This issue focuses on current economic, environmental, and social challenges facing Central and Eastern Europe and the global economy. The authors examine topics related to climate change resilience, energy transition, green finance, the labour market, the banking sector, and international research collaboration.
In this issue, readers will find:
Climate Change Adaptation and Economic Resilience in Central and Eastern Europe: A Comparative Institutional and Policy Analysis
Dorota Michalak
This article explores how a group of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, including Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Baltic States, are navigating the challenge of adapting to climate change. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all account, it looks at what adaptation really means in practice: how institutions are stepping up (or falling short), how EU funds are being put to use, and how different sectors, particularly agriculture, are responding on the ground. The analysis focuses on the structures, tools, and behavioral patterns that shape climate resilience, paying close attention to micro-level decisions by farmers, households, and small businesses. Drawing on institutional and policy analysis, as well as insights from behavioral economics, the paper highlights both the momentum and the stumbling blocks facing adaptation across the region.
Navigating Energy Transition: Driving Energy Efficiency Improvement in EU Industry
Agnieszka Pach-Gurgul, Piotr Stanek, Marta Ulbrych
This study examines the primary determinants of energy efficiency improvements within the European Union’s (EU) industrial sector from 2004 to 2023. The analysis is situated within the strategic framework of the European Green Deal and the “Fit for 55” package, which addresses the challenge of accelerating the industrial energy transition while maintaining global competitiveness. Utilizing a Cross-Sectionally Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) model, this research accounts for cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneous short-run dynamics across Member States. Empirical results reveal that economic growth and rising energy prices act as significant drivers of industrial energy efficiency in both the short and long run. Conversely, higher CO₂ emissions are associated with lower efficiency, reflecting persistent reliance on carbon-intensive production. These findings underscore the need to align economic modernization with price-based incentives to meet EU climate goals.
How Climate Resilience Shapes Sovereign Credit Risk: A Cross-Country Comparative Study
Renata Karkowska, Paweł Niedziółka
This article aims to identify the impact of a country’s climate risk resilience on its sovereign credit rating, and to answer whether a country’s vulnerability can be mitigated by its readiness. The analysis also examines the robustness of the identified relationships, assessing their relevance to both investment-grade and speculative-grade countries. The study is based on a cross-country sample of 67 countries. It examines the relationship between sovereign credit ratings issued by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s and the ND-GAIN climate risk index, including the effects of its vulnerability and readiness components. To examine the link between sovereign credit ratings and climate resilience, we employ a cluster analysis based on climate vulnerability, adaptive capacity, and sovereign credit ratings, complemented by a linear regression model. The results indicate a positive relationship between climate resilience and sovereign credit rating. Vulnerability to climate risk negatively affects the rating, whereas the positive impact of climate readiness is more pronounced in countries with higher credit ratings than in those with lower ratings. The conclusions offer new insights into the determinants of sovereign credit ratings and the impact of climate risk on a country’s credibility, providing important implications for climate policy and for the methodologies used by credit rating agencies to assess sovereign ratings.
The Consequences of Remote Work – a Comparison of Four Central European Countries
Małgorzata Król, Joanna Trzęsiok
The article examines the similarities and differences in how employees across four Central European countries evaluate the consequences of remote work. The primary objective is to cluster these consequences into closely interrelated advantages and disadvantages that form directly unobservable factors. The research was carried out using a diagnostic survey method that comprised 1,022 respondents from four countries: Czechia, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The respondents evaluated the positive and negative outcomes of remote work. To achieve the research objective, principal component analysis was used. Six factors common to all the studied countries were identified. Two of these factors are positive, and four are negative, with respondents placing greater weight on the advantages than the disadvantages. Factors such as cost savings and the positive impact on work life, non-work life, and health were indicated as primary advantages. However, perceptions of some advantages varied across the four countries. The issue of exclusion was the most frequently cited disadvantage. The research provides reliable information concerning the comparative assessments of the consequences of remote work. Its significance lies in demonstrating that a broad spectrum of individual outcomes can be distilled into six underlying factors. They contribute to the existing literature on remote work and offer practical insights for both management and remote workers.
Green Finance’s Impact on Economic Resilience – The Moderating Role of Market Integration
Anh Dang
This study examines whether and how green finance enhances economic resilience in emerging economies and evaluates the moderating role of market integration in this relationship. Using the System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) estimation to address issues of endogeneity and lagged dependent variables, the empirical results indicate that green finance exerts a positive and statistically significant influence on economic resilience. Furthermore, a high level of market integration enhances the effectiveness of green finance in strengthening a country’s ability to withstand and recover from economic, social, and environmental shocks. Based on these findings, the study recommends that emerging economies promote the development of green finance by establishing clear policy frameworks, advancing sustainable financial instruments, and encouraging the flow of green capital into the real economy. Simultaneously, efforts should be made to deepen market integration through trade liberalization, regional financial cooperation, and improvements in the investment climate, to fully leverage the spillover benefits of globalization and reinforce the foundation for economic recovery amid increasing global uncertainties.
State-owned Banks and Profitability in Central and Eastern Europe: Testing the State-owned Banks Advantage Hypothesis
Jan Koleśnik, Filip Lisak
This paper presents and tests an original state-owned banks advantage hypothesis, according to which the nationalisation of a part of the banking sector may positively influence the financial results and reduce risks associated with banking activity. The hypothesis was tested using a model comparing three groups of banks: state-owned banks, foreign owned banks, and domestic privately owned banks. The estimation of model parameters was carried out using a fixed-effects panel data analysis for banks based in Central and Eastern European countries over the period 2014–2020. Based on the models for ROA and, separately, ROE, a statistically significant negative relation was observed in the returns generated by state-owned banks compared to private domestic and foreign banks. The results also indicate a higher business risk for state-owned banks, measured by the level of non-performing loans, which is likely to be related to involvement in projects that are not always profitable but often involve higher credit risk. Therefore, we argue that elements of a country’s economic or social policies matter when conducting business but negatively affect the performance of state-owned banks. The results of the model also demonstrate that a bank’s market size negatively affects its performance.
International R&D Collaboration in Response to Global Disruptions: A Comparative Bibliometric Analysis of Research Networks
Marzenna Anna Weresa, Artur F. Tomeczek
This study examines the international research and development (R&D) collaboration related to global crises or disruptions, focusing on its role in addressing challenges arising from diverse crises. Bibliometric analysis of 160 peer-reviewed articles identified patterns of collaboration and mapped global research networks. We adopted a comparative analytical framework to examine differences in research collaboration focus and forms across multiple types of disruption or crisis. The results show that R&D collaboration related to disruptive events was concentrated in research centers such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, with the strongest links between the United States and China and between China and the United Kingdom. Other countries occupy more peripheral positions in global collaboration networks, reflecting lower overall engagement in research on the topic. In Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Czechia stands out as one of the few countries whose research activities on collaboration during turbulence are internationally visible. Existing networks of connections between research centers are mostly bilateral, with researchers from CEE and the Global South being underrepresented. Furthermore, six thematic areas related to crises emerged as focal points for R&D collaborations: environmental crises, health emergencies, technological change, economic shocks, institutional instability, and humanitarian challenges. By identifying patterns of international R&D collaboration related to destabilizing events, the results of the analyses may inspire more effective responses to global challenges and support the development of more resilient and crisis-responsive R&D strategies.
Determinants of Foreign Aid: The Case of Poland
Chiara Cassina, Emma Maria Nickl, Jinhwan Oh
This study examines the determinants of Poland’s bilateral official developmental assistance (ODA) per capita allocation between 2013 and 2023 across 127 recipient countries. Employing panel data and multiple regression models, the analysis evaluates whether Poland, as a European Union post-accession donor with a post-communist transition background, allocates aid primarily based on recipient need or donor interest. The results indicate that Poland allocates significantly higher per capita aid to Eastern Partnership countries, reflecting strong regional solidarity rooted in historical ties. Within this regional context, aid allocation exhibits a non-linear income pattern, with middle-income recipients receiving the most support. Contrastingly, among non-Eastern Partnership recipients, income plays a minimal to negligible role in Poland’s aid allocation decisions. Trade relationships are relevant within the regional context, whereas democracy promotion shows no significant influence on aid allocation. The analysis further reveals that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had a significant impact on Poland’s aid allocation to Eastern Partnership countries. Overall, these findings provide partial support for the dual-track hypothesis identified in the literature on emerging Asian donors. The results suggest that Poland’s ODA follows a regionally focused strategy that combines geopolitical concerns with transition solidarity, rather than being driven by humanitarian or commercial motives.
The articles are available in English.
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