The impact of the economic and social shocks (crises) of the 2000s on gross value added in Central-Eastern Europe

Abstract

Territorial economic and social disparities remain a major problem for the European Union today, especially in Eastern Europe. The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of the economic and social shocks of the 2000s (the economic and financial crisis of 2008-09 and the COVID-19 pandemic) on the economies of four Central Eastern European countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary). The study presents county-level differences in gross value added with classical descriptive statistics, inequality indices, convergence analyses and spatial autocorrelation. The results show that the impact of the shocks of the 2000s varies across counties, which led to different paths of recovery. Spatial autocorrelation is significant , but patterns remain stable through the period of exogenous shocks.