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This book explores the dynamics of language and social change in central Europe in the context of the end of the Cold War and eastern expansion of the European Union. One outcome of the profound social transformations in central Europe since the Second World War has been the reshaping of the relationship between particular languages and linguistic varieties, especially between 'national' languages and regional or ethnic minority languages. Previous studies have investigated these transformed relationships from the macro perspective of language policies, while others have taken more fine-grained approaches to individual experiences with language. Combining these two perspectives for the first time--and focusing on the German language, which has a uniquely complex and problematic history in the region--the authors offer an understanding of the complex constellation of language politics in central Europe. Stevenson and Carl's analysis draws on a range of theoretical, conceptual and analytical approaches - language ideologies, language policy, positioning theory, discourse analysis, narrative analysis and life histories - and a wide range of data sources, from European and national language policies to individual language biographies. The authors demonstrate how the relationship between German and other languages has played a crucial role in the politics of language and processes of identity formation in the recent history of central Europe.

The use of English as a global lingua franca has given rise to new challenges and approaches in our understanding of language and communication. One area where ELF (English as a lingua franca) studies, both from an empirical and theoretical orientation, have the potential for significant developments is in our understanding of the relationships between language, culture and identity. ELF challenges traditional assumptions concerning the purposed 'inexorable' link between a language and a culture. Due to the multitude of users and contexts of ELF communication the supposed language, culture and identity correlation, often conceived at the national level, appears simplistic and naïve. However, it is equally naïve to assume that ELF is a culturally and identity neutral form of communication. All communication involves participants, purposes, contexts and histories, none of which are 'neutral'. Thus, we need new approaches to understanding the relationship between language, culture and identity which are able to account for the multifarious and dynamic nature of ELF communication.

Finding the Right Place on the Map is an international comparison of the media systems and democratic performance of the media in post-communist countries. From a comparative east-west perspective, this groundbreaking volume analyzes issues of commercial media, social exclusion, and consumer capitalism. With topics ranging from the civil society approach, public service broadcasting, fandom, and the representation of poverty, each chapter considers a different aspect of the trends and problems surrounding the international media. This volume is an up-to-date overview of what media transformation has meant for post-communist countries in the past two decades.   

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for two-thirds of employment in the euro area which makes them a priority for the transmission of monetary policy to the real economy. SMEs in Europe experienced a credit crunch following the sovereign debt crisis. Over the period 2014–2019, the European Central Bank (ECB) engaged in unconventional monetary policy (UMP) to restore funding conditions in the euro area, to support stronger economic growth and higher inflation. We use the ECB/EC Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises to examine the relationship between monetary policy and SME access to finance in countries that were most affected by the crisis as follows: Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. We show that the implementation of UMP increases the probability that firms with higher debt-to-assets ratio remain credit constrained in stressed countries, although this effect becomes insignificant in non-stressed countries. Our findings suggest that monetary policy is transmitted unevenly to leveraged SMEs across jurisdictions. Additionally, we find little evidence that risky firms are credit constrained during periods of UMP, when risk is measured from the firms’ own viewpoint. However, our heterogenous analysis shows that smaller and younger firms—which are also considered to be risky—remain credit constrained over this period. Policy should ensure that UMP trickles down to SMEs regardless of their size, age or location. Tweetable line: Leveraged SMEs in stressed countries are more likely to remain credit constrained even when monetary policy is expansionary. Policy must do more to support small and young firms’ access to credit to facilitate higher investment and growth.Plain English SummaryThe global financial crisis which began in 2007 and the subsequent sovereign debt crisis which began in 2010 negatively affected many small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in accessing finance. Over the period 2014–2019, the ECB implemented various ‘unconventional monetary policy’ (UMP) tools to make it easier for companies to get loans, to boost economic growth and to bring inflation close to their 2% target. We use the ECB/EC Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises (SAFE) to examine the relationship between monetary policy and the ability of SMEs to access finance in countries that were most badly affected by the two crises. These are known as the ‘stressed’ countries and are Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. We show that UMP increased the probability that firms in stressed countries with higher debt-to-assets ratio are credit constrained. However, this effect is insignificant in non-stressed countries. Additionally, we find little evidence that risky firms are credit constrained during periods of UMP, when risk is measured from the firms’ viewpoint. However, smaller and younger firms—which are also seen as risky—do suffer from financial constraints. There are a number of policy implications arising from this research. First, monetary policy should operate in a manner that SMEs in all euro-area countries have similar access to bank finance. Second, monetary policy should make sure that UMP assists smaller and younger firms. Finally, public policy could also intervene to support technologies to allow access to real-time transaction flows between banks and firms to allow banks to be better informed about the risk profile of firms and allocate funds to SMEs that warrant liquidity.

This is a timely book on one of the most widely debated issues in applied linguistics: what is the social and cultural significance of English as a lingua franca for the internationally mobile students of the 21st century in Central Europe? Through an in-depth analysis of social practices, the book develops an exciting, innovative multilingual approach to out-of-class language use and language learning that engages students in the co-construction of identities. Apart from scholars, the book will appeal to policy makers and educators who are concerned with the internationalization of universities in Central Europe.

Language has gained increasing importance in immigration policies in Western European states, with a new model of citizenship, the ius linguarum (Fejes, 2019; Fortier, 2022), at its core. Accordingly, command of the (national) languages of host states operates both as a resource and as an ideological framework, legitimating the reproduction of inequalities among various migrant and non‐migrant groups. In this article, we analyse the implications of such processes in the context of state‐subsidised language teaching for refugees and migrants in Austria. Specifically, the article aims to explore labour migration, namely that of Central and Eastern European (CEE, including EU and non‐EU citizen) professionals—mainly language teachers who enter the field of adult language teaching in Austria seeking a living and career prospects that they cannot find in the significantly underpaid educational sectors of CEE states. This article shows that the arrival of CEE professionals into these difficult and precarious jobs is enabled first by historical processes linking the CEE region to former political and economic power centres. Second, it is facilitated by legal, administrative, and symbolic processes that construct CEE citizens as second‐order teachers in the field of migrant education in Austria. Our article, based on ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews, highlights nuanced ways in which historically, economically, and politically embedded language geographies contribute to the reproduction of hierarchies of membership, inclusion, and exclusion in present‐day immigration societies.

This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the reallocation of economic activity across firms and whether this reallocation depends on the competition environment. The paper uses the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys COVID-19 Follow-up Surveys for about 8000 firms, including both small and large firms, in 23 emerging and developing countries in Europe and Central Asia, matched with 2019 Enterprise Surveys data. It finds that during the COVID-19 crisis, smaller firms were hit harder, and economic activity was reallocated toward firms with higher pre-crisis labor productivity. Countries with a strong competition environment experienced more reallocation from less productive to more productive firms than countries with a weak competition environment. The evidence also suggests that reallocation from low- to high-productivity firms during the COVID-19 crisis was stronger compared with pre-crisis times. Finally, the analysis shows that government support measures implemented in response to the crisis may have adverse effects on competition and productivity growth since support went to less productive and larger firms, regardless of their pre-crisis innovation.Plain English SummaryThe COVID-19 crisis had a profound impact on firms. Firms which were more productive pre-crisis fared relatively better, particularly in countries with a more competitive business environment. Using survey data for about 8000 firms, including both small and large firms, in 23 emerging and developing countries in Europe and Central Asia, the paper finds that during the COVID-19 crisis, smaller firms were hit harder, and economic activity was reallocated toward firms with higher pre-crisis labor productivity. Countries with a strong competition environment experienced more reallocation from less productive to more productive firms than countries with a weak competition environment. The evidence also suggests that reallocation from low- to high-productivity firms during the COVID-19 crisis was stronger compared with pre-crisis times. Finally, the analysis shows that government support measures implemented in response to the crisis went to less productive and larger firms, regardless of their pre-crisis innovation. Thus, government support measures during the COVID-19 crisis may have had adverse effects on competition and productivity growth. As economies enter the economic recovery phase, it will be important for policymakers to phase out support measures as soon as appropriate and focus on fostering a competitive business environment.

This paper estimates the impact of public guarantees on crisis predictive indicators among small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs). We use a confidential database provided by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development on the universe of guarantees granted by the Central Guarantee Fund. We apply difference-in-difference regressions and propensity-score matching estimators to a sample of approximately 40,000 SMEs over the 2010–2018 period. We find that obtaining a public guarantee improves profitability both in the short- and medium-term. On the other hand, SMEs’ financial health worsens in the short run, but financial burdens are alleviated 2 years after the issuance of a guarantee. The economic and financial effects of government-backed loans are amplified for micro-sized firms, companies operating in the service sector and direct guarantees. Our results can thus support public authorities in designing credit guarantee schemes capable of preventing SMEs’ zombification and protecting them from the risk of debt overhang.Plain English SummaryAccess to public credit guarantee schemes negatively impact SMEs’ financial equilibrium, but their recovery occurs 2 years after guarantee issue. How does one select eligible firms to prevent zombification? Using a confidential dataset provided by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development on guarantees issued by the Central Guarantee Fund, we investigate this topic with an unprecedented level of salience. Our findings reveal the need for cautious interventions on firms in financial distress and for the introduction of stress tests to select beneficiaries. Our results show that specific guarantee lines could be applied for direct guarantees granted to micro-sized enterprises and companies operating in the service sector to maximize the additionality of public resources. This study has practical, policy and societal implications, guiding SMEs in their assessment of the overall medium-term effects of guarantees and policy-makers in their rethinking of guarantee schemes to resolve trade-offs between effectiveness and sustainability.

We study the determinants of trust in the European Central Bank (ECB) as measured by the European Commission's Eurobarometer survey, in particular during the global financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis. We find that the fall in trust in the ECB in crisis times can be rather well explained based on the pre-crisis determinants. We also show that the fall in trust reflected the macroeconomic deterioration, a more generalized fall in the trust in European institutions in the wake of the crisis, and the severity of the banking sector's problems, to which the ECB was associated in the public opinion.