Publications - Monographs and Scientific Edited Books

The objective of the regular publication „V4 Trade and FDI Observer”, launched in May 2012 is to provide a quarterly overview of the main processes of external trade, foreign direct investment (FDI) and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in the Visegrad countries. The publications of the series offer compact and comparable information on these topics for a broad public including officials, professionals, academia, businesses, students and interested citizens. The authors and the editors hope that reading the „V4 Trade and FDI Observer” will be useful not only for V4 readers but also for readers from elsewhere interested in the development of the V4 economies. The present – second – issue of the „V4 Trade and FDI Observer“ has been prepared in the framework of the “V4 Trade and FDI Observer“ project, supported by the “Small Grant” Programme of the International Visegrad Fund (Small Grant No. 11140172). The research institutes participating in the project are ICEG European Center, Budapest (coordinator of the project); EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, Prague; Institute of Economic Research of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava; Polish Institute of International Affairs, Warsaw (project partners). They belong to the leading research centres in the Visegrad countries in the field of economic analysis.

In the first issue of the „V4 Trade and FDI Observer“ we concentrated on the general developments of the period 2008–2011 and presented four country analyses of both short- and mid-term changes in the field of trade and FDI/OFDI. In the present, second issue, we analyse the development of trade and FDI/OFDI in a specific sector: the automotive industry. It is clear that this branch is of high importance for all the V4 countries. However, beyond this general picture, there are also significant differences. These differences are revealed by the analyses of the present issue of the „V4 Trade and FDI Observer“.