Research Areas
Our research agenda is organized around the structural questions that determine how quickly, and how durably, a transition economy can integrate with Europe.
We track the accession process itself: negotiating chapters, benchmarking systems, and the political economy that determines why some reforms move and others stall. This includes comparative work on how EU conditionality interacts with domestic political incentives.
Rule of law, judicial independence, public administration reform, and anti-corruption capacity are, in our view, the binding constraint on integration for much of the region. We study institutional quality as something measurable and comparable across time.
We analyze growth models, trade integration with the EU single market, investment climate, and productivity dynamics — with particular attention to how macroeconomic stability underpins or undermines the reform process.
Energy transition, environmental policy alignment with the EU Green agenda, and the broader pace of structural reform round out our agenda — areas where transition economies face some of their steepest near-term costs.
How it comes together
These four research areas feed directly into our flagship project: a composite framework measuring preparedness for deeper European integration across macroeconomic stability, competitiveness, institutions, and environment.
View the framework