ARE CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES A NEW AREA FOR THE RELOCATION OF BUSINESS SERVICES? AN ANALYSIS FOR 2000-2013

This article investigates the scope and features of the relocation of business services to Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) during the 2000-2013 period with a macroeconomic approach using international trade data (from Eurostat). Business services trade flows are studied; then the types of services in which the CEECs have specialized are examined with the Lafay index, as are the CEECs' main trade partners. We show that the CEECs have been an area for the relocation of business services since the 2000s. The CEECs do specialize in services, but not all CEECs had a comparative advantage in the same type of services. As regards business services trade, the EU-15 countries are favored partners of the CEECs and a growing share of EU-15 business services imports comes from the CEECs even if it remains moderate. The provision of business services from the CEECs in order to supply EU-15 companies appears as a steady trend, extending the provision of manufactured goods from those places and contributing to further develop the integration of production processes within Europe without disrupting other more global trends.