The European economy is still in recession, even though there are some weak indications of stabilization. This book examines important aspects of the crisis in selected countries of Southern Europe, the Balkans and Eastern Europe. The intensity of the crisis and its economic and social repercussions have varied from country to country, generally impacting the core countries less than those on the periphery. The countries in the latter group currently face significant structural challenges with regard to improving productivity and competitiveness, including the areas of investment, climate, the labour market, and the public sector. The book not only illustrates the scope of the problem, but also informs readers on the policies implemented to address it, and discusses the progress some of the economies have already made. Special topics include the convergence hypothesis, agriculture and growth, Public-Private Partnership in Infrastructure (PPPI), and the labour market.

Anastasios Karasavvoglou is Professor in economics, Editor in chief of the International Journal of Economic Sciences and Applied Research and the President of the annual International Conference "The Economies of Balkan and Eastern Europe Countries in the changed world". He has published many books and papers regarding immigration, regional development and labour market.

Serdar Ongan joined the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee as a visiting professor in 2013 and he is a professor at Istanbul University. His research interests include tourism economics and sports economics. He is the co-founder of an international conference: International Interdisciplinary Business-Economics Advancement Conference.

Persefoni Polychronidou holds a PhD in Mathematics, has scientific interests in data analysis, in discrete transforms and realization of algorithms for fast processing data. She is assistant editor of the International Journal of Economic Sciences and Applied Research and has published several papers regarding empirical economic data.

A Country's Process of Development as Described by a CUSP Catastrophe Model - The Case of Eastern European and Baltic Countries.- Empirical Analysis of the Shadow Economy of the South East European Countries.- Investigating the Convergence Hypothesis in the EU: More Evidence Accounting for Structural Breaks.- The Debate About Political Crisis: How Corruption, Favoritism and Institutional Ambiguity Shape Business Strategies in Ukraine.- Optimum Currency Area Theory, Nominal and Real Convergence Controversies and the European Experience After the Recent Global Economic Crisis.- Agriculture's Role in Economic Growth: An Exploratory Study Among Southern and Northern EU Countries.- Catastrophic Risk in Local Government Units - Search for Optimal Risk Management.- Infrastructure Public Private Partnership Investments: A Comparative Analysis of Western Balkan and Emerging Countries.- Would Consumers Be Willing to Buy Woody Biomass Energy Products of Transgenic Origin?.