Changes in the Visegrad Group Economies in Light of the Misery Index

Abstract

The economic performance of countries depends on the stages of the business cycle and changes due to various factors and influences. While the economic crisis of 2008 was triggered by financial factors, the crisis of 2020 was caused by factors of a non-economic nature – the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to assess changes in the performance and level of economic activity in the Visegrad Group economies in 2009, 2019 and 2020. This assessment is performed using GDP per capita, magic square and the misery index. In 2009, the best performing country was the Czech Republic and the worst was Hungary. In 2019 and 2020, Poland reached a performance level similar to the Czech Republic, and Slovakia performed the worst.