Impact of globalization processes on economic situation in the East- and Central European countries

Abstract

Globalization is influencing practically every field of today’s modern life. However, the most significant impact of the globalization process is felt in economics. East- and Central European countries, although accomplishing the process of transition for more than twenty years, can not compare to the Western countries in terms of economic, social, political development. That explains why globalization is affecting East- and Central European countries economic environment in a particular way and oftentimes causes unpredicted effects and problems. Although there is a vast amount of literature on globalization, its effects on East- and Central European countries are still insufficiently covered. That dictates the main sci-entific problem of this paper: how the unstoppable and unavoidable process of globalization is affecting still vulnerable economic environments in East- and Central European countries. In order to answer the scientific problem, the core purpose of the article is to present an analysis on the most critical aspects of economic globalization on East- and Central European countries’ economics. Those include: effects of boosted levels of international trade, increased foreign direct investment and capital market flows, intensi-fied competition and productivity and expanded diversity of economic choice. The authors of this article have made the following findings: East- and Central European countries belong to the group of benefici-aries of globalization, as opening their economies to the process resulted in markedly increased exports and levels of international trade. Furthermore, globalization brought a heavy influx of FDI into East- and Central European countries, but, on the other hand, intensified competition; raised productivity of local producers and let East- and Central European consumers enjoy a broader diversity of economic choice.