They provide the channels through which goods
and services are exchanged. They do this by trading or assuming risks,
by providing physical transportation and telecommunications, and by
maintaining an appropriately educated manpower to support all these
activities. These economies are highly dependent on the general health
of international trade. Many of the CEE economies are Trader economies.
The openness ratio (trade divided by GDP) of most CEE countries is
higher than the G7 countries'. Macedonia, for instance, has a GDP of
3.6 Billion US dollars and exports and imports of c. 2 billion US
dollars. These are the official figures. Probably, another 0.5 billion
Us dollars in trade go unreported. additionally, it has one of the
lowest weighted customs rate in the world. Openness to trade is an
official policy, actively pursued.
These economies are predatory in the sense that they engage in zero-sum
games. A contract gained by a Slovenian company - is a contract lost by
a Croatian one. Luckily, in this last decade, the economic cake tended
to grow and the sum of zero sum games was more welfare to all involved.
These vibrant economies - the hope of benighted and blighted regions -
are justly described as "engines" because they pull all other
(scavenger) economies with them.
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