Measuring Central and Eastern Europe's Socio-Economic Development Using Time Lags

Area of Science:

• Economic History
• Comparative Development Studies

Background:

• Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have undergone significant transformations since World War I.
• Assessing long-term development and convergence requires robust comparative methodologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To apply the 'time lag' method to analyze social and economic development in CEE countries.
• To compare CEE development levels against 23 highly-developed benchmark states over a long historical period.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 'time lag' method, originally for technology diffusion, to measure development gaps.
• Analyzed various social and economic indicators, including gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, employment structure, life expectancy, and infant mortality.

Main Results:

• CEE countries exhibit only narrow convergence with benchmark states.
• Monetary development (GDP per capita) shows the largest lag for the region.
• Social indicators like employment structure, life expectancy, and infant mortality demonstrate smaller development lags.

Conclusions:

• Communist states in CEE achieved their closest development levels to the West during the 1960s-early 1970s.
• Despite absolute progress post-communism, many CEE countries still lag behind their pre-transformation peak development levels.
• The 'time lag' method reveals persistent disparities in CEE development, particularly in economic terms.