The economies of post-socialist Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union (EE/FSU) rarely appear on today’s economic monitors. In the general media, we usually hear about them in a political context and in the business media only from a perspective of investment’ risk assessment. Yet, these economies are dynamic, vibrant, and in many ways have gained significantly since the 1990s liberalization reforms. Still, many of the structural problems, such as limited job growth, lacking industrial diversification, outward migration, remoteness from the major foreign investment and trade routes, persist today as a characteristic mix of external and internal determining factors. The COVID-19 crisis of this year has added another layer of social and economic pressures. In this lecture Dr. Aleksandr Gevorkyan will review some of the main aspects shaping the sustainable development prospects across smaller EE/FSU economies and discuss some of the possible policy directions.

About the speaker

Dr. Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan is Henry George Chair in Economics and Associate Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics and Finance of the Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St. John’s University in New York City. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Vincentian Centre for Church and Society, a Research Fellow at the Center for Global Business Stewardship. He is a Board Member at the Armenian Economic Association and at the Henry George School of Social Science. Dr. Gevorkyan also serves as ad-hoc Economics Subject Matter Expert for the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See To the United Nations.

Dr. Gevorkyan is the author of Transition Economies: Transformation, Development, and Society in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (Routledge, 2018). He is also a co-editor (with Otaviano Canuto) of Financial Deepening and Post-Crisis Development in Emerging Markets (Palgrave MacMillan in 2016). He is also the author of Innovative Fiscal Policy and Economic Development in Transition Economies (Routledge, 2013 in paperback; 2011 in hardcover).

Date: Thursday, July 23, 2020
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM ED