Speakers:

Prof Lajos Bokros
Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Central European University
Former Minister of Finance of Hungary

Prof Marcin Piatkowski
Professor of Economics, Kozminski University
Author of Europe’s Growth Champion: Insights from the Economic Rise of Poland

Prof Dwight Perkins
Professor of Economics Emeritus, Harvard University
Former Director of the Harvard Institute for International Development

Moderator:

Mr Richard Yarrow
Visiting Research Fellow, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore
Fellow, Mossavar-Rahmani Centre, Harvard Kennedy School

Date & Time:

Wednesday, 3 August 2022
8:00 pm – 9:30 pm (Singapore time)
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm (Central European time)
8:00 am – 9:30 am (US Eastern time)
Time Zone Converter

Video recording:

Please visit EAI’s YouTube channel for a video recording of the seminar.

Abstract:

In the 1980s, Eastern European economies were stagnant or in decline. Mass shortages and unemployment combined with decaying institutions had thrown economies and societies in turmoil. Three decades thereafter, Eastern Europe has been transformed. Of the 23 countries to become high income since 1992, nine are in Eastern Europe. In the 1980s, Poland had a lower per capita gross domestic product (GDP) than Suriname; today, the total GDP of EU states in Eastern Europe is larger than the GDP of Russia. In much of the region, corruption has declined, while education, health, and other social and economic indicators have improved.

How did these changes occur, and what dilemmas did Eastern European countries encounter during the transformation of their economies and institutions? This webinar brings experts from across Eastern Europe to discuss causes behind Eastern Europe’s economic problems, and the challenges of rejuvenating economies and institutions after the end of the Cold War. Panellists will discuss the potential lessons that East Asian countries can learn from the challenges and successes of Eastern Europe’s economic reforms and transformation.

This event is co-sponsored with the Fairbank Centre for Chinese Studies at Harvard University.

About the Speakers:

Lajos Bokros is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Central European University in Vienna. Bokros served as the Minister of Finance of Hungary from 1995 to 1996. Subsequently, he was a director at the World Bank from 1996 to 2004, during which he was responsible for and conducted fieldwork in all the former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. He began his career as a fellow at the Research Institute of Hungary’s Ministry of Finance in 1980. After the fall of Hungary’s communist government, Bokros became the first chairman of the re-established Budapest Stock Exchange in 1990 and the chairman and CEO of Budapest Bank from 1991 to 1995. He served as a member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2014, including as a member of the Parliament’s Committee on Budgets.

Marcin Piatkowski is Associate Professor of Economics at Kozminski University in Warsaw and a Senior Economist at the World Bank. Previously, he was Chief Economist and Managing Director of PKO BP, the largest bank in Poland, economist in the European Department of the IMF and Adviser to the IMF’s Executive Director, and he has served as Adviser to Poland’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance. He authored a book on Europe’s Growth Champion: Insights from the Economic Rise of Poland (Oxford University Press 2018), which was selected by Book Authority as one of the “100 Best Economic Development Books of All Time” and awarded the prize of “The Best Book in Economics in 2019” by the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Dwight Perkins is Professor of Political Economy Emeritus and the former Chairman of the Economics Department at Harvard University. Previously, he served as Director of Harvard’s Asia Centre and Fairbank Centre for Chinese Studies. From 1980 to 1995, Perkins served as Director of the Harvard Institute for International Development, which studied and advised on economic development, political reform, health, education, environmental policies and market transitions in 27 countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Perkins has also directly advised or consulted for governments in Korea, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Perkins has authored, co-authored, or edited over 25 books, including the forthcoming coedited book Vietnam: Navigating a Rapidly Changing Economy, Society, and Political Order (Harvard University Press, 2023).