The medieval Republic of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik) was a prosperous small open economy, rivalling bigger competitors. This study collects together evidence on how Ragusa compared to other economies of the region, and addresses the difficult question of why it outperformed its Dalmatian rivals (Kotor, Split and Zadar).

Oleh Havrylyshyn is Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University. After a long academic career he became Deputy Minister of Finance in the first Ukrainina Government, then its representative at the Board of the International Monetary Fund. He has written widely on transition and has been a consultant to various governments, the World Bank and other international agencies. A native of Ukraine, he has travelled and worked extensively in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He is the author of Divergent Paths in Post-Communist Transformation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). Nora Srzenti? obtained a PhD in Economics in 2013 at the department of Financial Economics (Ghent University), where she was a doctoral researcher. Previously she performed various duties within commercial banking, including market risk management and lecturing on banking regulation topics. Her current interest lies in central banking.