How come the eastern countries in the EU(Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, Estonia) have only half the income of western European countries? Is it due to unreliable institutions and corruption?

I can't say much about other countries except where the one where I live, the Czech Republic. And then this is only my theory.

AT the end of the Cold War, the Czech Republic(Czechoslovakia at that time) had some of the best engineers in the world, including many who worked for the Soviet Union's space programs. 

But I think that a number of things happened. 

Rather than emphasizing those skills, which are highly prized in many Western countries, the politicians went the easy way out and opened the doors to foreign investment for CHEAP LABOR in the factories. A flood of foreign investment poured in and a ton of people got low-payed, low-skilled jobs. Therefore, many of the skilled laborers moved west to America, Canada or Western Europe; and more  stayed and continued to work in highly paid jobs.

25 years later, most of the highly skilled engineers are getting older. They still have a good technical university in Brno, but gone are the apprenticeship programs, and many of the technical schools have closed. There is a general shortage of engineers here now, and they command higher salaries than many jobs. Nevertheless, many young Czechs no longer seem to see technical jobs and engineering as occupations worth going for. About 75 percent of the companies here are foreign owned--this process of foreign companies from Western countries buying up what used to be Czech firms greatly accellerated once the Czech Republic joined the EU and bureaucratic obstacles were removed. Indeed, that is the main reason for the EU, in my opinion: to make rich corporations richer.

To sum up, basically I think it was a combination of

1. being in a weak position post-Cold War 
2.  western corporations taking advantage of that weak position,
3. the politicians taking the easy way out(and I would not be surprised if there wasn't some corruption involved) and 
4.  a general shift in cultural values.

I believe that if the Czechs politicians had worked further to develop their strength and help support their own businesses more and investing in broadcasting Czech strengths in technical engineering(which the Western world is short of, in general) they would be in a better position today.

Fortunately, the cost of living is relatively cheap here, especially as regards property, property tax and services.. A two-income family with an average wage generally has enough money to live a comfortable life.

Written May 21, 2015