This issue of Eastern European Economics comprises selected papers presented at the Second international conference "Economies of Central and Eastern Europe: Convergence, Opportunities and Challenges," held in Tallinn, Estonia, June 13-15, 2010. This conference series is organized by the Tallinn School of Economics of Tallinn University of Technology in collaboration with the Society for the Study of Emerging Markets and the Bank of Estonia. The program of the 2010 conference was focused on five themes: macroeconomics, labor market, financial markets and institutions, business environment, and management. Five papers, preliminary versions of which were presented and discussed at the conference, have been selected for publication in this issue. The first paper, "Democratic and Market-Economic Reforms in the Postcom-munist Countries: The Impact of Enlargement of the European Union," by Karsten Staehr, discusses the process of democratic and market-economic reforms in the postcommunist countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the context of European Union enlargement. His empirical analysis, building on data from twenty-nine postcommunist countries from 1989 to 2009, suggests that both prospective and actual European Union membership have fostered political reforms, while having a minor or even negative effect on market-economization.
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