to western Europe. The potential for further growth is investigated with an analysis of the strategies pursued in CEECs by those MNCs, using data on the products they export. The fact of lower wages gives them good reasons for not transferring their most advanced products and processes to CEECs and the transfer of less advanced activities in turn helps keep wage levels below those of western Europe. The implication is that CEECs may not catch up with western Europe without a change in their growth model.https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/13351capitalismdependencyEastern Europeeconomic performance
spellingShingle Martin Myant
The Limits to Dependent Growth in East-Central Europe
Revue de la Régulation
capitalism
dependency
Eastern Europe
economic performance
title The Limits to Dependent Growth in East-Central Europe
title_full The Limits to Dependent Growth in East-Central Europe
title_fullStr The Limits to Dependent Growth in East-Central Europe
title_full_unstemmed The Limits to Dependent Growth in East-Central Europe
title_short The Limits to Dependent Growth in East-Central Europe
title_sort limits to dependent growth in east central europe
topic capitalism
dependency
Eastern Europe
economic performance
url https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/13351
work_keys_str_mv AT martinmyant thelimitstodependentgrowthineastcentraleurope
AT martinmyant limitstodependentgrowthineastcentraleurope