Economic Lessons from the Crisis - The Professionals Saved the Estonian Economy
Dr. Lembo Tanning, MSc. Toivo Tanning

Abstract
The aim of this article is to analyse the lessons learned during the economic crisis in Estonia, a successful small country. The main emphasis of the analysis is on the professions that primarily define economic results - managers and top specialists. On the other hand, Estonia can be used to make generalisations about other countries, especially in a situation, where in 2012, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the euro zone as a whole was negative and South European countries are experiencing great financial difficulties. The Estonia can be viewed as a small economic model that not only allows making generalizations about the new European Union (EU) Member States in Eastern European, but also for other states. The development of the Estonian economy before and after the crisis was one of the fastest in the EU. Yet, the crisis led to a very deep recession. The current government has followed sound fiscal policies that have resulted in balanced budgets and low public debt. Analysis concentrates mainly on professions (workforce) in relation to the economic crisis. What are the lessons learned?

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