Professor Spechler's research field is comparative economic systems. He investigates the economies of different countries (developed capitalist, communist, emerging, and under-developed) and compares them to each other at a point in time, and to themselves over time. His recent research has been on the transitional economies of the former Soviet bloc. He is currently using these countries to explain why some countries agree to form regional economic trading groups (blocs) and why others resist efforts to integrate their economies with a broader group.
Specialties: Migration, European Union, Central Europe.