Editors' Introduction

Abstract

This issue of Research in Economics and Business: Central and Eastern Europe includes three empirical research papers on different aspects of the financial and economic integration of countries on the “outskirts” of Central and Eastern Europe with the rest of Europe.

In the first paper, Shinji Takagi and Vitalie Ciubotaru explore the exchange rate policy in Moldova. The paper provides interesting insights into the rationale for using a soft US dollar peg in a country situated close to the European economic area.

The second paper by Ramiz Rahmanov focuses on interrelations between stock market wealth and consumption in Ukraine and Russia. This study helps to better understand the differences of the economic environment in those two countries, and provides valuable policy suggestions.

In the third paper, Valerija Botrić investigates economic convergence between Western Balkan countries and the “old” EU 15 member states. The paper suggests that only marginal signs of convergence are evident between those regions.

For this issue, the rate of acceptance for submissions was 21%. We are grateful to all the authors who submitted papers to our journal, and we are very thankful to the external reviewers for their kind assistance to the Editorial Board in the paper review process.